PHOENIX — There have been stretches over the previous two seasons in which Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has rivaled the better boppers in baseball.
A typically streaky hitter, this has been Gurriel’s quietest of three seasons in Arizona statistically, but he recently found that sweet spot.
With an RBI single and a two-run home run off Cincinnati Reds All-Star Andrew Abbott on Saturday, Gurriel extended his hitting streak to nine games with multiple RBIs in six of them.
His hitting streak snapped on Sunday, but he delivered a sacrifice fly, his fifth straight game driving in a run (he also blistered a 106 mph liner into left field for an out).
The veteran increased his RBI total for August to 29, which leads Major League Baseball.
“It’s amazing,” teammate Geraldo Perdomo said on Saturday. “We know he can hit. … He’s one of the best in this league, I still believe it. Sometimes we are struggling, but it doesn’t matter. We’re always working.”
Gurriel is chasing down the Diamondbacks’ record for RBIs in a month with seven games left until September.
J.D. Martinez owns the record with 36 in September 2017, trailed by Luis Gonzalez’s 35 in 2001 and 31 from Paul Goldschmidt in 2017 and Steve Finley in 2000.
Cleaning up in August. pic.twitter.com/4yHlc26oog
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 24, 2025
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. filling cleanup role
Gurriel has become the club’s cleanup hitter after the D-backs traded Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor at the deadline and reworked the lineup.
Corbin Carroll bats third. Perdomo and Ketel Marte hit first and second, respectively, with their order flipped depending on the matchup. And Gurriel bats fourth, a spot he has seemed to have taken to.
“I think he’s a good hitter,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I think mechanically his swing breaks down every once in a while. He knows how to correct it. Pitch selection for him is crucial. He swings a good pitches, he’s gonna have a good at-bat. I think he’s kind of gravitated to (hitting cleanup).”
With a go-ahead single on Tuesday, the game-tying home run on Wednesday and a walk-off single on Friday, Gurriel executed in the biggest moments of the club’s 4-2 homestand this week.
Work in the cages is translating
Gurriel’s season-long numbers (.717 OPS) trail where he finished in 2023 (.772) and 2024 (.757).
His strikeout rate of 14% is a career low, and many of his underlying metrics are similar to last season in particular. There have just been extended stretches this year when he hasn’t impacted the baseball at the same level. He’s produced a sub-.700 OPS in three of the five months, and his name floated in trade rumors at the deadline.
Hitting coach Joe Mather said staying positive with Gurriel through the lows has been important, along with finding ways to challenge him in the batting cages.
“He has added a little challenge in his work where he’ll compete against the coach who’s pitching and mixing and they’ll basically play a game,” Mather told Arizona Sports.
“It’s one of those things he probably comes back to when he is like, ‘I need to feel, I need to get hits and I need to practice getting hits.’ It’s a scenario that’s like the game where we never know that something’s coming, right? Like 3-0 is probably a fastball, but even then it’s not guaranteed. So to get in that environment and feel that in the cage is big. He’s just stuck with it maybe a little bit longer this year.”
The Diamondbacks practice with a Trajekt machine, which is valuable, as it mimics the throwing motion of major league pitchers and their velocities. Sometimes, though, just finding a rhythm recognizing pitches out of someone’s hand is the best way to get back into a groove, even if the velocity is not what he’ll see in a game.
Not going for broke
Like Lovullo, Mather noted that Gurriel has taken to the cleanup role but not by trying to hit home runs. Gurriel has six home runs this month. His calling card has been timely hitting, as he is batting .438 with runners in scoring position in August.
“After the game-tying homer the other day, Travis Denker, one of our assistants, asked him ‘Were you trying to hit a homer?’ And he said, ‘No, of course not. I was trying to hit a line drive and he threw it in a spot where I hit a homer,’” Mather said. “I think the combination of all that, looking to get hits, get on base, the homers come. It’s happened at a very fortunate time for the team after we lost some guys.”
Gurriel’s finish is going to be something to watch in terms of the upcoming offseason, as well. He owns a $13 million player option for 2026. Does a strong enough finish warrant an opt-out entering his age 32 season?
For now, his surge has been critical for an offense that needed a thumper, and the offense has scored at least five runs in 15 of 22 games this month.
