Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Only Cuban Among Gold Glove Finalists

October 16, 2024

Outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (Arizona Diamondbacks) will be the only Cuban in contention for Gold Glove awards in the 2024 MLB season.

The youngest of the Gurriels was nominated for the award as the best left fielder in the National League alongside Ian Happ (Chicago Cubs) and Brandon Marsh (Philadelphia Phillies).

"Yunito" accumulated 1059 innings in left field this year, with 4 assists, 5 errors and a defensive average of .980. The Caribbean player was among the 5 outfielders in the National League who accumulated more than 1000 innings in that position during the current campaign, a figure also reached by Happ (1248.1), Jurickson Profar (1203.2), Brandon Nimmo (1109) and Bryan Reynolds (1016.2).

Moreover, he led all left fielders in the National League in Outs Above Average (OAA), a modern metric to measure fielding ability based on the number of plays made and their difficulty. Lourdes Jr. had 3 OAA, while Marsh came in at -1 and Happ at -2.

However, Happ, winner of the Gold Glove in left field in the National League in the last 2 seasons, led all players in this position in defensive runs saved (8), surpassing Marsh (7) and Gurriel (4), who finished with negative numbers (-2) in the prevention of runs scored due to the advancement of runners in scoring position.

Lourdes Jr., furthermore, fell slightly below the league average in terms of the strength of his arm. The D'backs outfielder, with 361 throws to the bases, registered a maximum velocity of 95.3 miles per hour and an average of 86.7, ranking 37th among all qualified left fielders with at least 50 throws to the bases in 2024.

According to multiple specialized reports, Happ is favored to win back-to-back awards from 2022 and 2023, but in any case it is an important achievement for "Yunito" to have been selected among the finalists for the third time since he debuted in the Major Leagues in 2018.

Gurriel began in MLB playing mostly between shortstop and second base, until in 2019 the Blue Jays decided to move him to the outfield full-time. That decision greatly favored the Cuban, who received his first Gold Glove nomination in 2020, when he competed against Alex Gordon and Kyle Tucker as the best left fielders in the American League. Later, he was also a finalist in 2021 alongside his compatriot Randy Arozarena and Andrew Benintendi (winner).

Cuba had 2 players in contention for the Gold Glove in the past season. Luis Robert Jr. competed for the award in center field in the American League alongside Julio Rodríguez and Kevin Kiermaier (winner), while Adolis García came out victorious among the best right fielders in the same circuit, defeating Kyle Tucker and Alex Verdugo.

Cuba and the Gold Gloves
Although only 10 Cubans have won the Gold Glove, the island's relationship with this award is quite long-standing. In fact, the first Caribbean player recognized for his stellar defense was Orestes Miñoso in 1957, when he played for the Chicago White Sox. That season Miñoso registered 9 assists from the outfield.

Two years later the player from Matanzas repeated the award with Cleveland and in 1960 he won it again, once again with the franchise from south Chicago. Between 1959 and 1960, Miñoso accumulated 28 assists from the outfield, a figure that demonstrates his effectiveness, power and precision in throws to the bases.

The immortal Havana native probably could have won more awards like this, but the Gold Gloves started being awarded in 1957, when he was 33 years old. From that season until the end of his career, he played only 6 complete seasons and in 3 of them he took the award for best defender in the outfield.

Besides Miñoso, the other Cubans who have won the award 3 times are Rey Ordóñez and Rafael Palmeiro, who coincidentally won it consecutively between 1997 and 1999. The Havana-born shortstop won the award with the Mets after 3 brilliant seasons in which his defensive average was always above .975.

In 1997 Ordóñez committed only 9 errors in 535 chances, for an average of .983, although that was not his best year. In 1999, the Cuban reached another level, as he played more than 1300 innings, had 640 chances and failed only 4 times, for an average of .994. Surreal for a shortstop!

Ordóñez is remembered not only for his defensive security and effectiveness, but for his spectacularity and his ability to reach balls that no one else could. Precisely that gave him more opportunities to have complicated plays very prone to errors, but he always managed to succeed in most of his chances.

Palmeiro, for his part, was a very reliable defender at first base. His very long career of 20 seasons in the Major Leagues ended with a very high average of .994 playing only at first base. From 1997 to 1999, he accumulated more than 3200 chances and more than 2900 innings in which he committed only 20 errors and made 274 double play opportunities.

Finally, we leave you with the detailed list of all Cubans who have won the Gold Glove:

* Orestes Miñoso: 1957 (Chicago White Sox), 1959 (Cleveland Indians) and 1960 (Chicago White Sox). All his awards were in the American League and in left field.

* Rafael Palmeiro: 1997 and 1998 (Baltimore Orioles) and 1999 (Texas Rangers). All his awards were as first baseman in the American League.

* Rey Ordóñez: 1997, 1998 and 1999 (New York Mets). All his awards were as shortstop in the National League.

* Zoilo Versalles: 1963 and 1965 (Minnesota Twins). His two awards were as shortstop in the American League.

* Leo Cárdenas: 1965 (Cincinnati Reds). Shortstop, National League.

* Tony Oliva: 1966 (Minnesota Twins). Right fielder, American League.

* Yoenis Céspedes: 2015 (Detroit Tigers). Left fielder, American League.

* Luis Robert Jr.: 2020 (Chicago White Sox). Center fielder, American League.

* Yulieski Gurriel: 2021 (Houston Astros). First baseman, American League.

* Adolis García: 2023 (Texas Rangers). Right fielder, American League.