The Launch Angle

In an era of unprecedented dominance, a team full of all-stars, and the wizards in the Astros front office turning pitchers into aces overnight – it was easy to miss how special Yuli Gurriel truly was. He became a beloved player who was incredibly clutch and seemed to provide a true leader for the organization that many hoped Carlos Beltran would be.

Yulieski Gourriel, lovingly known as “La Piña“, is baseball royalty. Son of Lourdes Gourriel, Yuli had huge footsteps to follow as his dad was an MVP, a primary reason Cuba earned Olympic Gold (as well as many other international golds), with memorable moments such as hitting a game-tying HR against Jim Abbott to dash America’s hopes, and a seemingly endless list of accomplishments.

“He waited so long, many wondered what he may still have left.”

Leaving Cuba wasn’t about money. Yuli made the playoffs in 14 of his 15 years playing in Cuba. His family was revered; he would have more than he could ever ask for.

Yuli gave up being able to see friends and family, to be able to re-enter his country, or live out a status of one of the country’s all-time greats, all in pursuit of the one goal. Before hanging up his spikes, Yuli wanted to prove that he could compete against the best in the world. Despite being an older player, there’s little argument that he did just that.

Gurriel wasn’t a traditional slugger or even a traditional first baseman. In fact, despite being relatively new to the position, he became an elite defender at the position, highlighted by his Gold Glove. Across his first five years, Yuli’s triple slash of .293/.337/.467 was good for a .804 OPS, 16% above league average and 13.5 bWAR, with some of the most memorable hits when needed most, and a batting championship at 37 years old.

[Credit: VariousDAY Entertainment’s YouTube: Shows Yuli as a younger international player]

It is easy to forget that Gurriel already had a full career before getting here. His first full season was at 33, just two years younger than Altuve is now.

For some comparisons, in 2014, both Yuli and Ohtani were playing in Japan, albeit age 30 vs 19 seasons.

Yuli: .305/.349/.536 (.884 OPS)

Ohtani: .274/.338/.505 (.842 OPS)

Yuli has a career OPS over 1.000 in his 15 years abroad. He dominated in international competitions, and he lived up to and built his own legacy, adding to the family’s name as Cuba’s great legacy.

Even with his age-32 through age-37 seasons being shortened with the call-up and the 2020 season, Gurriel put up 13.5 WAR. While it’s completely unfair to him, given he was a far better player and a defensive asset at second and third base, if he repeated those rate stats from his age-22 through age-37 seasons, he would be looking at a .297/.337/.467 slash line, 264 home runs, 498 doubles, and 1,146 runs batted in.

Gurriel’s age-38 through age-41 seasons would add a bit to the counting totals, the doubles in particular getting into top 30 type numbers. That is particularly remarkable, as we saw the older version of Yuli and limited playtime in the 2020 season, and a half-season of his 1st year, and the hamate surgery and recovery time multiplied. I don’t know of a fair way to estimate his peak, and the online conversion calculators for Cuba’s league to MLB have varied so much that I don’t think they’re worth referencing.

This tweet, RobnCypress’ response, and a discussion there reminded me of the article I wrote back in 2020 speculating if Yuli would be a Hall of Famer, and given he has likely hung up the spikes, it’s worth revisiting.

With that said, it doesn’t take much imagination to see a career here vaulting him into a surefire Hall of Famer and a possible first-round selection. We don’t really recognize international stats, a particular shame in cases like Gurriel, Ichiro, and others – but the traditional Hall of Fame voting is so incredibly flawed that I am nominating him for our first selection into Launch Angle’s Global Hall of Baseball Greats! Sure, that’s not overly meaningful, but for one of the world’s best players who risked it all and showed he truly could compete with the all-time greats, it’s overdue!

Yuli’s career undoubtedly had some remarkable highs, but I think it would be tough to match this one. In what I’d argue was the best playoff game of all time. With one of the deadliest lefties in the game on the mound, down 4-1, this swing will forever live in my memory.

Let me know your thoughts! Would you vote for La Pina for the Hall of Fame?

Here are some additional fun moments/clips:

Alex Bregman says Yuli would probably have been a Hall of Famer.

And Who Knows … Maybe He isn’t done yet!!!

Rumors are swirling that Yuli could return to the Astros in a coaching capacity to assist in the development of young players. Francys Romero is reporting that there’s a potential for him to take on a player-coach role!