Yuniesky Gurriel is the eldest of the three Gurriel brothers and the one nobody outside Cuba talks about. He played sixteen Serie Nacional seasons for Sancti Spíritus, then became the first Cuban signed by the Can-Am League when he joined the Québec Capitales in 2014, and won the league’s batting title in 2015 at .374. He never played in the Major Leagues.
The three Gurriel brothers
| Cuban team | What happened next | |
|---|---|---|
| Yuniesky, the eldest | Sancti Spíritus, 16 seasons | Québec Capitales from 2014; Can-Am batting champion 2015; never reached MLB |
| Yulieski (Yuli) | Sancti Spíritus, then Industriales | Japan, then ten MLB seasons; two World Series rings and the 2021 AL batting title |
| Lourdes Jr., born 1993 | Sancti Spíritus | Toronto and Arizona; MLB All-Star |
Their father, Lourdes Gourriel Sr., was a Serie Nacional star for Sancti Spíritus and later a manager. He managed the team in the 2002 playoffs in which Yuniesky played and Sancti Spíritus finished runners-up.
Sixteen seasons in Cuba
Yuniesky’s Cuban career is the longest of the three brothers and the least documented in English: more than a thousand hits, a career average around .274, five seasons over .300, a Gold Glove and an All-Star selection. He has said openly that his own record was overshadowed by his family’s.
Québec, and a first
In 2014 he became the first Cuban player signed by a Can-Am League club, joining the Québec Capitales. He hit .362 across his time there and took the batting title in 2015 with a .374 average. The Can-Am League is the same competition the Cuban national team itself would play in from 2016 — the tours that produced the photographs of Yoelqui Céspedes and Luis Robert on this site.
More
- Yuli Gurriel: Cuban stats, career and photographs
- All 16 Serie Nacional teams
- How Cuban baseball is organised
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