When 21-year-old Cuban outfielder Oscar Colas turned up in the Dominican Republic in January, he hoped to leave both his homeland and Japan's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks behind him as a new baseball future in America beckoned.

Instead, he has become caught in the wheels of a system that does not always afford young Latin players the same level of diligence it does to ballplayers coming to Japan with major league experience.

Colas, who defected from Cuba after the 2019 season, is seeking a path to the major leagues that the Hawks are blocking. He is now trying to negotiate with the Hawks to end the impasse. But according to his agents, the Hawks have been insisting on their right to keep him through the 2024 season.