Yuli Gurriel seeks to extend his career in San Diego
Cuban Yuli Gurriel made Roster with San Diego parents and is the third oldest player who started the major league season
The Atlanta Braves they visit the San Diego Padres In the first Major League Sunday (MLB) of AM850 of 2025 and on the payroll of the local set is located Yuli Gurriela cHistorical Uban that Surprisingly HE won a position during the spring training.
Gurriel, who will turn 41 before the Ecuador of the season, signed a minor leagues contract without guarantees, but a space was opened in the roster of one of the best teams of the major leagues, hitting .316 with four extrabases and an OPS of .814 in 38 appearances to the dish in the cactus league.
Only the launchers Justin Verlander (42 years and 36 days), of the San Francisco Giants, and Charlie Morton (41 years and 136 days), of the Baltimore Orioles, were older Dque Gurriel (40 years and 292 days) among all the players that integrated the payrolls of the inaugural day of the season.
The Max Scherzer pitcher, of the Toronto Blue Jays, and the infielder Justin Turner, of the Chicago Cubs, are the only ones that exceed 40 years this season in a league that every day is rejuvenated more.
“More than age, the important thing is that I am in conditions, in health and I feel good to help in everything you can,” said Gurriel, who integrated San Diego’s opening alignment in the first game of the season.
The initial plan of the manager Mike Shildt is to alternate the right batter Gurriel and the left -handed Gavin Sheets in the designated batter role, but the permanence of the “Platoon” will depend on the type of performance that the players get. The first base, the position that Gurriel has played the most in Major Leagues, belongs to the Virtuoso Venezuelan hitter Luis Arráez.
Gurriel played for 15 years in the National Series of Cuba and another in Japan before getting available for MLB teams and signing with the Houston Astros in July 2016. He hit .340 with 292 doubles, 257 homers, and 1,020 promoted races and PAHOs of 1,024 in 1,185 games in Cuba, and .30 with PAHOs of .884 in Japan. In 25 professional seasons, Batea .313.
The toletero was an essential part of the Astros team that won his first two titles of the World Series (2017 and 2022) and conquered the batting title and the gold glove in the first base in the American League in 2021, but his performance gradually declined in the last three years.
Gurriel hit .242 with an OPS of .647 in 2022, his last season with the stars, .245 with 23 extrabases and PAHO of .663 with the Miami Marlins in 2023 and barely appeared in 18 games with the Kansas City Royals last year.
“I think I still have a lot of baseball,” said Gurriel, who has appeared in each postseason since 2017, with Houston (2017-22), Miami (2023) and Kansas City (2024).
That is one of the reasons why he is dressed in San Diego’s coffee uniform, a team that played in the playoffs in three of the previous five seasons, but has not been able to gain his division since 2006.
“We have a great dressing room, with harmony and unity,” he said. “And a very deep team with many possibilities to go far in the playoffs. I hope to help,” he added.
