Lourdes Gurriel Jr. showed the 2026 Amarillo Sod Poodles where it’s possible to go by spending two days in a place he’d never been.
Gurriel, a starting outfielder for the Sod Poodles major league parent club Arizona Diamondbacks, was in Amarillo during the Soddies’ current series at Hodgetown against the Frisco RoughRiders. He was making his first appearance in a live game since tearing his right ACL last Sept. 1, starting two games in left field on Wednesday and Thursday in his only scheduled rehab games before he’s expected to return to the Diamondbacks.
Before Gurriel, who comes from a baseball family in Cuba, first stepped into the batter’s box at Hodgetown, the Double A facility had already made an impression on him.
“The first thing is it’s a beautiful ballpark,” said Gurriel, directly answering questions posed to him in English by speaking Spanish, as interpreted by Sod Poodles first base coach Jaime Del Valle. “They do a very good job with it here. I try not to stay within the conditions of the field and stay within myself. I need to focus on getting back in rhythm and there are a lot of little things I’ve got to do.”
Gurriel’s recovery from his injury has been unusually quick. He didn’t show much rust in his two games at Hodgetown.
In his first game Wednesday night, Gurriel was 1-for-3 and scored a run, leading off the bottom of the fourth with an opposite field bloop double to right field and scoring the Soddies’ first run of the game on Manuel Pena’s two-run home run.
Thursday night Gurriel made an even bigger splash at the plate. He hit a three-run homer to left-center which gave the Sod Poodles the lead. Since he as rehabbing, Gurriel left both games after seven innings, and he was 2-for-8, scoring two runs and driving in three during his brief stint as a Sod Poodle.
Gurriel is expected to be back with the Diamondbacks and possibly play this weekend. As an All-Star for the 2023 Diamondbacks team which reached the World Series, Gurriel will return to a strong outfield featuring Corbin Carroll, another All-Star who played in Amarillo in 2022.
“He’s a great human being and a solid professional,” said Gurriel of Carroll. “We’re just happy and blessed to have him on our squad.”
When Gurriel does get back to the big league club, there will be another former Sod Poodle on the roster, albeit one he hasn’t played with yet. Infielder Jose Fernandez, who played all of 2025 in Amarillo, is hitting .302 with two homers and nine RBIs so far in the young major league season.
“It’s an amazing experience what he’s going through,” said Gurriel of Fernandez. “I’m very happy for him. At spring training I had the opportunity to spend the last few days there with him and it’s been fun watching him the last month.”
Gurriel said that he wasn’t able to ask Carroll or Fernandez what to expect upon coming to Amarillo since very few people knew he’d be coming to town. However, it appears is if his recovery is on schedule if his results at the plate over two days in Hodgetown are any indication.
The bigger concern was showing he was in shape to return to the bigs.
“I just want to play 100 percent and feel 100 percent,” Gurriel said. “When it comes to progression, I just want to take it by inning and at-bat. I want to feel good and feel healthy.”
As far as playing with minor leaguers, Gurriel wants to emphasize discipline and dedication to the game to get to the point he’s at in professional baseball.
“They’re on a good path,” said Gurriel of this crop of Sod Poodles. “I’m able to see that.”