A HELPING HAND
Morales gives young Latin players veteran advice, something he never received back in day
NEW YORK — For a few minutes before Saturday’s game at Yankee Stadium, Blue Jays DH Kendrys Morales sat at his locker and talked about how special it is having Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on board. Gurriel, 24, was called up from Double-A New Hampshire and picked up two hits and three RBI in his Major League debut on Friday.
Morales has known Gurriel and his family since Lourdes was a little boy in Cuba, so it’s been a very emotional couple of days for both players. Morales was asked what Gurriel was like when he was a young kid just as the young infielder strolled by. The big DH laughed and shouted (in Spanish) for all to hear: “He didn’t like to shower!” Everybody laughed. Especially Gurriel, who considers Morales a big brother. His dad, Lourdes Gurriel Sr. is a legend in Cuba as a player and manager and coached Morales on Team Cuba. Because of that, and for another even more important reason, Morales said he’ll do everything he can to make Gurriel’s transition to the big leagues as seamless as possible. It’s not highly publicized, but the 34-year-old Morales has made it a point throughout his entire career to help out young players on his team, especially young Latin players. Morales has their back because he doesn’t want them to experience what he went through when he was a young ballplayer breaking into the big leagues 12 years ago, two years after defecting from Cuba.
“For me, it’s an obligation to help these guys because I don’t want them to feel what I felt when I got up to the big leagues,” said Morales, through interpreter Josue Peley. “I look in the mirror and I look at myself when I was that age and I didn’t have that much fun when I came up. So for me, it’s just important to be there for them.”
Jays manager John Gibbons certainly has noticed how, Morales takes young Latin players under his wing, most recently Dominican Teoscar Hernandez before Gurriel. “Mo’s one of the best guys you’ll ever meet,” said Gibbons. “He just loves playing baseball, very low maintenance and he’s had a great career. But he brings more to our team than just playing, he really does. He’s a special guy.” Gibbons launched into an impression of Morales cheering from the dugout during games, a series of deep, coarse grunts, cracking everyone up. For his part, Morales appreciates the kind words, even the impression.
“I’m very proud that my teammates and my manager are saying positive things about me but I do it because when I got to the big leagues, nobody helped me, the veterans on my team didn’t talk to me much,” said Morales, who hopes to see more than a couple of Latin players excelling with the Jays in the near future — starting with Gurriel, Hernandez and Vlad Guerrero Jr. “I’ve known Vladimir Jr. since he was really young because I played with his dad,” said Morales. “These guys have a lot of talent, but they need to keep working hard and make sure they stay disciplined. They’re disciplined, they’re good, they’re amazing, but I just want to make sure if they read this, the message from Kendrys Morales today is: ‘You guys, stay disciplined.’ That’s all they have to do.”
For me, it’s an obligation to help these guys because I don’t want them to feel what I felt.” Jays hitter Kendrys Morales