Urmaris Guerra

Urmaris Guerra Vargas (El Yogui)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• Born ~1988 in Campechuela, Granma Cuba

BR register page

Biographical Information

Urmaris Guerra has played for the Cuban national team.

Guerra hit .316/.361/.461 for the Granma Stallions in 2007-2008 as a third-string catcher and backup outfielder. Through that season, his third, he had hit .268 with a .382 slugging in just 123 at-bats as a bit player. At age 22 in 2008-2009, he fell to .229/.303/.427. Despite not having a set position still, he played very regularly (81 games) in 2009-2010 and put up a .301/.336/.472 line.

Winning a starting job in right field in 2010-2011, he batted .379/.457/.627 with 83 runs in 84 games; he drove 26 doubles and 16 home runs and drove home 72. Despite a productive year, his 1084 OPS was only third on a great Granma outfield which included home run leader Yoennis Céspedes (1093) and defending MVP Alfredo Despaigne (1132), both members of the Cuban national team. Guerra tied Héctor Olivera Jr. for third in the league in runs (behind Céspedes and Frederich Cepeda), tied Michel Enríquez and Yoandry Urgellés for fifth in hits (122), tied Urgellés for third in doubles and tied Rusney Castillo for 9th in total bases (202).

In the 2011 World Port Tournament, he was 2 for 11 with a run and a RBI for Cuba. He hit .302/.382/.438 in 2011-2012; that year, he hit the first grand slam to end a game involving the Schiller Rule, taking Maikel Hidalgo deep. In 2012-2013, he hit .303/.395/.394 between Granma and Isla de la Juventud, switching teams when Granma did not make the second half. He slumped to .186/.284/.284 with only two homers in 2013-2014.

Guerra bounced back in a big way in 2014-2015, batting .316/.393/.553 with 21 homers and 76 RBI in 86 games. He was third in slugging (behind Despaigne and Yordan Batista), beat out Despaigne for the home run king (by 4), led in RBI as well (5 ahead of Yordanis Samón), led in total bases (177, 11 more than José Adolis García) and was 6th in hits (101, between Yosvani Alarcón and Guillermo Aviles). He fielded .944. He was named an Offensive All-Star in LF; the other outfielders were Roel Santos and Yadiel Hernández (Despaigne was picked at DH and MVP).

He made Cuba's squad for the 2015 Pan American Games after Yadiel Hernández defected shortly before the tournament. He hit .318/.423/.636 with 7 runs and 7 RBI in 7 games as Cuba's starting right fielder, with 8 putouts and one assist. He homered off Puerto Rico's Benny Cepeda and Nicaragua's Jorge Bucardo. Down 6-3 against Puerto Rico in the bottom of the 9th in the Bronze Medal game, he singled off Raúl Rivera and scored on a three-run homer by Yorbis Borroto as Cuba rallied for a 7-6 win. He was 8th in the Games in slugging (betweenAndy Parrino and Jeffrey Dominguez), tied for 8th in home runs, tied for 5th in runs and tied for 5th in RBI (with Brock Kjeldgaard, Tyson Gillies, Dominguez and Raúl González).

After the Games, Guerra defected as well. He had hit .300/.417/.533 in the first 17 games of 2015-2016 before leaving Cuba in September.

Sources

• Beisbolcubano.cu
• Baseballdecuba.com
• Radiorebelde
• 2011 World Port Tournament
• 2015 Pan American Games
• Story on Guerra's defection