Lourdes Yunielki Gurriel Castillo Jr....Played for Sancti Spíritus and the Industriales of the Cuban National Series before defecting...In February of 2016, Lourdes and his brother, Yulieski, defected from Cuba after competing in the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic...Ranked as one of the top international prospects available following his defection...His eldest brother, Yunieski, played almost two decades in Cuba’s Serie Nacional and also starred for Quebec in the Canadian-American Association...Their father, Lourdes Gurriel Sr., played for Cuba’s national team for 15 years and won a gold medal, two batting titles, and a Most Valuable Player Award...He was also a national team manager...The brothers also had an uncle, great uncle, and cousin who shone on the diamond in Cuba...Ranked as the Blue Jays’ fifth-best prospect by Baseball America entering 2018.
2021
Led the AL with a .368 RISP batting average (42-for-114)...Nominated for a Gold Glove for the 2nd consecutive season...His 12 outfield assists tied for 5th most in MLB and led all left fielders...Hit his first home run of the season April 28 vs. WAS, snapping a career-long 19-game homerless drought...Picked up two outfield assists in the second game of the doubleheader May 27 at NYY...Marked the second time in his career with two OF assists in a single game (also: June 15, 2019, at HOU)...Drilled his 7th bomb of the year June 18 at BAL to end a 0-for-18 drought...Hit his 1st career grand slam in the first inning June 24 at BAL...Was his 8th home run of the year and 50th of his career...Reached the 10-homer mark July 6 at BAL while recording his seventh three-hit game...Launched his second career grand slam in the first inning in the 2nd game of the doubleheader on July 18 vs. TEX...Drove in a pair of runs on Aug. 13 at SEA, bringing his RBI season total to 51 for a new career-high (50 RBI in 2019)...Hit a game-tying grand slam in the 8th inning on Sept. 3 vs. OAK, becoming the 4th player in franchise history with three slams in a single season (Carlos Delgado - 1997, Darrin Fletcher - 2000, Edwin Encarnacion - 2015)...Became the 3rd Blue Jay to hit a game-tying grand slam in the 8th inning or later, joining Rick Bosetti (May 7, 1978, at SEA) and George Bell (June 20, 1986, vs. NYY)...Smashed his 16th longball of the year Sept. 4 vs. OAK, homering in consecutive games for the fourth time this season (10th career)...Went 3-for-5 with four RBI, becoming the 8th player in franchise history to record 4+ RBI in consecutive games...Reached 70 RBI for the 1st time in his career with his 17th homer in the 1st game of the doubleheader Sept. 11 at BAL...Hit a pair of homers on Sept. 12 at BAL, including a first-inning grand slam, his franchise-record 4th slam of the season... Became the second player in MLB history with three first-inning slams in a season, joining Carlos Delgado in 1997...His two-run home run in the fifth inning went 460 feet, the farthest of his career...Became the only player ever with seven RBI, five runs and three walks in a single game...Crushed his 21st bomb on Sept. 21 at TB for a new career-high (20 home runs in 2019)...Homered in consecutive games for the 5th time this year (11th career)...Recorded 30 RBI in September to lead the Majors and tie the club record for RBI in the month of September (Kelly Gruber - 30 in 1990)...Batted .329 (28-for-85) with six doubles, two triples, and seven homers in the month...His 26 RBI in a 13 game span from Sept. 1-13 were second-most in team history (Edwin Encarnacion-27).
2020
Led the team with 64 hits, tied for 7th most among AL hitters...Ranked 6th in the AL with a .308 batting average while ranking 11th with a .534 slugging percentage...Led all AL hitters with a .350 road batting average and 43 road hits...His .351 AVG on breaking balls ranked 8th in MLB (4th in the AL)...Nominated for a Gold Glove for his play in left field...led all MLB left fielder in total chances (104) and putouts (100) while tied for 6th in assists (3)...according to Stats Perform, his 1.94 Range Factor/Game was the best among all qualified left fielders...Homered for the 1st time in 2020 on July 28 at WAS, a solo go-ahead home run in the 4th inning...had 11 of his first 32 career home runs hit as go-ahead blasts...On Aug. 20 vs. PHI, won Game 1 of a doubleheader with a walk-off RBI single...In Game 2, hit his 2nd home run of the year...Won MLB Play of the Week (Aug. 17-23) for his outfield assist from the left-field corner to home plate on Aug. 21 at TB...Belted a two-run homer on Aug. 23 at TB, his 3rd home run of the season, giving him 10 RBI in his last seven games...Hit a solo shot on Aug. 24 at TB, homering in consecutive games for the 4th time in his career...Drove in both runs with a home run in the Jays’ 2-1 win on Sept. 2 at MIA, his 5th long-ball and his 2nd go-ahead homer...Hit his 1st career extra-inning home run, a solo shot in the 10th inning on Sept. 3 at BOS...homered in consecutive games for the 5th time in his career...Singled four times on Sept. 6 at BOS for his 2nd career four-hit game (also May 26, 2019 vs. SD)...Named AL Player of the Week for Aug. 31-Sept. 6...Hit .467 (14-for-30) over eight games, including three doubles, two home runs and six RBI (.515 OBP, 1.282 OPS)...Recorded two-run homers on Sept. 13 vs. NYM and Sept. 15 at NYY...homered in consecutive games for the 6th time in his career and 3rd time in 2020...Slugged two solo shots for his 5th career multi-HR game on Sept. 17 at NYY...added a single and a double, tying a career-best with four hits for the 3rd time...the 11 total bases were a career-high...Went 4-for-4 with his 11th home run on Sept. 27 vs. BAL...was one of four players in 2020 with 3+ four-hit games (Tim Anderson - 4, DJ LeMahieu - 4, Jose Iglesias - 3)...Was 50-for-146 (.342) with 11 doubles, 10 home runs and 30 RBI in his last 40 games of the regular season (1.009 OPS)... since that stretch began on Aug. 17, ranked 3rd in the AL in hits, 3rd in batting average, 3rd in total bases (78), T-3rd in extra-base hits (21), 4th in slugging (.623), 4th in OPS, T-5th in home runs and 6th in RBI...Made his postseason debut in Game 1 of the ALWC on Sept. 29 at TB...went 2-for-4 on a single and a double...became the 9th player in team history to record multiple hits in his 1st career playoff game, and became the 10th with an extra-base hit in his 1st playoff game (Cavan Biggio was 9th earlier in the game)...Became the 5th player in team history to record an outfield assist in the postseason when he threw out Mike Brosseau in the 1st inning of Game 2.
2019
Limited to 84 games due to a stint with Triple-A Buffalo and two placements on the injured list...Snapped a career-long 0-for-25 drought with an infield single on April 3 vs. BAL...Added an RBI double for his 22nd career multi-hit effort (70th game)...Became the 6th player in Blue Jays history to record a straight steal of home when he accomplished the feat on April 9 at BOS (last: Kevin Pillar - March 31, 2018 vs. NYY)...Optioned to Triple-A Buffalo on April 15 (.273 AVG in 30G)...Recalled on May 24...Hit .273 (33-for-121) in 30 games for the Bisons while transitioning to the outfield (13-2B, 4 HR, 26 RBI)...Recorded his 1st home run of the season in his first game after being recalled, on May 24 vs. SD...Hit his 2nd homer on May 25 vs. SD, homering in back-to-back contests for the 2nd time in his career (also Sept. 20-21, 2018 vs. TB)...Belted a solo shot in the 4th inning on May 26 vs. SD…Homered in three consecutive contests for the 1st time in his career, doing so in each game since being recalled...Finished 4-for-4 with two RBI for his 1st career four-hit game...Extended his career-best extra-base hit streak to seven games with a double on May 31 at COL...Notched his 1st career triple on June 8 vs. ARI...Recorded two assists while in left field on June 15 at HOU, becoming the 1st player in team history to have 2+ assists in a game within his first 19 career games in LF...Hit a three-run home run and a solo shot off of James Paxton for his 3rd career multi-HR game on June 26 at NYY...Tied a career high with his four-RBI day, having also done so 10 days earler, on June 16, 2019 at HOU....Homered twice for his 4th career multi-HR game on June 28 vs. KC...Became the 4th player in team history with back-toback multi-HR games (Jesse Barfield - 1983; Edwin Encarnacion - 2014; Josh Donaldson - 2017)...Gave him 14 home runs since his May 24 recall, the most in the Majors over that stretch...From May 24-June 28, led the AL in home runs (14), AVG (.352), SLG (.768), OPS (1.156) and total bases (96), while also leading all MLB outfielders with six assists...Recorded six consecutive multi-hit games from June 22-28, tied for the 5th longest streak in the Majors in 2019...On July 7 vs. BAL, hit his then team-leading 16th home run...Became the 1st player ever to lead his team in home runs at the All-Star break after hitting 0 HR in the first 50 team games (courtesy STATS)...Sent the game to extras with a two-run homer in the 9th inning on July 21 at DET, his 2nd career game-tying home run in the 9th (also Sept. 20, 2018 vs. TB)...Hit his 19th homer of the season on Aug. 7 at TB, becoming the fastest player to reach 30 career home runs in Blue Jays history (143 games)...Landed on the IL with a left quad strain from Aug. 9-Sept. 13...Went 2-for-3 with a double in his first game back from the injured list, on Sept. 14 vs. NYY...On Sept. 19 at BAL, followed up a Cavan Biggio blast with his 20th home run of the season, extending Toronto's clubrecord in back-to-back homers to 13 (11 in 2009)...Reached the 20-HR mark for the 1st time in his career...Missed the final four games of the season due to an appendectomy...Placed on the 60-day IL on Sept. 25.
2018
Among AL rookies (min. 200 PA), ranked 4th in AVG (.281), 7th in SLG (.446) and 8th in OPS (.755) ... His 70 hits tied for 4th most all-time by a Toronto batter through his first 65 career games ... Had an 11-game multi-hit streak from July 11-29, surpassing Tony Fernandez (9G in 1986) for the longest in franchise history... Was the longest by a rookie all-time and tied for the longest in AL history with Shoeless Joe Jackson (1912) and Sam Rice (1925)...Became the 7th player since 1900 to record an 11+ game multi-hit streak (last: Tony Perez - 11 in 1973) ... Had hits in each of his 18 starts from June 21-Aug. 18, tied for the 4th longest streak in the Majors... Hit .423 (33-for-78) with 4-2B, 5-HR and 16-RBI over that span ... Had a career-long 12-game hitting streak from July 11-Aug. 24 (.481, 26-for-54, 3-2B, 3-HR, 10-RBI), one game shy of Justin Smoak for the longest by a Blue Jay in 2018 ... Reached base in 15 straight games from July 11-Aug. 28 (.415/.449/.600) ... Hit .423 (30-for-71) over the course of July for the highest batting average in the AL... Was named AL rookie of the month, the 7th player in team history to claim the honour (last: Devon Travis - April, 2015) ... Was on the DL with a concussion from July 15-21 and landed there again from July 30-Aug. 23 with a left ankle sprain ... Reached base safely in 37 of his last 44 starts (.311/.343/.482) ... Called up from Double-A New Hampshire on April 20... Recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on June 19 and July 2... Went 17-for-49 (.347) for the Fisher Cats (5-XBH, 11-RBI) and hit .281 (38-for-135) over 34 games for the Bisons, with 8-2B, 5-HR and 28-RBI ... In his MLB debut on April 21 at NYY, drove in two runs with a 4th-inning single and added a 3rd RBI with a single in his next at-bat...Became the 4th Blue Jay all-time with a 2+ hit and 3+ RBI MLB debut (Pat Borders, Eric Hinske, J.P. Arencibia) ... Hit his 1st career home run, a solo shot off Bartolo Colon, to start the 7th inning on April 28 vs. TEX ... In Game 1 of a doubleheader on May 3 at CLE, hit his 1st career double... Went 3-for-5 for his 1st career three-hit effort... Put the Jays ahead, 8-7, with a single in the 7th ... Notched his 3rd career HR and went 2-for-4 for his 4th career multi-hit effort (21st game) on June 21 at LAA ... Recorded 13 RBI in his first 24 MLB games, becoming one of 10 Blue Jays all-time with 13+ RBI through their first 24 career games ... On July 23 vs. MIN, became the 13th player in team history to record 5+ HR in his first 33 MLB games (12th player with 16+ RBI) ... Followed up a Curtis Granderson leadoff homer with a home run of his own on July 27 at CWS, starting a game with back-to-back home runs for the 4th time in franchise history... Added another blast for his 1st career multi-HR game... Added a double for his 3rd three-hit game and his 1st career 3-XBH game ... Tied the game, 8-8, in the 9th inning with his 9th home run on Sept. 20 vs. TB... Was his 1st game-tying HR and his 1st 9th-inning homer ... On Sept. 21 vs. TB, homered twice for his 2nd career multi-HR game... Became the 14th player in team history to homer in three straight plate appearances and the 1st Blue Jays rookie to do so... Along with his brother, Yuli (HOU), became the 1st set of brothers in MLB history with multi-HR games on the same day.
2017
Assigned to the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays to start the season ... Spent time on the disabled list from April 6-18 (thumb and hamstring) ... Re-injured his leg in his minor league debut on April 19 (1-for-2, 2B, RBI) and returned to the DL from April 20-June 18 ... Promoted to Double-A New Hampshire on July 12 after 18 games with Dunedin (.197 AVG, 1-2B, 1-HR, 8-RBI) ... Slashed .241/.286/.371 over 46 games for the Fisher Cats, including 10-2B, 4-HR and 28-RBI with 10BB/30K and 2-SB ... Started 17 games at shortstop and 21 games at second base for New Hampshire ... Played for the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League after the season where he hit .291 (23-for-79) in 21 games (7-2B, 3-HR, 11-RBI).
2016
In August declared a free agent by Major League Baseball...Ranked as the sixth best international prospect available at that point...In September, he held a showcase of his skills at Rod Carew Stadium that was attended by 60 MLB scouts.... On November 12, signed a seven-year, Major League contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.
