Astros’ Yuli Gurriel Completes Sensitivity Training: ‘I Learned a Lot’
Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel has completed his MLB-mandated sensitivity training after he made a racist gesture in reference to Yu Darvish during the World Series.
“It went really well,” Gurriel told reporters this weekend through an interpreter. “I learned a lot. There was a lot of things I didn't know when I came to this country, and I think sensitivity training was really beneficial in a lot of different areas, just helping me acclimate to life in the U.S. It was really beneficial.”
The course was seven or eight hours long, Gurriel said.
Gurriel hit a home run off Darvish, then of the Dodgers, during Game 3 of the World Series and then pulled at the corners of his eyes while apparently saying “Chinito.” (Chinito is a blanket term used in some Spanish-speaking countries to refer to all people of Asian descent. Dylan Hernandez wrote about the term for the Los Angeles Times.)
Gurriel was booed heavily when the series returned to Los Angeles for Game 6 and Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill stepped off the mound to allow the boos to continue. Gurriel took a moment to tip his hat to Darvish when he faced him in the first inning of Game 7.
Gurriel was not suspended during the series but will serve a five-game ban at the beginning of the 2018 season.
