Dominican Republic — Lourdes Gurriel Jr. can still recall the clothes he was wearing on the best day of his life: a white short-sleeved button-down shirt with a red stripe down the middle over the buttons, stylish black pants with rips across the knees and white high-top tennis shoes.
The aviator-style sunglasses were wiped clean, and the haircut was fresh. His big silver watch was polished.
It’s not every day a group of Major League Baseball stars visit Cuba’s Estadio Latinoamericano on a goodwill trip from the United States, so Gurriel wanted to fit in with big leaguers, even if it was only for one day last December.
The 22-year-old is considered the top prospect still on the island and a rising star in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, the country’s top league. If he ever fulfills his dream to play in the Major Leagues, Gurriel knows it will be because of the ongoing shift in politics between Cuba and the United States off the field and the advice he received from Padres outfielder Jon Jay that day at Havana’s most famous ballpark.
“It was the greatest experience of my life,” said Gurriel Jr., a key member of the Ciego de Avila team representing Cuba at the Caribbean Series this week. “I had the pleasure of speaking with my hero Miguel Cabrera, Jon Jay, Brayan Pena, Alexei Ramirez and all of the guys. But it was Jon Jay who really told me about being a professional athlete. Hearing those words from a Major League player is something that will stay with me forever.”
It was also Jay that introduced the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Gurriel Jr. to Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in the narrow hallway under the stadium behind home plate. Pena and Ramirez, who are also from Cuba and knew Gurriel Jr. as a child, were shocked to see how much he had grown when they were reunited in the home dugout a few minutes later.
