Tag Archives: Yuli Gurriel

Yuli Gurriel Agrees to One-Year, $8.3 Million Contract with Houston Astros

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Yuli Gurriel has agreed to an Astros-nomicaldeal…

The 35-year-old Cuban Major League Baseball first baseman has agreed to an $8.3 million, one-year contract with the Houston Astros, giving him a $300,000 raise from his scheduled salary for next season.

Yuli Gurriel

Gurriel hit .298 and set career bests with 31 homers and 104 RBIs in 2019 as the Astros won the American League pennant for the second time in three seasons. He hit .310 with one homer and five RBIs in the team’s seven-game World Series loss to the Washington Nationals.

Gurriel, who defected from Cuba, agreed in July 2016 to a $47.5 million, five-year contract with the Astros that included an $8 million salary for 2020. That deal allowed Gurriel to void the remainder of his contract when he became eligible for salary arbitration for the first time, and he reached that eligibility this offseason with 3 years, 43 days of MLB service.

His new contract allows him to become a free agent after the 2020 season, preserving a right contained in his original major league contract. It also includes the same award bonus provisions: $100,000 for MVP, $50,000 for second and $25,000 for third; $50,000 for World Series MVP, and $25,000 each for League Championship Series MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Gloveand being selected an All-Star.

Houston Astros Slugger Yuli Gurriel Ties Team Record with Eight Runs Against Colorado Rockies

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Yuli Gurriel is making a smashing impression in theLone Star State…

This week, the 35-year-old Cuban professional baseball player, a first baseman for the Houston Astros, drove in a team-record-tying eight runs as his team routed the Colorado Rockies 14-3 for their sixth victory in a row.

Yuli Gurriel 

“It’s really incredible with this team, and I feel a big responsibility to drive runners in when they are on base,” Gurriel said in Spanish through an interpreter. “To be in that spot, I’m always focused and concentrating to get those runners in.”

A day after homering twice with three RBIs, Gurriel again teed off for the American League Westleaders. He hit a three-run homer in the first inning, a sacrifice fly in the third, a three-run double in the fourth and an RBI grounder in the sixth to give him the most RBIs since he knocked in eight twice while playing in Cuba.

Gurriel tied Houston’s RBI record set by J.R. Towles in 2007 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Gurriel, who leads the Astros with 80 RBIs, surpassed the seven RBIs he had last season against the Los Angeles Angels and tied the major league record for most RBIs by a player born in Cuba. It’s his 11th game this season with at least three RBIs, and he joins Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell as the only Astros to have two games with at least seven runs knocked in.

“You get that feel every time he comes up that something positive is going to happen,” manager AJ Hinch said. “He’s locked in on pitch recognition and staying in on the at-bat. His production has been through the roof the last six weeks.”

Houston Astros Rookie Yordan Alvarez Makes MLB RBI History

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He may be a rookie, but Yordan Alvarez is already making Major League Baseball history…

The 22-year-old Cuban professional baseball first baseman and outfielder for the Houston Astros homered and knocked in a pair of runs on Monday in an 11-1 winover the Oakland A’s, making him the first player to have 35 RBIs in his first 30 career games since runs batted in became an official statistic in 1920.

Yordan Alvarez

Alvarez has surpassed Albert Pujols, who had 34 RBIs in his first 30 games with the St. Louis Cardinalsin 2001.

“I was very happy and very grateful [about the record], something I just found out about when I got here to the clubhouse,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.

“Especially with [Pujols], it’s an honor and a privilege. When we were in Anaheim, I spoke with him, and he gave me a lot of advice, a lot of information to help me out.”

The left-handed slugger is hitting .342 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs since he made his MLB debut with the Astros on June 9. 

At the time, he was tearing up the Pacific Coast League, with 23 home runs and 71 RBIs in 56 games.

Alvarez was one of three Cuban-born Astros players — along with Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Diaz— to homer in the 11-1 trouncing of the A’s on Monday. That had happened only once before in MLB history, when Jose Abreu, Alexei Ramírez and Dayan Viciedoall homered for the Chicago White Sox in 2014.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. & Yuli Gurriel Make MLB History

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Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Yuli Gurriel have earned a place in the annals of Major League Baseball history…

The 24-yea-old Cuban baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays and his older brother, the 34-year-old Cuban baseball player for the Houston Astros, have become the first brothers in major league history to have multi-homerun games on the same day.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. & Yuli Gurriel

Lourdes Gurriel homered in the first and fourth innings Friday night in the Blue Jays’ 11-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. In the process, he also became the first rookie in Blue Jays history to homer in three consecutive at-bats after hitting a game-tying homer in the ninth inning of Toronto’s victory Thursday.

Lourdes Gurriel, who has 11 homers this season, is the 14th Toronto player to record home runs in three straight at-bats, and the first since Josh Donaldson on September 16-17, 2017.

Houston’s Yuli Gurrielhit a grand slam in the first inning and added a two-run shot in the third inning of the Astros’ 11-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. He has 12 homers this season.

“My parents were so happy that they didn’t know what to do with themselves, hearing the great news,” Yuli Gurriel said through an interpreter. “Sometimes I have a good game and sometimes he has a good game, but for us to have a great game together is very special.”

Added Lourdes: “I’m happy for him, but for me as well.”

Yuli Gurriel’s seven RBIs were the most for a Houston player since J.R. Towles set a franchise record with eight 11 years ago Friday.

The brothers will face off against each other for the first time as big leaguers next week when the Astros visit Toronto.

“I’m very happy, but I’m also curious,” Lourdes Gurriel said. “It’s a little bit weird.”

Jose Altuve Leads Houston Astros to World Series for First Time in 12 Years

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He’s already considered the best hitter in Major League Baseball… But now you can also call Jose Altuve a “closer”…

With the Houston Astros needing to win both Games 6 and 7 to move on to the World Series for only the second time in franchise history, the 27-year-old Venezuela professional baseball player made sure they sealed the deal.

Jose Altuve

Altuve, a five-time MLB All-Star, notched three hits, including two home runs, in the final two games, with his solo shot in the fifth inning of Game 7 on Saturday night spurring a 4-0 victory over the New York Yankees and a celebration at Minute Maid Park.

“He’s the best hitter I’ve ever seen,” Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said after Game 6, and he might as well play that comment on a loop after almost every game.

The Astros are now back in the World Series for the first time in 12 years and head to L.A. to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 Tuesday night.

As usual, the Astros were led by Altuve, the 5-foot-5 engine of the most prolific offense in baseball since the 2009 Yankees.

In Game 7, Altuve’s big hit came in the fifth inning. He ripped a line drive that sent Yankees right fielder and Rookie of the Year candidate Aaron Judge back to the wall. Judge, who robbed Yuli Gurriel of a home run in the second inning, wasn’t going to bring this one back, but Altuve couldn’t be sure. Judge is 6-foot-7, after all.

Altuve sprinted down the first-base line, bat in hand. When the ball cleared the fence, he flipped his bat toward the first-base coach’s box, where it was finally retrieved by a bat boy.

Like the rest of the Astros’ offense, Altuve went ice cold in the middle three games of the series. He went 0-for-New York, as the Astros lost three games in a row for the first time in more than a month. After his first two at-bats of Game 6, Altuve’s hitless streak had grown to 0-for-12.

But in his final six plate appearances of the series, beginning in the fifth inning of Game 6, he went two-run single, homer, groundout, walk, homer, strikeout.

“[He’s] the best hitter on the planet, and I think he had three days in New York without hitting — whatever,” Correa said. “I knew he was going to come back.”