I continue to be blown away by Henry Urrutia‘s story. The outfielder/DH failed to defect in 2010 and was suspended from his league in Cuba. He successfully defected to Haiti in 2011 and signed with the Orioles in September of that year.
Urrutia struggled to obtain a visa, but after finally resolving the issue he reported to Double-A Bowie where he crushed Eastern League pitching (.365/.433/.550 in 52 games). Then he dominated International League pitching with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides (.367/.406/.467 in 16 games) and now he’s the Baltimore Orioles’ DH.
Anyone could have signed this guy, but the Orioles gave him a chance and it’s paying off.
On Thursday night, Urrutia added two more hits to his big league total and recorded his first career triple. The 26 year old is 7-for-20 with a run scored and 2 RBI in his first six games in the big leagues.
MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli shared an interested tidbit about Urrutia on Thursday. After he recorded his first hit in the big leagues, Urrutia didn’t keep the ball, instead he gave it to a close friend who helped him get to the U.S.
What an amazing story.
Hungry hank wants to win