Blue Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr is absolutely raking since his return from the minors

Things have drastically changed for Lourdes Gurriel Jr over the course of the 2019 MLB season.

Heading into this year with optimism and hope to establish himself as a star, he struggled out of the gate at both the plate and on the field. High strikeout rate, lack of hitting, and an embarrassing trend of unforced errors at second base forced the Blue Jays to send him to Triple-A Buffalo to work on his issues in mid-April. He stayed down there for a a little over a month, until eventually being called up in late May due to injuries. To say he has excelled since his return is an understatement.

Since May 24, the 25-year old Cuban has posted a .327 batting average, and a 1.034 OPS to go a long with nine homers, and 18 RBI in 28 games. It may be a limited sample size, but those are All-Star numbers for a player many feel has had All-Star potential since signing a deal with the Jays as an international free agent back in November 2016.

A move from second base to left field has also paid dividends for Gurriel. He has limited his errors, and shown off his arm with five outfield assists in 27 games out in left field.

“Lourdes is unreal out there. Man, I can’t put it into words. He looks like he’s been playing left field for years,” said his Blue Jays teammate Marcus Stroman.

“It’s pretty shocking. And it’s exciting. It’s awesome to see how quickly he was able to adjust from infield to outfield. It’s been almost seamless.”

Gurriel Jr looks to continue with his hot bat as the Blue Jays travel to New York to face the Yankees in a three-game series starting Monday at 705pm/ET.