JAYS HOPE THEY HAVE A FUTURE STAR IN GURRIEL
Youngsters getting a chance to shine in spring training and taking advantage of it
Amid the unusual interregnum of this Toronto Blue Jays spring training, with some regulars off at the World Baseball Classic and others skipping road games so they can stay back and work out in Dunedin, there can be precious few notable occurrences at the Grapefruit League games.
Toronto’s starter Friday against Detroit at the absurdly named Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium was Casey Lawrence. This was a big deal mostly for Casey Lawrence and the Lawrence family, rather than something likely to have a big impact on the Jays.
Lawrence, a right-hander Toronto manager John Gibbons says the team is excited about, is likely to start the year with the AAA team in Buffalo, though it’s not out of the question he could pitch his way into a bullpen job before the spring is out.
“We hope he’ll be able to help us at some point this year,” Gibbons said.
The same could be said of much of the roster that made the trip across the I-4 from Dunedin: Maybe they will help the Jays at some point.
But the question of when one particular visitor to Lakeland will help the big club is a little more intriguing.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is the son of one of the best players ever from the isolated island nation of Cuba, and the younger brother of Yulieski Gurriel, who for years was considered Cuba’s best player not in the major leagues.
The younger Gurriel, 23, signed a seven-year, US$22-million contract with Toronto in November, which is a lot of money in a sport that can usually avoid paying young players anything like that. Aaron Sanchez made just US$500,000 and change last season, but because Cuban defectors go on the open market, Gurriel can get paid early.
His brother got paid even more, signing for five years and almost US$50-million with the Houston Astros last summer. The elder Yulieski Gurriel, at 32 years old, has little time to waste to justify the money the Astros gave him, and he already made it to the majors late last summer and is expected to be a regular with Houston this season.
Lourdes Jr. is much more of a project, but already he has shown evidence of why Toronto management was willing to purchase an expensive lottery ticket with him.
After going 0-for-2 in his debut earlier in the spring before tweaking a hamstring, Gurriel was back with the Blue Jays this week. In his first at-bat against the Orioles in Sarasota, he crushed a hanging breaking ball into the boozy patio beyond the left-field wall at Ed Smith Stadium for a three-run home run. Against the Phillies in Clearwater, he came into the game late and drilled an opposite-field double. It was, if nothing else, a sign the kid has some game.
Gibbons, as is often the case in the spring, gave a wry answer when asked about Gurriel’s performance so far.
“Well, they paid him a lot of money. I’d hope he’d get some hits,” Gibbons said. “Don’t you agree?”
Then he offered a wide grin. As he does.
“No, I tell you, he looks good,” Gibbons continued. “He hit the big home run (Wednesday), shooting the ball the other way in the gap (Thursday). When they signed him, they said, ‘This kid can play.’ ”
He hasn’t played much recently. The Gurriel brothers defected from Cuba in the winter of 2016, making the tough decision to never return home after the Caribbean Series was played in the Dominican Republic. Lourdes Jr. didn’t sign with Toronto until the fall, so he effectively missed a season of professional ball.
It would seem he is catching up quickly. Gibbons called him a “live body,” which is definitely better than the alternative, and Gurriel, who speaks no English, has said through an interpreter that he is having fun. Home runs will do that.
But before Toronto fans start imagining Gurriel as the next Yoenis Cespedes, who fled Cuba at the age of 24 and was hitting 23 home runs with the Athletics in his first pro season on the mainland, the Toronto manager would like you to pump the brakes a little.
Could he play himself into a big-league job this spring? “No chance,” Gibbons said. He said he’s likely to start the year in single-A Dunedin, at least in part because the weather won’t be a shock. Where he goes from there, Gibbons said, is up to him.
“You know, he’s just like (Kendrys) Morales, both from Cuba, and you can tell they both just love playing the game,” Gibbons said. “They are into it and they are both very talented. He looks like he has a bright future.”
Gurriel said he is adjusting to the new world in which he is living, but “baseball is baseball.”
This is true, whether it is played in Cuba or the U.S. Or perhaps at some point for Lourdes Gurriel Jr., in Canada.