Yulieski Gourriel
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| Born | June 9, 1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Yulieski Gourriel (born June 9, 1984) is a Cuban baseball player. A member of Cuba's national team and Sancti Spíritus in the Cuban National Series,[1] Gourriel is primarily a third baseman, though he has also played other positions, such as shortstop and 2nd base. The son of former Cuban player Lourdes Gourriel, Yulieski is currently regarded as the best player in Cuba[2] and, at the World Baseball Classic in 2006, Major League Baseball scouts projected that Gourriel would be a first-round draft pick if he were eligible for the draft.[2]
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[edit] International play
Gourriel's contributions helped the national team win a gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics and World Cup of Baseball championships in 2003 and 2005. During the 2005 World Cup, he led all batters with eight home runs.
He played second base for Cuba in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic,[1] making the final out for Cuba in their championship game loss to Japan. He batted .273 in the tournament, with a .342 on base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage. Coincidentally, later in the finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Tournament, he again made the final out by grounding out into double play against South Korea. [3]
He played for Cuba again in the 2009 World Baseball Classic this time in third base and batted for .333 in the tournament with 2 home runs and 6 RBI.
[edit] Domestic play
Gourriel had a solid season during the 2004-05 Cuban National Series, leading the league in hits and runs. However, he truly dominated in 2005-06, leading the series in RBIs, runs and triples.[4] His 27 home runs, which also led the league, were one short of the record of 28.[5] Gourriel's batting average was .327 and his slugging percentage was .676.
[edit] Reported defection
On July 28, 2006, ESPN.com reported that Gourriel and another Cuban national player, Eduardo Paret, had defected from Cuba and into Colombia. .[6] Gourriel refuted this claim on August 1, 2006, stating that he returned to his home in Cuba immediately after the conclusion of the tournament the Cuban national team had been playing in.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Unsung heroes bound to emerge: Lesser-knowns players will share Classic spotlight with stars". Major League Baseball. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060209&content_id=1309478&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved July 4, 2006.
- ^ a b "World Baseball Classic: Cuba's Yuliesky Gourriel". Baseball America. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/060302wbccuba3b.html. Retrieved July 4, 2006.
- ^ "World Baseball Classic: Statistics (Batting Leaders)". http://ww2.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_bat&lid=160&sid=wbc. Retrieved July 4, 2006.
- ^ "XLV Serie Nacional de Béisbol: Lideres de Bateo" (in Spanish). INDER. http://www.inder.co.cu/indernet/competencias/sinfo/SNacional45/beilb11.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
- ^ "Cuba scrambles to shine in baseball's Classic". Cubanet. http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/feb06/16e9.htm. Retrieved July 4, 2006.
- ^ "Report: Cuban baseball players defect in Colombia". ESPN.com news services. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2533062&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines. Retrieved July 28, 2006.
- ^ Rojas, Enrique. "Cuban star Gourriel has no interest in deserting". ESPNdeportes.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=2536573. Retrieved August 1, 2006.
| Preceded by Osmani Urrutia |
Cuban National Series MVP 2004-05 |
Succeeded by Alexander Mayeta |
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- 1984 births
- Living people
- Olympic baseball players of Cuba
- Cuban baseball players
- Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Baseball players at the 2007 Pan American Games
- Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Baseball players at the 2011 Pan American Games
- Olympic silver medalists for Cuba
- Olympic gold medalists for Cuba
- 2006 World Baseball Classic players
- 2009 World Baseball Classic players
- Olympic medalists in baseball
