4:49pm: Whereas Gurriel has been on the minor league injured record with the Braves for simply over per week now, Romero stories that the veteran is en path to Houston to report back to the massive league Royals amid their sequence in opposition to the Astros. The Royals didn’t want so as to add Gurriel to their 40-man roster upon buying him immediately on account of the truth that he was on a minor league deal, however they’ll must make corresponding strikes so as to add him to the 40-man and energetic rosters with a purpose to promote him to the majors.
4:19pm: The Royals are buying first baseman Yuli Gurriel, in line with a report from Francys Romero. Gurriel, 40, has been with the Braves on a minor league contract this 12 months. In response to Jon Heyman of the New York Publish, the Braves are receiving money concerns in return for Gurriel’s providers. Regardless of the commerce deadline having handed final month, Gurriel was nonetheless eligible to be traded as a result of he hasn’t performed within the main leagues but this season. The Royals subsequently introduced the transfer.
Gurriel, 40, has performed within the majors every of the final eight seasons after coming over following 15 years in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. Many of the veteran’s time within the majors was spent in Houston, for whom he performed first base with occasional cameos at second and third. In seven years with the Astros, Gurriel slashed a stable .284/.328/.448 with a wRC+ of 111. That features a wonderful 2021 season with the membership the place he hit .319 en path to the AL batting title and earned his solely profession Gold Glove award. After a down 2022 season, Gurriel departed the Astros (who changed him at first base with an ill-fated contract for Jose Abreu) however discovered a roster spot in Miami as a part-time first baseman and DH.
The veteran’s time in Miami didn’t produce the bounceback season he was certainly hoping for, as Gurriel slashed simply .245/.304/.359 (76 wRC+) with a career-high 13.4% strikeout price and a career-worst .114 remoted slugging proportion. A second straight troublesome season left Gurriel unable to discover a roster spot forward of his age-40 season, leaving him to catch on with Atlanta again in April. With the membership’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett, Gurriel has regarded spectacular with a .292/.378/.495 slash line with 12 homers, 18 doubles, and a triple in simply 333 journeys to the plate this 12 months.
Amid accidents across the Braves infield to Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies and that sturdy efficiency, the Braves even started to experiment with Gurriel at second and third base as they seemingly toyed with the potential for a giant league call-up for the veteran, although huge league offers for Whit Merrifield and Gio Urshela closed the doorways to becoming a member of the foremost league membership in pretty brief order. Whereas Gurriel received’t make the majors with the Braves this 12 months, one other door has now opened up for the veteran as he searches for a gap to take part in his ninth main league season. Very like the Braves, the Royals additionally misplaced a key piece of their infield combine to damage not too long ago when first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino suffered a damaged thumb that Kansas Metropolis introduced yesterday will sideline him for six to eight weeks.
That leaves a younger Royals membership that’s surging towards what could be their first playoff look since their World Sequence championship again in 2015 with out one in all their prime hitters, and whereas the staff added veterans Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman to their outfield combine earlier immediately these strikes did little to shore up first base. Gurriel does simply that by including a longtime veteran on the place to the fold, providing them further depth and a contact-oriented bat on the place down the stretch. The Royals have been counting on a mixture of Nick Loftin and veteran backstop Salvador Perez on days the place he isn’t behind the plate to take over for Pasquantino since he went on the shelf.
