The Arizona Diamondbacks designated outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. for assignment on 13 September 2026, cutting loose a former All-Star twelve days after he came off the injured list. The Sancti Spíritus native hit .210/.254/.290 with two home runs in 51 games this season, well below his career line of .271/.316/.445.
Arizona recalled infielder Jose Fernandez from Triple-A Reno to take the active and 40-man roster spots. The Diamondbacks are chasing a National League wild card and evidently decided they could not carry the at-bats any longer.
| G | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | RBI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 51 | .210 | .254 | .290 | 2 | 22 |
| Career | 926 | .271 | .316 | .445 | 131 | 513 |
What a designation actually means
Gurriel has been designated for assignment, not released. The distinction matters, and most wire copy blurs it. Arizona now has seven days to trade him, place him on waivers, or release him outright. As of 14 September the transaction log records no claim and no release.
He is almost certainly going to clear. Gurriel signed a three-year, $42 million contract after the 2023 season; roughly $1 million remains on his $13 million salary for 2026, and the deal carries a $14 million club option for 2027 that will be bought out for $5 million. Any club claiming him on waivers would inherit that obligation, which is why the expectation across the industry is that he clears and Arizona eats the money.
A season that never got going
Two soft-tissue injuries took most of it — a left hamstring strain and a right adductor strain, costing him roughly two and a half months across two separate stints on the injured list. He was activated on 1 September and lasted twelve days before the designation. In 210 plate appearances across the season he managed two home runs.
Sancti Spíritus, and the winter the brothers left
Gurriel was born in Sancti Spíritus on 10 October 1993 into the most decorated family in Cuban baseball. His father, Lourdes Gurriel Sr., was a star of the Serie Nacional and the national team. Gurriel Jr. came up with Industriales and hit .269/.355/.414 across 1,036 Serie Nacional plate appearances, closing with a .344/.407/.560 line in what turned out to be his final Cuban season.
In February 2016 he and his brother Yulieski left the Cuban delegation in the Dominican Republic, where the team had just finished playing the Caribbean Series. Cuban media reported the departure on 8 February. Gurriel Jr. was 22, Yulieski 31. Their eldest brother, Yuniesky Gurriel, did not go with them.
Ten years on, that winter has produced 926 major league games and 131 home runs from the younger brother alone — and now the kind of ending that Cuban players who leave rarely get to script.
Two Cuban bats let go in six weeks
Gurriel is the second Cuban-born middle-of-the-order hitter discarded by a major league club this summer. The Los Angeles Angels designated Jorge Soler for assignment on 4 August and released him on 6 August; he has been a free agent ever since and has not played a major league game since 1 August.
Both are veterans owed money by clubs that would rather spend the roster spot, and both are the sort of hitter who until recently would have been claimed within a day. 2026 has been a record year for Cuban-born players in the major leagues, but the veterans at the back of that group are finding the market colder than the headline numbers suggest. The full picture is in the Cuban Major Leaguers Database.
What happens in the next seven days
The window closes on or about 20 September. If Gurriel clears waivers and is released, he becomes a free agent able to sign with any club for the stretch run at close to the league minimum — the sort of low-risk addition contenders make in late September. If nothing materialises, he joins Soler on a list of accomplished Cuban hitters waiting out a winter that has arrived early.
More on Cuban baseball: the Cuban baseball hub.
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