Yuli Gurriel serves as hero, inspiration for Astros’ multitude of Cuban prospects
First baseman Yuli Gurriel, right, is often regarded as the face of Cuban baseball. The Astros are the first team since the 1960s to employ at least 20 Cuban players.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — One February afternoon, amid a lockout trudging through its third month, Yuli Gurriel’s kindred spirit sat on a folding chair beneath a tent.
“Everyone in Cuba does that, I swear to you,” Cuban pitcher Julio Robaina said. “As a child, you see Yuli doing something, and everybody would do it. “It feels great to see the younger players, younger generation, emulating some things I’ve done. That’s not necessarily probably the best thing to do, but I do feel happy that is something they are doing.”Gurriel is a giant to this generation of Cuban baseball players. Because of him, the Astros are fostering the next one. Ten Cubans were on their initial minor league spring training roster. The total number of Cuban prospects in the system is closer to 20.
“When I was younger, I honestly don’t think I’d ever heard of the Astros organization. There wasn’t much influence there,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “When I was in Cuba, Yuli signed, so a lot of people started to take notice. Then they traded for Aledmys, and now that I’m here, a lot of people are following the Astros.”
“A lot of young Cuban players that defect from Cuba, they want them here, too. It’s a huge impact that they have been doing the last couple years in the big leagues. The organization knows that. They want to have the next Yuli or the next Yordan.” “He’s the hero for every Cuban player,” Leon said through an interpreter. “Everyone looks up to Yuli. Ever since I was little, I how he plays, like his style, and like everything about Yuli.”
“I may have felt a bit intimidated to go to the major leaguers,” Alvarez said. “Here, I try to be that person. I try to go to them from the get-go and tell them I’m someone you can count on. I try to make myself accessible to them.” “That’s why we work as hard as we do,” Gurriel said. “We only don’t think about ourselves but also the future generations that might be coming over to open opportunities for them as well, working really hard to give them an example.”Gurriel’s is a glowing one. It does not arrive without heartbreak, the sort of consequence he knew loomed after leaving. The Cuban government denied him re-entry into the country this past winter. Gurriel left in 2016.
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