Henry Urrutia on his illness, his trip to Cuba and maybe his final chance

SARASOTA, Fla. - Outfielder Henry Urrutia is at minicamp this week without needing to swing a bat. It's more about getting stronger, gaining more weight and waiting for his next chance.

Urrutia spent part of his winter playing in Venezuela, where he became ill and lost about 16 pounds. He also visited his family in Cuba for the first time since defecting.

Otherwise, nothing much to see here.

"I just started this week, Monday," he said this morning while standing at his locker at the Ed Smith Stadium complex.

"My plan is to come here three days a week right now for the first maybe two weeks, because I went to Venezuela, so I feel good. I'm still doing my stuff during the offseason, so I feel good. I don't want to be in the cage for too much time right now."

Urrutia's weight dropped to 185 "from the food and the water," he said, but he's back up to 197.

"If I'm still working here with Ryan (Driscoll), I think I'm going to be 210 before spring training," Urrutia said. "I feel good. I have a lot of supplements. Now I can eat better because I got sick in Venezuela. I feel good right now."

His heart is full after finally seeing his family, a complicated process following his defection to Haiti in September 2011. His first attempt failed the previous year and led to his suspension from the Cuban national team.

"We went before the end of the year for one week on Dec. 29. I just got back Jan. 4," Urrutia said. "All my family is there. My dad, my mom, my brothers and sisters and cousins. Everybody's there. It was amazing. It was really fun.

"Believe me, one week is too short because we had a lot of things to do. We have to talk a lot, and one week is too short. But the funny thing is, every day when I get in my house, I have to talk to my family with the front door closed because everybody is coming in. People walking around and coming in and saying, 'Henry, Henry Henry! I read you on my cell phone.' It's amazing because now I know that people never forgot me in my country.

"I have friends, but all of these people that I don't know, that I never met, come into my house and are telling me, 'Hey, we're proud of you because you now are playing on the best level in the world and are representing this city.' So it's pretty nice, but if you want to be with your family for more time, you've got to be out of the house. It's all day, all day, people are coming in, coming in, coming in. But it was good. Amazing."

Urrutia described how he almost didn't make it back to Las Tunas.

"I was waiting five years to get back," he said. "If you defect from Cuba during the national or international competition, you can go back before eight years. But when I defected, I was out of baseball in Cuba. It was offseason, but also I got suspended from my first try to leave the country. So I sent my passport to the Cuban embassy and they gave me a chance to go. In the airport in Cuba, it was very, very hard because they don't know that. They're trying to send me back from the airport.

"They let me get in, but now I can't go back until 2018 maybe. I'm OK with that. If I have five years waiting for this chance to get in my house for seven days, I can wait two more years, three years. I don't care. And I feel pretty good because sometimes you forget why you left. When I get back, you can remember that. Now, I feel emotionally strong. Now, I know I again why I'm here. It's was pretty fun and productive."

Urrutia is running out of chances to be a productive major league player. He turns 29 in February and the Orioles are trying to acquire another left-handed hitting outfielder.

"We were talking a few days ago about it," said Urrutia, who went 9-for-34 with his first major league home run, a walk-off on Aug. 19 against the Mets. "I know this is my chance. I'm pretty proud of my job the last year in the minors and in the big leagues short time, but I'm very proud of that, too. Also, I'm coming from 2014 with (sports hernia) surgery and all the stuff, and I think 2015 was great for my career.

"I feel pretty good. I feel comfortable with this organization and I want my chance to get my at-bats. In spring training last year, it was 25 at-bats. That's what I want, my chance to prove what I can do in the big leagues. I know I can help the team. I can do a good job in the big leagues, but I need the chance to prove it.

"My work here right now is looking to the future, to the big leagues. That's why I'm here, that's why I left my country."