Reporting from Havana — In the last 26 months, three Cuban defectors have signed baseball contracts worth a combined $202 million. Yet, perhaps the best young player in a generation still is on the island.
Lourdes Gourriel Jr., a tall, rangy infielder, has been on the radar of some big league teams since 2010, when he played in the junior world championships as a 16-year-old. In the last season and a half, he has begun to blossom, hitting .314 with 16 home runs and 72 runs batted in over 97 games for Havana’s Industriales.
So at 22, he is following the negotiations between Major League Baseball and the Cuban federation with interest since it could make him the first Cuban in nearly 60 years to be able sign a big league contract while still on the island.
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“Every player, this is the biggest dream you have,” Gourriel said at Havana’s Estadio Latinoamericano, his team’s home park. “I don’t think it’s that far away.”
The Gourriels are the first family of Cuban baseball. Lourdes Gourriel Sr. was an a most valuable player in Cuba, an Olympic champion and a two-time batting champion who played 15 years with the national team before becoming a manager. One older brother, Yunieski Gourriel, was a star center fielder in Cuba and the other, Yulieski, 31, is a two-time MVP in the island’s Serie Nacional.
There’s also an uncle, a cousin and a nephew who played in Cuba, and only one of the six failed to hit .300.
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The past dies slowly in Cuba, where every baseball park has a photo or portrait of Fidel Castro in fatigues playing baseball.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Infielder Lourdes Gourriel Jr., Cuba’s next potential superstar, could benefit from improved relations with the U.S.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Former Cuban pitching great Pedro Luis Lazo takes part at a baseball camp in Cuba during the MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Conditions are rudimentary in Cuba, as the player’s weight room in Matanzas proves.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Defector Brayan Pena, an 11-year veteran in the major leagues, teaches youth players the finer points of catching during the MLB goodwill tour in Cuba.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Cuban defector Jose Abreu, who has hit 66 home runs in two seasons with the White Sox, drew a big crowd wherever he went in his first trip back to Cuba during the MLB’s goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig tips his cap to the crowd during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw plays catch with a young Cuban player during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig greets Cuban players before Wednesday’s clinic at Estadio Latinoamericano during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig holds his nephew during a clinic at Esadio Latinamericano in Havana during a MLB goodwill tour in Cuba.
(Yamil Lage / AFP/Getty Images)
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Cuban children line up ahead of Wednesday’s clinic at Estadio Latinoamericano during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig greets Cuban players before Wednesday’s clinic at Estadio Latinoamericano during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Yohandri Grandal, 23, left, and Avelino Grandal, brother and father of Dodger catcher Yasmani Grandal
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig talks to Cuban players at Estadio Latinoamericano during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Jerseys of the MLB players, including No. 66 for Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig and pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s No. 22, wait for the players on the railing of the third-base dugout at Estadio Latinoamericano during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Cardinals catcher Brayan Pena talks to Cuban kids about how to be a catcher during a MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw teaches kids the art of pitching during a clinic as part of an MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw welcomes everyone to a baseball clinic at Estadio Victoria de Giron in Matanzas, Cuba, on Thursday as part of an MLB goodwill tour.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers fan Lautaro Martin holds up his Yasiel Puig jersey during a public event Thursday at Estadio Victoria de Giron in Matanzas, Cuba
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw high-fives youth players after a clinic in Cuba.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw does a long-toss drill with Cuban catcher Roberto Loredo during a workout in Cuba on Thursday.
(Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)
Given their talents, any one of them could have played in the majors. But to do that, they would have had to defect, leaving behind their family. The clock is now ticking on the youngest Gourriel, who also won’t go to the U.S. if it means leaving Cuba behind.
But as he watched three former defectors, players once banned from the island, give a clinic to 180 youngsters, it was obvious the old rules were fading.
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“It’s really emotional. I never thought something like this would happen. It’s a really big deal,” he said. “A lot of things have to happen but I hope to somebody be a part of something like this, coming back to Cuba [a big leaguer].”
Kevin Baxter writes about soccer and hockey for the Los Angeles Times. He has covered seven World Cups, five Olympic Games, six World Series and a Super Bowl and has contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning series at The Times and Miami Herald. An essay he wrote in fifth grade was voted best in the class. He has a cool dog.
