Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Yusniel Diaz was born October 7, 1996, in La Habana, Cuba. He is a right fielder in the MLB.

Díaz played for the Industriales of the Cuban National Series and hit .348/.448/.440 over 65 games as a rookie. He was the favorite to win the Cuban National Series Rookie of the Year Award, but defected before the award was given out.

Díaz signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in November 2015. The Dodgers assigned him to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the Advanced Class-A California League to begin his professional career. In 82 games for the Quakes in 2016, he hit .267 with eight homers and 54 RBI. In 2017, he played in 83 games for the Quakes and 31 for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers and hit .292 with 11 homers and 52 RBI. He was assigned to play in the Arizona Fall League and was chosen for the Fall Stars Game showcase. Díaz remained with Tulsa to begin 2018 and was selected to the "world" team at the All-Star Futures Game.

On July 18, 2018, Díaz was traded to the Baltimore Orioles along with Breyvic Valera, Dean Kremer, Rylan Bannon, and Zach Pop in exchange for Manny Machado. He was assigned to the Bowie Baysox and finished the year there. In 97 games between Tulsa and Bowie, he slashed .285/.392/.449 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. He split the 2019 season between the Aberdeen IronBirds, Frederick Keys, and Bowie, hitting a combined .265/.341/.464/.805 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI.

On November 20, 2020, Díaz was added to the 40-man roster.