out for Cuba in their championship game loss to Japan. He batted .273 in the tournament, with a .342 on-base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage. Later in the finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics tournament, he again made the final out, by grounding into a double play against South Korea. Gurriel played for Cuba again in the 2009 WBC, as their third baseman. He batted .333 in the tournament with two home runs and six RBIs. Japan On May 11, 2014, Gurriel signed a one-year contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. He joined the team at midseason, and batted .305 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs in 62 games. Defection from Cuba In February 2016, Gurriel and his then-22 year-old brother, Lourdes Jr., defected after competing in the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic, and relocated to Haiti to establish residency. It was in Haiti in June 2016 that Gurriel met future Houston Astros teammate—also Cuban—Yordan Álvarez. In June, Major League Baseball declared Gurriel eligible to be signed by a major league team as a free agent. Lourdes Jr. signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on November 12, 2016. Nearly ten years prior, ESPN.com had erroneously reported that Gurriel and another Cuban national player, Eduardo Paret, had defected from Cuba and into Colombia. Gurriel refuted this claim on August 1, 2006, stating that he returned to his home in Cuba immediately after the conclusion of the tournament in which the Cuban national team had been playing. Houston Astros Minor leagues and Major League debut (2016) On July 16, 2016, Gurriel signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract with the Houston Astros. He played a total of 15 games in the Astros' minor league system that year. He made his American debut in July with the Gulf Coast Astros of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, playing in two games. He was then promoted to the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League. After playing in four games for Lancaster, the Astros promoted Gurriel to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League. He batted 2-for-17 (.118) in five games for Corpus Christi, and was promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. He was recalled from Fresno to the major league roster on August 21. In his first 19 games with the Astros, he batted .344 with three home runs and eight runs