Ricky Gutierrez was a accomplished utilityman for many years in the major leagues. Over his 12 year the Cuban-American hit a solid .266 with the Astros, Padres, Cubs, Indians, Mets and Red Sox. In 3,632 at-bats Gutierrez also slugged 967 hits, 141 doubles, 25 triples and 38 homeruns.
Over his career Gutierrez was the epitome of a consummate professional. His best season as a pro was with the Cubs in 2000 during which he slashed .276/.375/.401/.776 with 11 longballs, 56 runs batted in and eight stolen bases. In his final season in MLB he was a late season acquisition with Boston and was key down the stretch with the team when injuries consumed the infield.
Although he did not see action in the World Series nor was on the active roster Gutierrez still received a ring. Today the native of Miami is the third base coach with the Washington Nationals organization and a key figure in the development of Latino players in the big leagues.
How does it feel to come home?
It’s always good to come home, you know, you go away baseball for six, seven months during the season. But it’s always, always good to come back home and, you know, see all your friends that you went to school with or, you know, and have them come out, you know, support you. That’s always a good feeling.
You know, obviously you’re, you’re, you’re a coach on this team, but as a, as a fellow Latino, tell us about your role in mentoring some of these young Latino players, especially fellow Cuban Orlando Ribalta.
You know, coming from their countries, it’s always hard to be in the states there is usually have language issues. I tell them whenever they need I’m always a phone call away from, away from the fields, not only just being at the field, I’m always there for them in any capacity that they need.
In 2004, you were a big part of the late season with the Boston Red Sox in the championship season. Tell us about that season and, and how special it was to you.
Oh, I got there in the middle of the year during the deadline. One of my biggest moments of my career, being there on that team and being playing with those guys in ’04 and being able to win that World Series the way we wanted. Coming back on the Yankees, it’s a memory that I’ll never forget and I was just blessed to be able to be a part of that.
If Cuba were a normal country like others, would you ever be interested in being part of a World Baseball Classic coaching staff?
Yeah, something I would consider, of course, because that’s my background, my parents come from and would have been an honor if that would happen, if it was an open country where you could just not have all the stuff that’s going on. But yeah, no question about it.