By José Alejandro Rodríguez Zas
Yulieski GurrielWithout a doubt, he is one of the best Cuban players in the Major Leagues and, for many, the most complete. Possessor of the five tools of baseball: strength, touch, speed, defense and a good arm, Yuli has shone in his passage through the best baseball in the world, to the point of becoming an indispensable for the line up of the Houston Astros.
Although he arrived very late to Las Mayores, after leaving the Cuba team in the 2016 Caribbean Series, along with his brother Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Yuli has garnered far-reaching numbers throughout his six seasons in the MLB .
After signing a six-year, $ 47.5 million contract with the Astros, Gurriel played a few minor league games and made his debut in the Big Top on August 21, 2016, in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. , at 32 years and 73 days of age.
Since then, Yuli has been hitting in the MLB for an excellent .292 average, the product of 713 hits in 2,439 times at bat, including 165 doubles, five triples and 85 home runs, with 337 runs scored and 376 RBIs.
His offensive line is .336 / .469 / .805 (OBP / OPS / SLU) with 15 stolen bases in 24 attempts, plus 154 walks received and 289 strikeouts. All these numbers, even the games played this Monday, September 13.
In the current season, Yuli remains in a fierce fight for the batting leadership of the American League, compiling from 468-148, for an average of .316, third in the young circuit and in all the Major Leagues, only surpassed by Starling Marte (.322) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.318).
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But today we are going to dedicate a few lines to a curious fact that there is in Gurriel’s numbers in the MLB, regarding his long-length hitting, a statistic 30-25, or, rather, 29-24. I already explain.
Yuli Gurriel has 85 home runs in the MLB regular season, which gives him a frequency of one home run every 28.7 times at bat, a not very striking figure. In the postseason, the frequency is even more discreet, one in 43.2 chances, with five home runs in 216 times at bat.
However, the most interesting thing here is that the 90 home runs connected by Yulieski throughout his career in the Major Leagues, adding a regular stage with playoffs, are distributed in such a way that only five teams have gotten rid of a home run by the Cuban.
Recall that 30 franchises play in MLB and since Yuli has always been in Astros, his statistics are against the rest of the teams, so of the remaining 29, 24 have received home runs from the Spiritus first baseman.
Gurriel has hit a total of 16 home runs to the Angels, 11 to the Rangers, nine to the Mariners and eight to the Atlhetics, direct rivals of the Astros in the AL West. The Rookies have also hit eight home runs, five to the White Sox, four to the Yankees and Royals, as well as three to the Blue Jays, Twins and Red Sox and two to the Indians, Dodgers and Orioles.
Similarly, Yuli Gurriel has a home run for 10 other teams: Cubs, Marlins, Nationals, Tigers, Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Pirates and Rays. In other words, the Cuban Astros first baseman has hit at least one home run to all teams in the American League (except the Astros, of course) and 10 of the 15 to the National.
These five teams that have never received a Gurriel home run are: Braves, Reds, Phillies, Mets and Cardinals. However, it is worth noting that Gurriel has only played four games in his entire career against the Braves, three against the Reds, Phillies and Cardinals and has never played against the Mets.
Interesting statistic right?
Another fun fact: Gurriel’s best home run streak was five consecutive games with at least one home run, between July 2 and 6, 2019, when he accumulated a total of six, three of them to the Rockies and three to the Rockies. Angels.
Let’s see here other things that, perhaps, you did not know about Yuli Gurriel.