WBN’s international player of the week is Caimanes de Barranquilla third baseman Estamy Gabriel Urena in Liga Profesional de Béisbol in Colombia. The LPB started on November 1 and Urena, 25, has been on fire through his first four games, leading the league with three home runs. He has six RBI and a .384 batting average in 13 at-bats.
The right-handed Urena’s stand-out performance came in a multi-home run effort with four RBI in a 6-2 win against Leones de Barranquilla on November 3 at Edgar Renteria Baseball Stadium in Barranquilla. He hit both home runs against Leones de Barranquilla starting pitcher Roy Rafael Garcia.
Urena has helped lead Caimanes de Barranquilla to the top of the LPB standings with a 3-0 record. Their first game was suspended, with them trailing Leones de Barranquilla 4-0. This is his first season playing in the LPB.
Urena is Dominican and was signed by the Minnesota Twins as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2016.
He played 130 games in the Twins’ Minor League system from 2017-2019 and made it to their Low-A affiliate, the Cedar Rapid Kernels. His MiLB career numbers are four home runs, 68 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and a slash line of .278/.339/.374 in 449 at-bats.
He signed with the Yomiuri Giants before the 2020 season to play in the NPB in Japan. He has spent four seasons with the Giants developmental league and played one season with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in their developmental team. He has gotten 30 at-bats across three seasons in the NPB.
His career stats in Japan are 48 home runs, 198 RBI, and a slash line of .259/.328/.422 in 1,226 at-bats.
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Photo Credit: Estamy Gabriel Urena awaits the pitch.
