Yuli Gurriel

Yulieski Gourriel Castillo (born June 9, 1984), commonly known as Yuli Gurriel and nicknamed "La Piña", is a Cuban professional baseball first baseman who is a free agent.

He previously played for Sancti Spiritus in the Cuban National Series (CNS), the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the Houston Astros and Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Gurriel is a former member of Cuba's national team, and an Olympic Games gold medalist in 2004.

A versatile infielder, he has also played shortstop, second base, and third base in the major leagues.

Gurriel had a solid season during the 2004–05 Cuban National Series (CNS), leading the league in hits and runs scored.

Gurriel's contributions helped the national team win a gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics and World Cup of Baseball championships in 2003 and 2005.

However, he truly dominated in 2005–06, leading the series in runs batted in (RBI), runs, and triples.

His 27 home runs, which also led the league, were one short of the record of 28.

Gurriel's batting average was .327, and his slugging percentage was .676.

He played his Cuban career with Sancti Spíritus and Industriales of the Cuban National Series.

During the 2005 World Cup, he led all batters with eight home runs.

The son of former Cuban player Lourdes Gurriel, Yulieski was regarded as the best player in Cuba in 2006.

At the World Baseball Classic in 2006, MLB scouts projected that Gurriel would be a first-round draft pick were he eligible for the draft.

Gurriel played second base for the Cuban national baseball team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC), striking out for the final out for Cuba in their championship game loss to Japan.

He batted .273 in the tournament, with a .342 on-base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage.

Gurriel refuted this claim on August 1, 2006, stating that he returned to his home in Cuba immediately after the tournament in which the Cuban national team had been playing.

Later in the finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics tournament, he again made the final out, by grounding into a double play against South Korea.

Gurriel played for Cuba again in the 2009 WBC, as their third baseman.

He batted .333 in the tournament with two home runs and six RBIs.

On May 11, 2014, Gurriel signed a one-year contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

He joined the team at midseason, and batted .305 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs in 62 games.

He defected from Cuba in 2016, and made his major league debut that year.

In February 2016, Gurriel and his then-22-year-old brother, Lourdes Jr., defected after competing in the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic, and relocated to Haiti to establish residency.

It was in Haiti in June 2016 that Gurriel met future Houston Astros teammate—also Cuban—Yordan Álvarez.

In June, Major League Baseball declared Gurriel eligible to be signed by a major league team as a free agent.

Lourdes Jr. signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on November 12, 2016.

Nearly 10 years prior, ESPN.com had erroneously reported that Gurriel and another Cuban national player, Eduardo Paret, had defected from Cuba and into Colombia.

"Cuban players have been systematically overhyped, but had Yulieski Gurriel defected at 21 rather than 31, he probably ends up in the Hall of Fame," said Joe Kehoskie, a former agent who followed Cuban baseball closely, in August 2016.

On July 16, 2016, Gurriel signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract with the Houston Astros.

He played a total of 15 games in the Astros' minor league system that year.

He made his American debut in July with the Gulf Coast Astros of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, playing in two games.

He was then promoted to the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League.

After playing in four games for Lancaster, the Astros promoted Gurriel to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League.

He batted 2-for-17 (.118) in five games for Corpus Christi, and was promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.

He was recalled from Fresno to the major league roster on August 21.

In his first 19 games with the Astros, he batted .344 with three home runs and eight runs batted in, playing mostly first and third base defensively.

In his first full MLB season, Gurriel helped lead the Astros to the 2017 World Series championship, making him the fifth player to have won both an Olympic Games gold medal and a World Series title.

He also helped lead the club to American League (AL) pennants in 2019 and 2021, and a second World Series title in 2022.

In 2021, Gurriel won the AL batting title, becoming the second Cuban-born player to do so.

He was also the Al Gold Glove Award winner for first baseman in 2021, making him the oldest player to win a Gold Glove at that position.