Juniel Querecuto

BIOGRAPHY

Juniel Querecuto was born September 19, 1992, in Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela. He is an infielder in the MLB.

Querecuto signed with the Tampa Bay Rays organization as an international free agent on July 2, 2009. In 2010, he made his professional baseball debut with the Gulf Coast League Rays. In 46 games, Querecuto batted .251 and recorded 11 runs batted in (RBI). In 2011, he was assigned to the Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades, and hit .241 with 24 RBI in 70 games. Querecuto continued to advance through the Rays minor league system, spending the entire 2012 season with the Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods. He played in 106 games, batting .249 with 32 RBI.

Querecuto did not play at any level in 2013. In 2014, he was assigned to Bowling Green to open the season, and earned a promotion to the Advanced-A Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League in July. Appearing in a career-high 115 games, Querecuto hit .271 with two home runs and 45 RBI. In the offseason, he played for the Cardenales de Lara of the Venezuelan Winter League. He began the 2015 season with Charlotte but later was promoted to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits and Triple-A Durham Bulls. Querecuto recorded a .256 batting average with two home runs and 34 RBI in 89 games spread across all three levels. He played in 53 games for the Cardenales in the offseason, hitting .352 and 19 RBI. In 96 games with Montgomery and Durham in 2016, Querecuto batted .241 with three home runs and 38 RBI.

Querecuto was called up to the major leagues for the first time on September 21, 2016. He made his major league debut the next day.