Gio Urshela of the Los Angeles Angels fields a ground ball hit by Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on June 02, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
By Matthew Tallarini
World Baseball Network
Infielder Gio Urshela will play for the Tigres del Licey for the remainder of the 2023-24 LIDOM round robin, the organization announced on Monday.
Urshela, 32, was born in Cartagena, Colombia, and has played eight seasons in Major League Baseball with the Cleveland Indians in 2015 and 2017, the Toronto Blue Jays 2018, the New York Yankees from 2019-21, the Minnesota Twins in 2022, and the Los Angeles Angels in 2023.
Urshela elected free agency on Nov. 2 and has not yet signed with an MLB organization.
He has played with Caimanes de Barranquilla in 15 games during the 2023-24 winter league season in the Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombia. He batted .246 in 57 at-bats, smacking 14 hits, two doubles, six RBI, six walks and six strikeouts.
Last season, Urshela played in 62 games with the Angels, batting .299 in 228 plate appearances with 64 hits, eight doubles, one triple, two home runs, 24 RBI, 10 walks, 36 strikeouts, and a .703 OPS.
Urshela was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list with a pelvic fracture on June 24, 2023 and was out for the remainder of the season.
During last March, Urshela played for the Colombian national team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He played in all four games in pool play, not recording a hit in 14 at-bats with one RBI, two walks, and striking out three times.
Colombia ended the 2023 WBC with their record at 1-3 and will have to qualify for the 2026 WBC due to the Total Quality Balance tiebreaker used by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
Last winter league season, Urshela played for Tigres de Cartagena in LPBC for three games and batted .154 in 13 at-bats with two hits, one RBI, and two strikeouts.
In four winter league seasons in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Venezuela, Urshella has played in 99 games with 410 plate appearances hitting .321 smacking 124 hits, 27 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 66 RBI, 14 walks, 43 strikeouts, and a .805 OPS.
Baseball Reference has not yet registered his 2023-24 season stats in Colombia with the Caimanes de Barranquilla.
During his eight seasons in MLB, Urshela has played in 664 games batting .277 with 2,370 plate appearances recording 608 hits, 114 doubles, seven triples, 64 home runs, 280 RBI, seven stolen bases, 142 walks, 443 strikeouts, and a .745 OPS.
The 2023-24 LIDOM season is currently in the round robin stage.
The LIDOM round robin will end on January 18 prior to the start of the league’s best-of-seven championship series which will start on January 20. The league has not yet announced the game times for the best-of-seven championship series.
The Tigres del Licey are in second place of the round robin at 8-7 and will play the third-place (7-8) Leones del Escogido on January 16 at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at 6:15 p.m. EST.
All the LIDOM games for the 2023-24 will be streamed on MLB.tv with a paid subscription through the final out of the leagues championship series before the 2024 Caribbean Series begins in Miami at loanDepot Park from February 1-9.