Keeping both eyes on the ball
A tip by a former teammate has led to Gurriel opening stance and going on a tear
DENVER — Credit toward Carlos Beltran flows from the Astros organization. His signing during the 2017 offseason was perhaps the most vital pre-August acquisition for the franchise’s World Series run.
Beltran instituted a post-victory tradition of awarding a pitcher and hitter of the game. It still exists today, albeit modified with two large robes. His sage guidance and wisdom reverberated through a clubhouse of mostly young players without much postseason experience. Contributing 14 home runs was nice, too.
Though Beltran is now employed by the team most primed to challenge the Astros for American League supremacy, the 41year-old future Hall of Famer found a way to help his former club.
During the four-game series against the Yankees in New York last month, Yuli Gurriel sought Beltran’s advice. The Astros first baseman entered the Bronx with a .693 OPS and five home runs.
His on-base percentage dipped below .300. In an Astros lineup desperately seeking a spark from one of its veterans, he was the furthest thing from it.
Beltran, a special adviser to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, met with Gurriel during the series and offered one piece of advice.
“Carlos helped me a lot,” Gurriel said through an interpreter after Tuesday’s 9-8 win over the Rockies. “He told me to look at the ball with two eyes and not with one eye.
“Just making that adjustment has helped me out.”
Listening in during Gurriel’s answer, Alex Bregman — a fine Spanish speaker — contributed that his teammate’s stance was somewhat closed off. Gurriel has opened the stance more, Bregman said, and seeing pitches is easier.
“He’s just staying through every single baseball,” Bregman said Wednesday. “He’s on the barrel all the time, hitting it to all fields. Fastballs, curveballs, sliders, changeups, whatever it is. He’s barreling it, and he’s using the whole field.”
Since departing the Bronx, Gurriel is 12-for-29 with five home runs. Three came in Coors Field
during the two-game Interleague sweep of Colorado. He struck walkoff hits on consecutive days against the Seattle Mariners during the last homestand.
In his last 19 games, Gurriel has gone hitless twice. He will carry a seven-game hitting streak and a
climbing .275 average into Friday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. Gurriel’s OPS, at .655 on June 9, now sits at .769.
Some of the success is luck turning around. Gurriel is hitting line drives at a higher rate than at
any point in his four-year major league career. He’s swinging and missing at a career-low 6.3 percent clip, too. Results eluded him for most of the season, until his meeting with Beltran.
On Tuesday, Gurriel fell three total bases shy of matching a franchise record. He settled for 10 by knocking two home runs and a run-scoring double. His four RBIs paced the Astros’ nine-run attack. The seventh-inning, two-run homer proved to be the deciding blow.
“I’m just trying to find good pitches to hit and identify good pitches and start a better second half,” Gurriel said.
Gurriel’s three hits on Tuesday came against two fastballs and a slider. His solo home run in Wednesday’s 4-2 victory came against Colorado starter Peter Lambert’s elevated curveball.
Injuries to others have forced Gurriel to hit either fifth or sixth in the batting order. He has a team-high 81 at-bats with runners in scoring position. His .813 OPS and .494 slugging percentage in those situations are part of the spark this lineup was once missing.
“He’s getting pretty good pitches to hit and he’s not missing them,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “They’ve given him some pitches to hit with guys in scoring position and he’s staying low. He’s not so concerned about getting the ball too far into the air. He’s hitting the ball hard.
“It’s carrying for him, and he’s coming up with some really big hits.”