Sport Astros' Yuli Gurriel completes league-mandated sensitivity training

Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel said he completed his Major League Baseball-mandated sensitivity training this past week in his offseason hometown of Miami. It lasted seven to eight hours, he said.

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The 33-year-old Gurriel , completing his second season in the major leagues after leaving Cuba, will lose 2,581 of his million salary next year, which the Astros will donate to charitable causes. The first baseman will be required to undergo sensitivity training during the offseason.

HOUSTON — Yuli Gurriel will have to sit out for making a racist gesture toward Yu Darvish He also will be required to undergo sensitivity training during the offseason. The 33-year-old Gurriel played in Japan in 2014 and is completing his second season in the major leagues after leaving Cuba.

Gurriel, 33, is suspended for the first five games of the 2018 regular season for his racially insensitive gesture toward then-Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish during the World Series. As part of the suspension, which was announced during the World Series, MLB ordered Gurriel, a Cuban defector, to undergo the sensitivity training during the offseason.

"I learned a lot," Gurriel said through an interpreter on Saturday while attending the Astros' annual FanFest at Minute Maid Park. "There were a lot of things I didn't know when I came to this country (in 2016), and I think the sensitivity training was really beneficial in a lot of different areas in helping me acclimate to life in the U.S."

Gurriel was also asked how he felt about the possibility of the Astros signing Darvish, arguably the best free-agent starter available. The team met with Darvish last month in the Dallas area and is reportedly among five or six of his finalists.

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Astros Yuli Gurriel makes racist Asian gesture during World Series. Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel decided to rub it in after hitting the first home run of game 3 with a gesture that has enraged Asians and others who are calling him out as racist.

Nonetheless, Major League Baseball’s justice was swift and harsh. On Saturday before Game 4, commissioner Rob Manfred announced that Yuli will be suspended five games at the start of the 2018 season and would have to undergo sensitivity training . Clearly shaken, Gurriel went

"Everyone knows what a great pitcher Yu Darvish is," Gurriel said. "I would be happy to have him here. He would make us stronger."

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