| Yadir Drake | |
| Position: | Outfielder |
| Team: | Leones de Yucatán |
| Number: | 33 |
| Bats: | Right |
| Throws: | Right |
| Birth Date: | 12 April 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Matanzas, Cuba |
| Debutleague: | NPB |
| Debutdate: | July 3 |
| Debutyear: | 2017 |
| Debutteam: | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters |
| Statyear: | 2017 season |
| Statleague: | NPB |
| Stat1label: | Batting average |
| Stat1value: | .232 |
| Stat3label: | Home runs |
| Stat3value: | 1 |
| Stat4label: | Runs batted in |
| Stat4value: | 3 |
| Teams: | |
Yadir Drake Dominguez (born April 12, 1990) is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder for the Leones de Yucatán of the Mexican Baseball League.
Drake played for the Matanzas team in the Cuban National Series.
He defected to Mexico in 2011. He then played with a couple of semi-professional minor league teams in Mexico before participating in a workout for Major League Baseball scouts in August 2014.
He was signed as an international free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers.[1] He hit .310 in seven games for the class-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League at the start of the 2015 season[2] and was promptly promoted to the Advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League.[3] After another seven games for the Quakes (where hit .407)[2] he was again quickly promoted, this time to the AA Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League.[4] In 106 games for Tulsa, he hit .269.[2] After the season, he was selected to the roster for the Mexico national baseball team at the 2015 WBSC Premier12.[5]
He returned to Tulsa to start the 2016 season.[6] He hit only .109 in 19 games[2] and was released on May 27, 2016.[7]
Drake signed with the Generales de Durango of the Mexican League for the 2017 season and hit .385 in 71 games for them with 14 homers and 61 RBI. Champion bate 2017 LMB [2]
On June 29, 2017, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball announced that they had signed him for the remainder of the season.[8]
Drake re-signed with the Generales de Durango for the 2018 season. [9]
On April 28, 2018, Drake was traded to the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican Baseball League.
On December 10, 2019, Drake was traded to the Leones de Yucatán of the Mexican League. Drake did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Mexican League season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] He played in 54 games for the Leones in 2021, hitting .362/.412/.604 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI.
In 2022, Drake played in 84 games for Yucatán, slashing .328/.379/.530 with 14 home runs and 61 RBI. Drake won the Mexican League Championship with the Leones in 2022.[11]
Drake became a naturalized Mexico citizen.[12]