Yandy Díaz

Cuban-born baseball player (born 1991)
Baseball player
Yandy Díaz
Díaz with the Cleveland Indians in 2017
Tampa Bay Rays – No. 2
Third baseman / First baseman
Born: (1991-08-08) August 8, 1991 (age 32)
Sagua La Grande, Villa Clara, Cuba
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 3, 2017, for the Cleveland Indians
MLB statistics
(through March 28, 2024)
Batting average.291
Home runs62
Runs batted in278
Teams
  • Cleveland Indians (2017–2018)
  • Tampa Bay Rays (2019–present)
Career highlights and awards

Yandy Díaz Fernández (born August 8, 1991) is a Cuban-born professional baseball third baseman and first baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Cleveland Indians.

Cuban career

Díaz began his career with the Naranjas de Villa Clara in the 2008-09 Cuban National Series; at 16 years old, he registered two hits and two walks over seven plate appearances. The next year with Villa Clara, he slashed .292/.417/.351 in 67 games. In his final season with Villa Clara, he slashed .254/.399/.331 in 59 games. He was not included on the roster for the 2012–13 season, which saw Villa Clara win the championship.

In 2013, at 21 years old, Diaz defected from Holguin, Cuba to Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic alongside his childhood friend Leandro Linares and another unnamed individual.[1] He had previously attempted to defect twice, both times which he was caught and arrested by the Cuban government. In August, he signed with the Cleveland Indians for $300,000.[2]

American career

Minor Leagues

Díaz played for the Carolina Mudcats of the High–A Carolina League in 2014.[3] Playing for the Akron RubberDucks of the Double–A Eastern League in 2015, Díaz was named an All-Star.[4] The Indians promoted him to the Columbus Clippers of the Triple–A International League in September, and assigned him to the Arizona Fall League after the 2015 regular season.[5][6] Díaz began the 2016 season with Akron and was subsequently promoted to Columbus, where he won the International League Rookie of the Year Award.[7]

Cleveland Indians

Díaz earned a non-roster invitation to the Indians' 2017 major league spring training camp. After batting .458 (22-for-48) with a 1.252 OPS during spring training, and after injuries to other players forced the Indians to adjust their roster, Díaz was named the Indians' starting third baseman for the start of the 2017 season.[8][9] Diaz played 49 games, slashing .262/.352/.327 predominantly playing third base.

Diaz spent the 2018 season between Columbus and the Cleveland Indians, playing 39 games and slashing .312/.375/.422 with one home run and 15 RBIs.

Tampa Bay Rays

On December 13, 2018, the Indians traded Díaz to the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-team trade in which the Rays also acquired Cole Sulser for Jake Bauers, and the Seattle Mariners acquired Edwin Encarnación from the Indians for Carlos Santana.[10] Díaz missed some time due to injury during the season, only accumulating 307 at bats. He did hit 14 home runs and 38 RBI.

Díaz hit two home runs in the 2019 American League Wild Card Game as the Rays defeated the Oakland Athletics.[11]

Although plagued by a hamstring injury in September 2020, Díaz appeared in 34 games of the abbreviated 2020 season, slashing .307/.428/.386 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI.[12]

In the 2022 season, Díaz hit .296/.401/.423, leading the Rays in on-base percentage (.401), OPS (.824), and OPS+ (142), and finished second only to Harold Ramírez in batting average. He received MVP votes for the first time in his career. On January 31, 2023, he signed a three–year, $24 million contract extension with the Rays.[13]

Díaz was named to his first All-Star Game in 2023, when he was elected the American League starter at first base. In his first at-bat, he hit a solo home run to put the AL up 1-0, becoming the first Rays starter to homer in an All-Star Game and the first Cuban-born player to do so since Cookie Rojas in 1972.[14] Notably, Diaz and his wife welcomed their first son the day after the All-Star Game, meaning that Diaz flew into Seattle the morning of the All-Star Game and flew back immediately after. He was officially placed on the paternity list on July 14.[15] Díaz led the AL in batting average (beating out Corey Seager on the last day of the season) and in batting average on balls in play (.367), as he hit .330/.410/.522 with 22 home runs and 78 runs batted in.[16] In doing so, he became the third Cuban-born player to win a batting title, after Tony Oliva and Yuli Gurriel. Díaz also won the 2023 Silver Slugger Award for AL first basemen.[17]

Díaz was announced as part of FEPCUBE's "Patria y Vida" team of expatriate Cuban ballplayers participating in the inaugural Intercontinental Series in Barranquilla, Colombia.[18]

Personal life

His father, Jorge, also defected from Cuba to play professional baseball in the United States. Jorge Díaz briefly played in the Texas Rangers organization and spent the rest of his career in independent leagues.[19] Yandy was six years old when he last saw his father.[20] Diaz is of Afro-Cuban descent.

Díaz is married to his wife, Mayisleidis. They welcomed a son, Yandy Jared Díaz, in July 2023.[15][21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hoynes, Paul (2017-03-19). "Straight out of Cuba: Yandy Diaz, Leandro Linares signed with Cleveland Indians after defecting together". cleveland.com. Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  2. ^ Hoynes, Paul (March 18, 2017). "Straight out of Cuba: Yandy Diaz, Leandro Linares signed with Cleveland Indians after defecting together". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  3. ^ "Yandy Diaz is a hit right now for Akron RubberDucks: Cleveland Indians Class AA Report". cleveland.com. 2015-05-15. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  4. ^ "Yandy Diaz honored for hot season with RubberDucks: Cleveland Indians AA Report". cleveland.com. 2015-08-29. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  5. ^ Spencer Davies. "RubberDucks third baseman Yandy Diaz establishing himself as one of baseball's top minor-league prospects". www.ohio.com. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  6. ^ Jim Massie. "Baseball – Clippers: Lindor's flash kick-started season that produced a title". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  7. ^ "Clippers' Yandy Diaz named IL's top rookie". The Columbus Dispatch. August 31, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  8. ^ Zack Meisel (March 30, 2017). "Infield is set: Yandy Diaz, Michael Martinez make Cleveland Indians' Opening Day roster". Cleveland.com. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  9. ^ "Indians set Opening Day roster". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Rays get infielder Diaz, trade Bauers to Tribe". MLB.com. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Diaz shrugs off pressure as 2-HR night fuels Rays". 2019-10-03.
  12. ^ "Rays' Yandy Diaz: Determined to bounce back in '21". CBSSports.com. February 17, 2021.
  13. ^ "Rays finalize 3-year, $24 million extension with Yandy Díaz". tampabay.com. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  14. ^ Toribio, Juan (July 11, 2022). "'My head is spinning': New dad-to-be Yandy Díaz's whirlwind All-Star experience". MLB.com.
  15. ^ a b Topkin, Marc. "Rays' Yandy Diaz will miss at least Friday's game after birth of son". Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  16. ^ "Major League Leaderboards - 2023 - Batting". FanGraphs Baseball.
  17. ^ "Yandy Díaz wins AL Silver Slugger Award". MLB.com. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  18. ^ "Anunciado el roster preliminar FEPCUBE 'Patria y Vida' que jugará en la Serie Intercontinental de Béisbol". Diario de Cuba. 29 December 2023.
  19. ^ "Jorge Díaz - Cuban, Minor & Independent Lg Stats". Baseball Reference.
  20. ^ "Cuban Yandy Diaz breaks from past, embraces future". americansportsnet.com. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  21. ^ Topkin, Marc [@TBTimes_Rays] (July 18, 2023). "#Rays Diaz rejoined team after missing last 3 games attending to this guy, newborn son Yandy Jared Diaz, who arrived Wednesday at 9 pounds and 20 inches" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

External links

  • Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
  • Yandy Diaz on Instagram
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