Henry Urrutia got to visit his family in Cuba

[Frobby]

Pretty cool stuff.

"We went before the end of the year for one week on Dec. 29. I just got back Jan. 4," Urrutia said. "All my family is there. My dad, my mom, my brothers and sisters and cousins. Everybody's there. It was amazing. It was really fun.

"Believe me, one week is too short because we had a lot of things to do. We have to talk a lot, and one week is too short. But the funny thing is, every day when I get in my house, I have to talk to my family with the front door closed because everybody is coming in. People walking around and coming in and saying, 'Henry, Henry Henry! I read you on my cell phone.' It's amazing because now I know that people never forgot me in my country.

"I have friends, but all of these people that I don't know, that I never met, come into my house and are telling me, 'Hey, we're proud of you because you now are playing on the best level in the world and are representing this city.' So it's pretty nice, but if you want to be with your family for more time, you've got to be out of the house. It's all day, all day, people are coming in, coming in, coming in. But it was good. Amazing."

Urrutia described how he almost didn't make it back to Las Tunas.

"I was waiting five years to get back," he said. "If you defect from Cuba during the national or international competition, you can go back before eight years. But when I defected, I was out of baseball in Cuba. It was offseason, but also I got suspended from my first try to leave the country. So I sent my passport to the Cuban embassy and they gave me a chance to go. In the airport in Cuba, it was very, very hard because they don't know that. They're trying to send me back from the airport.

"They let me get in, but now I can't go back until 2018 maybe. I'm OK with that. If I have five years waiting for this chance to get in my house for seven days, I can wait two more years, three years. I don't care. And I feel pretty good because sometimes you forget why you left. When I get back, you can remember that. Now, I feel emotionally strong. Now, I know I again why I'm here. It's was pretty fun and productive."

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2016/01/henry-urrutia-on-his-illness-his-trip-to-cuba-and-maybe-his-final-chance.html

Also, Urrutia got sick while playing in Venezuela this winter and lost about 16 pounds, but has gained most of it back.

[Phantom]

This is awesome. I love it when the world becomes a better place.

[Creamsicle]

Nice. I hope we actually get something out of Root this year.

[Tx Oriole]

Pretty cool stuff.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2016/01/henry-urrutia-on-his-illness-his-trip-to-cuba-and-maybe-his-final-chance.html

Also, Urrutia got sick while playing in Venezuela this winter and lost about 16 pounds, but has gained most of it back.

I am glad he got to see his family.

[Snutchy]

Incredible stuff for him. Can you just imagine the choice that he had to make? Wow.

[O's are Legends]

Thank you for sharing, very easy to root for Urrutia.

[Frobby]

Good guy. Wish him the best. BUT ...... I hope he finds success after baseball because I don't see much success while he's in it. He was a great story at Bowie and I was pretty excited about him at the time. The numbers just never translated above AA. He's probably a below average fielder, below average runner, with an average throwing arm, and below average power. Henry can't turn the ball around.

I think for Henry, being a AAAA outfielder who is good enough to be on the 40-man roster probably provides him a better standard of living than he had in Cuba. Players in his position make a bit more than $80,000 when they are in AAA, and of course they get the prorated ML minimum during call-ups. So, his 14 days on the roster last year was worth an extra $25,000 or so. All in all, he made about $105,000. For him, that probably qualifies as "success playing baseball."

[PeteCanes]

Good guy. Wish him the best. BUT ...... I hope he finds success after baseball because I don't see much success while he's in it. He was a great story at Bowie and I was pretty excited about him at the time. The numbers just never translated above AA. He's probably a below average fielder, below average runner, with an average throwing arm, and below average power. Henry can't turn the ball around.

On the personal level, it must be strange to basically escape from a country and then go back as a visitor.

That guy has made it. Will get paid well to play ball for a few years. Cool to see this story. I bet the kids there were excited to see a Major Leaguer.

[Frobby]

Relatively speaking, he's a great success story. Just to get to ML baseball is an achievement. Just saying, I don't see much of a ML career in his future.

Nor do I. He might not even make it through the year on the 40-man roster. But we'll see.

If we do sign Cespedes, I'm hoping to see one game with a Urrutia/Cespedes/Alvarez outfield. That would be cool for us, and for baseball in Cuba.

[Tony-OH]

Hard to not root for the guy. It would be cool if he Cespedes and Alvarez all got a chance to start one day in the same outfield.