TAMPA, Fla. – Yeltsin Gudiño left Venezuela at only 16 years old with a dream to become a major leaguer.
The Toronto Blue Jays signed him as an amateur free agent in 2013 and he has been developing as a shortstop in the minor leagues.
His character on and off the field is what has taken him from South America to the Blue Jays organization.
“I’m a respectful person, I’m kind, I’m a very focus person and I always have a smile on my face, but respect is my major quality as a person” said Gudiño at the Bobby Mattick Training Complex on Monday.
The 18 year old is coming out of his first season playing for the Blue Jays, adapting to the English language and the life in the United States. He reached all of his goals in the off-season, but he is confident the 2015 season will be much better for him.
“It’s hard to leave your native country, where you grew up and where you have your family and your friends. But you adapt,” said Gudiño. “I’ve worked hard in the offseason, I gain some weight that was one of the requests from the organization, so I think I’m definitely going to improve my numbers from last year”
In Gudiño’s first year he put up solid defensive numbers: in 40 games he has a .935 fielding percentage, with 98 assists and just 10 errors.
“Everybody knows that the strongest part of my game is my defensive, so I would like to start working in my offensive side, correct the little details and gain consistency”, said Gudiño, who finished the season with a for .145 batting average, with 20 hits, three doubles and 12 runs batted in.
Gudiño describes his first year with the organization as phenomenal, he knows he has to improve in a lot of areas, but he is aware that he’s only 18 years old. His room for improvement is pretty wide, and he is confident this upcoming season will be a step up from 2014.
“I’m confident about this upcoming year, said Gudiño. “I’m young and I know can get better, especially in my offence”.