Gio Urshela

BIOGRAPHY

Giovanny Urshela was born on October 11, 1991, in Cartagena, Colombia. He is a third baseman in the MLB.

He previously played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians. Urshela signed with the Cleveland Indians as an international free agent in July 2008. He made his professional debut in 2009, playing for the Dominican Summer League Indians and the Arizona League Indians.

From 2010 to 2013, Urshela played one season each for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League, Lake County Captains of the Class A Midwest League, Carolina Mudcats of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, and Akron Aeros of the Class AA Eastern League. Before the 2013 season, he played for the Colombia national baseball team in the qualifiers for the World Baseball Classic.

Urshela started the 2014 season with Akron and was promoted to the Columbus Clippers of the Class AAA International League during the season. After the 2014 season, the Indians added Urshela to their 40-man roster. He was named the Indians' fourth-best prospect by MLB.com in 2015. Urshela began the 2015 season with Columbus. He was called up to the major leagues on June 8, 2015. He got his first major league hit, a single, and first major league home run in the same game against the Seattle Mariners on June 11, 2015.

Urshela played for the Colombian national baseball team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He batted .224 in 67 major league games for Cleveland in 2017. He opened the 2018 season on the disabled list. After completing his rehab assignment in the minors, Urshela was designated for assignment on May 4. On May 9, 2018, Cleveland traded Urshela to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Urshela batted .233 with one home run and three RBIs in 19 games for Toronto, before he was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays on June 26. He cleared waivers and was assigned outright to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons on July 3. On August 4, 2018, the Blue Jays traded Urshela to the New York Yankees in exchange for cash considerations. The Yankees assigned him to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Urshela's contract was selected by the Yankees on April 6, 2019. Urshela became the regular starting third baseman for the Yankees after Miguel Andujar tore his right shoulder labrum, ending his 2019 season.

On March 13, 2022, the Yankees traded Urshela and Gary Sánchez to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt. In 2022 he batted .285/.338/.429. He was picked off second base twice, tops in the majors.

In October 2022, it was announced that Urshela would spend the 2022 offseason playing with his hometown Tigres de Cartagena of the Colombian Professional Baseball League.

On November 18, 2022, Urshela was traded from the Twins to the Los Angeles Angels for minor league pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo. The Angels began the 2023 season with Urshela as their regular shortstop.