Blue Jays laying the foundation for the future.

Lawrence, Gurriel getting chance to shine

in Lakeland, Fla. 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, $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 really paid, signing for five years and almost US$50-million, with the Houston Astros last summer.)

The elder Gurriel, at 32 years old, has little time to waste to justify the money that 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 big club 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 threerun 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 that 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 has not 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 24 years old 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? “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 this week that he is adjusting to playing to the new world in which he is living, but, in the end, “baseball is baseball.”

This is true, whether it is played in Cuba or the United States. Or perhaps at some point for Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., in Canada.