Giovanny Urshela Salcedo (born October 11, 1991) is a Colombian
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
for the
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...
of
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
,
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
,
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
and
Minnesota Twins.
Urshela made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2015. After playing sparingly for Cleveland in 2015 and 2017, he played briefly for Toronto in 2018, before being traded to the Yankees for cash considerations. Urshela emerged as a valuable hitter for the Yankees during the 2019 season and was traded to Minnesota before the 2022 season.
Career
Cleveland Indians
Urshela signed with the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
as an international free agent in July 2008. He made his professional debut in 2009, playing for the
Dominican Summer League Indians
The Dominican Summer League Guardians are a minor league baseball team in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. They are a Rookie-level team in the Dominican Summer League and are an affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. Since 2011, the DSL Guardians ha ...
and the
Arizona League Indians
The Arizona Complex League Guardians are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. The team is c ...
.
![Giovanny Urshela on July 5, 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Giovanny_Urshela_on_July_5%2C_2013.jpg)
Urshela started the 2014 season with Akron and was promoted to the
Columbus Clippers of the
Class AAA
Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...
International League during the season. After the 2014 season, the Indians added Urshela to their
40-man roster
A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...
. He was named the Indians' fourth best prospect by MLB.com in 2015.
Urshela began the 2015 season with Columbus. He was called up to the major leagues on June 8, 2015. He got his first major league hit, a single, and first major league home run in the same game against the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
on June 11, 2015. He spent the entire 2016 season playing with Columbus and in the offseason he played winter baseball in the
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year.
History Early years
Baseball exp ...
for
Águilas del Zulia alongside future Yankees teammate
Mike Tauchman.
![Giovanni Urshela (35494062833)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Giovanni_Urshela_%2835494062833%29.jpg)
Urshela batted .224 in 67 major league games for Cleveland in 2017. He opened the
2018 season on the disabled list. After completing his rehab assignment in the minors, Urshela was designated for assignment on May 4.
He had batted .225 in 453
plate appearances for Cleveland.
Toronto Blue Jays
On May 9, 2018, Cleveland traded Urshela to the
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
for cash considerations or a player to be named later.
Urshela batted .233 with one home run and three RBIs in 19 games for Toronto, before he was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays on June 26. He cleared waivers and was assigned outright to the Triple-A
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...
on July 3. He batted .244 in 91 plate appearances for the Bisons.
New York Yankees
On August 4, 2018, the Blue Jays traded Urshela to the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
in exchange for cash considerations. The Yankees assigned him to the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the ...
. He worked with
Phil Plantier
Phillip Alan Plantier (born January 27, 1969) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily as an outfielder from 1990 to 1997. Listed at and , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. ...
, the RailRiders'
hitting coach, to make changes to his batting stance. Urshela batted .307 in 107 plate appearances for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The Yankees selected Urshela's contract on April 6, 2019, after
Miguel Andújar
Miguel Enrique Andújar (born March 2, 1995) is a Dominican professional baseball third baseman and left fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the New York Yankees in 2017 and played for the ...
, the Yankees' starting third baseman tore his right shoulder
labrum. Urshela began the season hitting 25-for-71 (.352), and continued to play for the Yankees when Andújar returned briefly in May, though Andújar soon opted to have season-ending surgery.
Urshela opened the 2020 season as the Yankees' starting third baseman. He played in 43 of the team's 60 games, missing time with a groin injury in late August. He batted .298/.368/.490 with 6 home runs and 30 runs batted in, and led all qualifying third basemen with a .992 fielding percentage. On September 30, in Game 2 of the
AL Wild Card Series, Urshela became the first Yankees third baseman to hit a postseason grand slam doing so against his former team, the Cleveland Indians. This also helped the Yankees sweep the Indians in the best-of-three Wild Card Series. The Yankees went on to lose in the
Division Series
The Division Series is the quarterfinal round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Four series are played in this round, two each for both the American League and the National League.
1981 season
The first use of the term "Division Series" date ...
to the Tampa Bay Rays in five games.
Minnesota Twins
On March 13, 2022, the Yankees traded Urshela and
Gary Sánchez to the
Minnesota Twins in exchange for
Josh Donaldson
Joshua Adam Donaldson (born December 8, 1985) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Atla ...
,
Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (born March 23, 1995), often abbreviated as IKF, is an American professional baseball shortstop for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers from 2018 to 2021.
Kin ...
and
Ben Rortvedt. In 2022 he batted .285/.338/.429. He was picked off second base twice, tops in the majors.
In October 2022, it was announced that Urshela would spend the 2022 offseason playing with his hometown
Tigres de Cartagena of the
Colombian Professional Baseball League
The Colombian Professional Baseball League ( es, Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombiano, links=no or LPB), is a professional baseball league based in Colombia. It is a five-team winter league that plays during the Major League Baseball offseason ...
.
Los Angeles Angels
On November 18, 2022, Urshela was traded from the Twins to the
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...
for minor league pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo.
International career
Before the 2013 season he played for the
Colombian national baseball team in the
qualifiers for the
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Lea ...
, but the team lost to Panama and failed to qualify for the tournament. He played for the
Colombian national baseball team again after they qualified for the
2017 World Baseball Classic. In 14 plate appearances, he slashed .143/.143/.143 with two hits.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Urshela, Gio
1991 births
2017 World Baseball Classic players
Águilas del Zulia players
Colombian expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Akron Aeros players
Akron RubberDucks players
Arizona League Indians players
Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Carolina Mudcats players
Cleveland Indians players
Colombian expatriate baseball players in Canada
Colombian expatriate baseball players in the United States
Columbus Clippers players
Dominican Summer League Indians players
Colombian expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic
Lake County Captains players
Living people
Major League Baseball players from Colombia
Major League Baseball third basemen
Mahoning Valley Scrappers players
Minnesota Twins players
New York Yankees players
Sportspeople from Cartagena, Colombia
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players
Toronto Blue Jays players