Yuniesky betancourt wikipedia

Cuban baseball player (born )

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Betancourt and the second or maternal family name is Pérez.

Baseball player

Yuniesky Betancourt
Betancourt with the Kansas City Royals in
Shortstop
Born: () January 31, (age&#;42) Santa Clara, Cuba
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB: July 28,&#;,&#;for the&#;Seattle Mariners
NPB: March 28,&#;,&#;for the&#;Orix Buffaloes
MLB: September 29,&#;,&#;for the&#;Milwaukee Brewers
NPB: May 14,&#;,&#;for the&#;Orix Buffaloes
Batting average
Home runs	80
Runs batted in
Batting average
Home runs	0
Runs batted in	4
Stats at Baseball Reference&#;

Yuniesky Betancourt Pérez (born 31 January ) is a Cuban former professional baseballshortstop.

Betancourt played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals.

Yuniesky betancourt fangraphs

Yuniesky betancourt scouting report

Yuniesky betancourt espn

He played in the Cuban National Series for Villa Clara before he defected from Cuba. In , he became the first former MLB player to return to the Cuban national baseball system after defecting from the country. However, he never played a game for Villa Clara in In Cuba, he is nicknamed "Riquimbili".

Cuban leagues

His early career was spent in the Cuban leagues, including Villa Clara of the Serie Nacional.

He was considered the fastest second baseman in the Cuban leagues and the star of the Villa Clara team. In the finals against the Industriales in , he got a hit in nearly every at bat, though the Industriales won, 4 games to 0. He left Cuba on a speedboat in December ^[1] and ended up in Mexico, where he played for a while before signing with Seattle Mariners scouts Bob Engle and Patrick Guerrero on 26 January ^[2] He made his major league debut on 28 July, ^[3]

Professional career

Seattle Mariners (–09)

Betancourt's initial calling card had been his fielding.

In his first few seasons, he had been considered one of the best fielders in the game, combining excellent range, quickness, soft hands, hand-eye coordination, and a strong, accurate throwing arm. He was named one of the top fielders in baseball in a online fan's poll.^[4] In , he made many good fielding plays;^[5] however, he suffered through spells of throwing wildness that season.

Bad throws accounted for most of his 18 errors in the first half of , almost as many as his total of He turned things around and made only 5 errors in the second half of His defense suffered in , with several fielding metrics calling him one of the worst shortstops in baseball.^[6][7]

Betancourt has been a hitter with some gap power who rarely strikes out or walks.

He has been criticized for his lack of plate discipline and inability to bunt.^[8][9] In , he walked only % of the time, the second-worst percentage in Major League Baseball.^[10] However, he only struck out % of the time, one of the top 20 percentages.^[11]

Betancourt was among the league leaders in batting with runners in scoring position and game-winning RBI in In a late season game in , former Mariner Mike Blowers referred to Betancourt as being "unreal" when batting with runners on in close late games-a result at odds with his career statistics.

He hit his first grand slam in a 7–6 win against the Chicago White Sox on 11 August ^[12]

In , he again walked only % of the time, the worst percentage in Major League Baseball.^[13] His strikeout rate dropped to %.^[13] He also saw the fewest pitches per plate appearance of all major leaguers, ^[14]

Kansas City Royals (–10)

On 10 July , he was acquired by the Kansas City Royals along with a portion of his salary for Minor League pitchers Derrick Saito and Dan Cortes.^[15]

In , he had the lowest on-base percentage of any starter in the major leagues, at ,^[16] and the lowest slugging percentage in the American League with

In , he hit an opening day home run off Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander,^[17] and went on to finish the season with a career-high 16 home runs.

Many of his other statistics, including his batting average, on-base percentage, and fielding percentage, increased slightly from his numbers.^[18]

Milwaukee Brewers ()

On 19 December , Betancourt was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers along with teammate Zack Greinke and US$2,,, reportedly to offset the buyout of Betancourt's club option in , for Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi.^[19]

In , he batted with a on-base percentage, and led the NL in sacrifice flies, with ^[20] He saw the fewest pitches per plate appearance of all major league ballplayers with or more plate appearances, at ^[21]

Betancourt hit his first career postseason home run on 9 October in a 9–6 win over the St.

Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLCS.^[22]

Despite having the lowest on-base-percentage of any qualifying shortstop in baseball, he started a majority of the games for the Brewers. Against the Padres on 9 May , Betancourt had one of the most acrobatic double plays of the season, as he turned a ball hit up the middle into a running, behind-the-back toss to Rickie Weeks as they turned the double play.

Nevertheless, he posted below average defensive marks by a number of advanced metrics.^[23]

Return to Kansas City ()

On 20 December , Betancourt signed a one-year deal to return to Kansas City worth $2 million.^[24] He was released by the Royals on 14 August, becoming a free agent.^[25] He had played in 57 games, starting 51, with a average and OBP.^[26]

Philadelphia Phillies ()

On 28 January , Betancourt signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies with an invitation to spring training.^[27] On 24 March the Phillies released Betancourt.^[28]

Return to Milwaukee ()

On 26 March , pending a physical, Betancourt signed a 1-year deal to return to the Milwaukee Brewers.^[29] In the first few weeks of the season, he was the MLB leader in home runs.

He played games with a slash line of // His batting average and on-base percentage were the worst of his career, and his slugging percentage was well below his career average of ^[30] He would never appear in the MLB again after

Throughout his MLB career, Betancourt directly earned approximately $16 million.^[31]

Orix Buffaloes

On 28 January Betancourt signed a 1-year deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball.^[32][33] On 22 July he was released from the Orix Buffaloes with an injury.

Toros de Tijuana

On 21 April , Betancourt signed with the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League.^[34] He was released on 29 April In 21 games he hit // with 1 home run, 9 RBIs and 1 stolen base.

Leones de Yucatán

On 10 April , Betancourt signed with the Leones de Yucatán.

In 50 games he hit // with 1 home run and 24 RBIs.

Guerreros de Oaxaca

On 11 March , Betancourt was traded to the Guerreros de Oaxaca.^{[citation needed]} In 56 games he hit // with 4 home runs, 49 RBIs and 5 stolen bases.

Return to Cuba and later life

In late March , it was reported that Betancourt had successfully repatriated and joined the Santa Clara team in the Villa Clara Provincial League.

He thus became the first Cuban ex-MLB player to return to the Cuban national baseball system.^[35] Betancourt is expected to rejoin Villa Clara for the –20 Cuban National Series, as he has previously stated a desire to finish his career playing for his hometown team.^[36]

In April , Betancourt was arrested after being accused of defrauding Chicago-based insurance provider Kemper in Florida.

He and three others were charged with filing false insurance claims, an organized scheme to defraud, faking an accident, and third-degree grand theft.^[31]

See also

References

External links