MLB 2024 | Gurriel Jr. with three hits; Arozarena considered day-to-day; Cano collects 17th hold; Pagés with multi-hit game
- Ray Otero-Alonso
- Jun 12, 2024
- 4 min read
Cuban Players News for the 2024 Major League Baseball season. A compilation of several sources
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI on Tuesday as the Diamondbacks beat the Angels 9-4.
The 30-year-old outfielder smacked a two-run single off of Hunter Strickland in the seventh inning. He also singled in the first and sixth inning. With his three-hit attack, Gurriel is now batting .254/.293/.409 with nine homers, 41 RBIs, and three stolen bases on the season. In the last seven games he is hitting a stellar .407/.448/.593 with a homer, four runs scored, and eight RBIs.
Randy Arozarena grounded out as a pinch-hitter during Tuesday’s contest against the Cubs.
It’s an extremely encouraging sign that Arozarena was available to pinch-hit after being scratched from Tuesday’s lineup with right hamstring tightness. The 29-year-old corner outfielder has shown some real signs of life recently, so the hope here is that he’ll be ready to return to Tampa Bay’s lineup shortly. It doesn’t appear that he’s dealing with a serious ailment but he will be considered day-to-day moving forward.
Adrián Morejón's third hold.
There is no doubt that the Cuban left-handed pitcher is in a good place at the moment. His third hold of the season was a perfect seventh inning without a strikeout. With 3 strikeouts and 2 2/3 innings, he has now thrown in three straight scoreless games. With 19 games and 27 innings under his belt, his ERA is now 2.00.
Tuesday saw the tandem of Yenier Cano and Cionel Pérez in action.
Against the Braves, Cano closed the seventh inning with a strikeout, notching his 17th hold of the season. Meanwhile, Cionel arrived in the eighth inning and easily retired it, accepting a hit but avoiding a run. Consequently, he reduced his ERA on the year to 3.57 with 17 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings.
Andy Pagés went 2-for-5 with two runs scored against the Rangers on Tuesday.
Pagés seems to be getting it together lately, which is great to see. The better defensive center fielder in Triple-A is James Outman, so Pagés might have been due to go back to the minors if not for his 17-for-53 streak in his last fifteen games. The Dodgers are likely to remain with the status quo for some time to come. Outman may overtake Pagés at some point, but the Cuban outfielder doesn't seem to let the glove slip so easily and is putting up numbers that should keep him with the Dodgers.
Tuesday, Yordan Alvarez had one hit and José Abreu was idle.
Yordan went 1-for-4 against the Giants in Houston's 3-1 win. The single leaves him with a combined offensive line of .290/.365/.506 for the season with 15 doubles, triples, 13 home runs, and 33 RBIs. Meanwhile, Abreu wasn't in the Astros' lineup versus the Giants on Tuesday. Prior to being absent from the lineup Tuesday, Abreu had made six straight starts and had made appearances in nine consecutive games, going 5-for-29 over the latter span. With the 37-year-old getting a breather, Jon Singleton started at first and batted fifth.
Yariel Rodríguez struck out 10 over four shutout innings on Tuesday in a minor league rehab start for Triple-A Buffalo.
Rodríguez scattered three hits and one walk, needing an economical 67 pitches (46 strikes) to navigate four frames. According to Baseball Savant, Rodríguez threw 23 fastballs, 19 curveballs, 16 sliders, eight splitters and one sinker. In the start, his fastball reached 95.1 mph while averaging 92.3 mph. Four whiffs were also generated on nine swings by the pitch.
Sliders were also working in the game. All three times Worcester hitters took a swing at it, it produced a whiff, and Rodriguez landed it seven times for a called strike. The 27-year-old righty has made a handful of rehab appearances so far and figures to be ready to return to Toronto’s pitching mix as a multi-inning relief weapon at some point in the near future. Before going on the injured list, the 27-year-old pitched 15.1 innings with 16 strikeouts over four starts for the MLB team.
Lázaro Montes continuing incredible run in the Minors.
Seattle Mariners outfield prospect Lázaro Montes has been one of the best hitters in the minor leagues this season and has continued to post incredible numbers at Single-A. In his past seven games, the 19-year-old has held a .320/.438/.720 slash line with three home runs, eight RBI, and a 6:4 BB:K ratio. Overall, in 54 games with Single-A Modesto, he has a .329/.426/.559 line with 12 long balls and an incredible 64 RBI. Montes got a small taste of Single-A last summer and is clearly ready to move up to High-A. MLB Pipeline ranks Montes as the number four prospect in the Seattle system and 82nd among all prospects in baseball.
Pedro León has been productive in Triple-A Sugar Land.
In eight games in June, Houston Astros outfield prospect Pedro León has at least a hit in seven of those games and has multi-hit efforts in two. León has two homers and four RBI in the month. The Cuban has shown off plus power all year with 12 homers and 55 RBI in 58 games at Triple-A. The strikeouts are a bit of a concern (he has 12 strikeouts in June and has yet to draw a walk this month). The No. 26 prospect in the Astros system, León has put together a nice season at Sugar Land and could be knocking on the door for a chance to help Houston at the big-league level. The power potential alone could make him a helpful waiver wire add if he does get the call, and if he can improve the plate discipline a bit, he could be a great asset for the Astros at some point this season.
Víctor Mesa Jr. continues with a good year in Triple-A.
Miami Marlins outfield prospect Víctor Mesa Jr. has been putting together a strong season for Triple-A Jacksonville thus far. Over his first 53 games for Jacksonville, Mesa has hit .273 with 10 homers, 37 RBI and four stolen bases to go along with an .811 OPS. The 22-year-old has continued to show that his power game is legit after going yard for 18 homers in 2023 for Double-A Pensacola. Mesa swings the bat from the left side and is good at spreading the ball all across the field with his quick bat speed. Although he could use better plate discipline, Mesa is looking prepared for the next step and that could come this season with the Marlins likely to entertain offers on their current outfielders.
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