Robert Corniel

On July 16, 2012, Corniel signed with the Houston Astros as an international free agent.[1] He spent his first professional season split between the Dominican Summer League Astros and rookie-level Gulf Coast Astros, posting a cumulative 4.50 ERA with 9 strikeouts in 8.0 innings pitched across 10 appearances.

Corniel missed the 2014 season due to an injury. He returned to action in 2015 with the DSL Astros, recording a 5.27 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 13.2 innings pitched across 8 games (1 start). He spent the 2016 season with the team as well, appearing in 18 games and posting a 3.00 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 36.0 innings pitched.[2]

Corniel split the 2017 season with the Low-A Tri-City ValleyCats and Single-A Quad Cities River Bandits, registering a cumulative 4.15 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 2 saves in 34.2 innings pitched across 18 games. In 2018, he pitched in 15 games split between Quad Cities and the High-A Buies Creek Astros, but struggled to a 6.16 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 19.0 innings of work.[3] On June 15, 2018, Corniel was released by the Astros organization.[4]

On September 29, 2020, Corniel signed with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).[5] Corniel made his NPB debut on April 1, 2021. On June 20, Corniel tied Shohei Ohtani for the fastest recorded pitch in NPB history (102.5 mph).[6] The record was later broken on August 13 by Thyago Vieira of the Yomiuri Giants, who recorded a pitch that clocked in at 103.1 mph.[7] In 50 appearances for the team, he posted a 1–2 record and 3.82 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 61.1 innings pitched.[8] In 2022, Corniel made 12 appearances for the Carp, recording a 3.52 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of work.[9]