A Tribute to Yuli Gurriel: An unbelievable, amazing two week stretch to be re...

EeloVeme

I’m going to be blunt and use some language I don’t usually use. Yuli Gurriel has taken a lot of shit here at The Crawfish Boxes. Too much. We’ve become kind of spoiled here in Houston by the prolonged excellence of our great team J.R. Richard Jersey, and it seems we are a little impatient at times when a player has the inevitable slump.I’m as much to blame as anyone. On June 18th I published an article entitled: Who’s on First...Will the Astros upgrade their weakest position? It even included the famous Abbott and Costello comedy routine. One commenter, typical of what many have been saying all year, suggested: “ Move Yuli and platoon (Reddick at first) with Diaz.” Another proposed packaging Yuli with prospects for the White Sox’ Jose Abreu.It’s understandable. At a position usually reserved for sluggers, Yuli Gurriel was hitting 81 wRC+, nineteen percent below league average. He had five home runs in 304 plate appearances. The Astros were reportedly even in on the bidding for Edwin Encarnacion, so disenchanted were they with Yuli’s output. At 35, had old-man time finally caught up with the former superstar of international baseball?Since June 23rd Yuli Gurriel has gone on a hitting spree that is truly unprecedented. In eleven games he has nine home runs, the most home runs in a comparable time span in Astros history. His slash line is as follows: .400/.449./1.067 https://www.houstonastrosteamshop.com/Astros_Brad_Peacock_Jersey-9. Yeah, that’s a 1.516 OPS, a 289 wRC+! Waaat? In 49 PAs he has 18 hits, three doubles, 13 runs and 18 RBI. Eighteen RBI in eleven games? These aren’t just hits, they are clutch hits https://www.houstonastrosteamshop.com/Astros_Joe_Morgan_Jersey-112, they are often times dramatic, game-winning hits. In this era of Yordan-mania, I think Yuli’s recent streak goes under-appreciated. Let’s examine his amazing contributions over this span, game by game.June 23rd, 2019. Astros YankeesGurriel went 2-4, with two runs scored and an RBI on a solo hoe run. His performance that day was overshadowed by the home run by the newly returned Jose Altuve and, of course, the seventh home run by Jordan Alvarez. Recap title was: Cuban Missiles down Yankees, 9-4.