Cincinnati Reds Minor leagues Jim Stoeckel, a
scout for the
Cincinnati Reds of
Major League Baseball (MLB), became interested in Gregorius after watching him play an under-18 tournament with the
Dutch Antilles in 2006. The Reds signed Gregorius as an international
free agent two years later at the behest of Stoeckel, for a
signing bonus of $50,000. The
Seattle Mariners and
San Diego Padres had also expressed interest in Gregorius, but he chose to sign with the Reds because they offered him an opportunity to begin playing professional baseball in the United States rather than in the
Venezuelan or
Dominican Summer Leagues. In 2009, Gregorius primarily appeared with the rookie-level
Billings Mustangs of the
Pioneer League, batting .314 in 50 games, but he also played in the
High-A Florida State League for the
Sarasota Reds. In 22 games with Sarasota, Gregorius batted .254, with eight runs, four
doubles, and two RBI. The following year, while playing with the
Single-A Dayton Dragons, the Reds'
farm system took notice of Gregorius' powerful infield arm, as well as his speed on the base path: he fell one
triple short of the club record with 11, and
stole 16 bases, in addition to hitting .273 with five
home runs. On August 31, after
Miguel Rojas was promoted to
Double-A, Gregorius joined the High-A
Lynchburg Hillcats to serve as that team's starting shortstop. He played seven games with Lynchburg, batting .240 with six
hits and four runs. Despite batting only .189, he enjoyed his time in Australia, and said that playing against major league veterans helped him when he returned to the United States. During a routine test in the spring of 2011, doctors found that Gregorius had elevated blood levels of
cholesterol and proteins, as well as
hypertension. He was initially suspected of using
performance-enhancing substances, but further tests revealed a kidney malfunction. Gregorius was ordered not to play baseball and to adopt a
vegetarian diet; these lifestyle changes, combined with a medication regimen, allowed him to return to the field after two months of recovery. When he returned to the field, it was with the High-A
Bakersfield Blaze, before a midseason promotion to the Double-A
Carolina Mudcats. Between the two teams, Gregorius batted .289 for the season, with seven home runs, 44 RBI, and 48 runs in 84 games and 363 plate appearances. Gregorius entered the 2012 season as a top Double-A prospect with the
Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Through the first 80 games of the season, he batted .282 with one home run, 31 RBI, 45 runs, and three stolen bases, enough to receive midseason All-Star honors from the
Southern League. After 81 games in Pensacola, the Reds promoted Gregorius to the
Triple-A Louisville Bats of the
International League. In 48 games there, he batted .243 with six home runs, 23 RBI, and 25 runs in 202 plate appearances. Gregorius made his major league debut on September 5, 2012, starting in place of
Zack Cozart for a 6–2 loss to the
Philadelphia Phillies. In eight games at the end of the season, Gregorius batted .300 with two RBI. After the season, Gregorius played in the
Arizona Fall League, helping take the
Peoria Javelinas to a championship title by batting .278 with one home run and eight RBIs in 74 at bats.
Arizona Diamondbacks in 2013|alt=Didi Gregorius following through on a swing in a white Arizona Diamondbacks jersey Gregorius' future with the Reds was hindered by Cozart, a more experienced shortstop who was presumed to have more offensive power, and thus he became an attractive trade target for Cincinnati after the 2012 season. On December 11, 2012, Gregorius was part of a three-team trade for Cincinnati: initially, he and
Drew Stubbs were sent to the
Cleveland Indians in exchange for outfielder
Shin-Soo Choo and infielder
Jason Donald, but, as the Indians already had an established shortstop in
Asdrubal Cabrera, they traded Gregorius to the
Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher
Trevor Bauer. Later that month, Gregorius injured his elbow while playing catch, and he was unable to resume throwing until
spring training had already begun. The Diamondbacks agreed to start Gregorius with the Triple-A
Reno Aces until his rehab assignment was completed, but after
Aaron Hill was sidelined with a fractured hand, Gregorius was called up to start at second base. In the first pitch of his first at-bat on April 18, 2013, Gregorius hit his first major league home run off of
New York Yankees pitcher
Phil Hughes. He was the seventh Diamondback to hit a home run in his first at-bat with the team, and the first to do so on the first pitch. On April 27, Gregorius was
hit by a pitch from
Colorado Rockies reliever
Josh Outman. He was struck in the right temple with a fastball and fell to the ground; ultimately, Gregorius was able to leave the plate on his own, and
Cliff Pennington filled in as a
pinch runner. He was placed on the seven-day concussion list after the game and was reinstated on May 4. Gregorius put up a sturdy .252 average in 103 games, but began to lose playing time towards the end of the season due to his inefficiency against left-handed pitchers, averaging only .200 with a .267
on-base percentage. Gregorius entered spring training in 2014 in competition with prospect
Chris Owings for the starting shortstop role within the Diamondbacks organization. That June, Pennington, serving as the team's backup shortstop, suffered an injury that forced Arizona to call up Gregorius. Gibson wanted to keep Owings as the starting infielder but intended to split his playing time with Gregorius more equitably than Owings had split with Pennington. Gregorius played in 80 major league games in 2014, batting .226 in 270 at bats, with six home runs, 27 RBIs, and 35 runs. He played 67 of those games at shortstop, 11 at second base, and two at third base. The Yankees acquired Gregorius on December 5, 2014, in a three-team trade with Arizona and the
Detroit Tigers: Gregorius went from Arizona to New York,
Shane Greene went from New York to Detroit, and
Robbie Ray and
Domingo Leyba went from Detroit to Arizona.
2015–16 Gregorius, named the
opening day shortstop for the Yankees, told reporters that he was not worried about replacing Jeter and that he was more focused on his own performance than any comparisons to the previous infielder. He struggled through the first part of the season, making six errors by the end of May and batting only .222, but he began to find his stride in June, committing only one error between June 7 and August 3 and increasing his batting average to .260 during that span. On August 28, Gregorius went 4-for-5 with one home run and set a career-high six RBIs in a 15–4 rout of the
Atlanta Braves. His first-inning home run was the seventh of the season and came only a day after his sixth home run. In his first season with the Yankees, Gregorius played in 155 games, batting .265 with nine home runs and 56 RBIs. ultimately losing to
Alcides Escobar of the
Kansas City Royals. Gregorius entered the
2016 season last in the
batting order but had a breakout year, setting career highs with a .447
slugging percentage, 32 doubles, 20 home runs, and 70 RBIs. He told reporters that he had not focused on hitting home runs, and that he was actually working on
line drives, but that, "If they go out, they go out." He had spent the offseason working with fellow Curaçao native
Hensley Meulens, the hitting coach for the
San Francisco Giants. Meulens focused on improving Gregorius' efficacy against left-handed pitchers, and by mid-July, his .366 average against southpaws was the best in the league among left-handed hitters. On June 29, Gregorius hit the first
walk-off home run of his major league career, a two-run blast against the
Texas Rangers, who had the best record in the AL at that time. The 2016 Yankees season was considered an overall disappointment, but Gregorius' performance established him as a central piece as the team looked ahead towards rebuilding during the offseason.
2017 Prior to the
2017 season, Gregorius suffered a shoulder injury while fielding a double play during the
World Baseball Classic. He was required to spend two weeks engaging in no baseball activity, followed by an estimated four weeks of rehab assignments, leaving the Yankees without their expected opening day shortstop. He began a series of rehab assignments for the
Tampa Yankees on April 22, with an estimated major league return date of May 1. Gregorius was activated on April 28, starting in a 14–11 win over the
Baltimore Orioles. Upon his return, Gregorius said that he felt "locked in" at the plate, putting up an eight-game hitting streak in mid-July, with home runs in three consecutive games. He was a finalist for a position in the
MLB All-Star Game, but the fan vote ultimately went to
Mike Moustakas of the Royals. On September 4, Gregorius hit his 20th home run of the year, becoming the first Yankees shortstop to knock in 20 or more home runs in back-to-back seasons. Later that month, on September 20, Gregorius hit his 25th home run of the season, passing Jeter's record for most single-season home runs by a Yankees shortstop. Limited to 136 games with his shoulder injury, Gregorius batted .287 for the regular season, with 87 RBIs and 73 runs. In the series-deciding Game 5 of the ALDS, Gregorius hit two home runs against
Cleveland ace Corey Kluber. The Yankees defeated Cleveland 5–2 and advanced to the
American League Championship Series (ALCS). Gregorius became the second Yankee to hit two home runs in a winner-take-all postseason game. The Yankees lost the ALCS to the
Houston Astros in seven games. He batted .250 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI in 13 postseason games.
2018 Gregorius began the
2018 season with a career-high eight-RBI performance in the Yankee's April 3 home opener against the
Tampa Bay Rays, helping to push the team to an 11–4 victory. Through the month of April, Gregorius led the league with 10 home runs, 30 RBIs, and a .766 slugging percentage, and he received both
AL Player of the Week and
Player of the Month honors at the end of the month. His performance in April was followed by a slump through May and the start of June, during which Gregorius batted .177 and scored only one home run. He snapped this dry spell with two home runs against the
Washington Nationals on June 12. In addition to putting Gregorius back on pace to record 20 home runs in a season, he also became, in that game, the first Yankees shortstop to have three multi-home run games in a season. Gregorius batted .268 for the regular season, with 86 RBIs and 89 runs in 504 at bats. On September 23, Gregorius' game-winning run against the Orioles helped the Yankees clinch a
Wild Card berth, but he tore the cartilage in his wrist while sliding home, leaving it in question whether he would be healthy for the postseason. He received a
cortisone shot and returned to the lineup on September 28 for the final game of the regular season, an 11–6 rout of the Red Sox. The Yankees beat the
Oakland Athletics 7–2 in the Wild Card Game, with Gregorius scoring an RBI on a
sacrifice fly that brought home
Luke Voit. Gregorius struggled defensively against the Red Sox in the
ALDS, uncharacteristically missing throws in Games 3 and 4. The Red Sox took the series in four games. He batted .235 with one double in 5 postseason games. Gregorius subsequently began the
2019 season on the 60-day injured list and was activated on June 7, after eight months of rehab. On July 23, Gregorius batted a perfect 5-for-5 against the Minnesota Twins, picking up seven RBIs to help the Yankees win 14–12 in extra innings. It was the second time that Gregorius had gone 4-for-4 or better with seven RBIs in a game, joining
Lou Gehrig and
Joe DiMaggio as the only Yankees to accomplish the feat multiple times. In the sixth inning of that same game, Gregorius hit his 100th career home run, off of Twins right-hander
Kyle Gibson. He finished the regular season with a .238 average in 324 at bats, with 16 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 47 runs. The Yankees faced the Twins again in the
ALDS, and in Game 2, Gregorius hit the first postseason
grand slam by a Yankees shortstop. The Yankees advanced to the
ALCS, but were defeated in six games by the Astros. In his final trip to the MLB postseason, he hit . 273 with one home run in 9 games.
Philadelphia Phillies The
Philadelphia Phillies signed Gregorius to a one-year, $14 million contract on December 16, 2019. He and pitcher
Zack Wheeler were considered the team's most important free agent acquisitions of the offseason. The
2020 MLB season was delayed until July and shortened to 60 regular-season games due to the
COVID-19 pandemic; Gregorius' kidney disorder meant that he was considered "high-risk" for the virus, and he had an opportunity to decline playing during the pandemic and decline $9 million of his one-year contract. Instead, Gregorius chose to play, wearing a face mask at all times on the field. Gregorius was a good addition for the Phillies in the pandemic-shortened season: among MLB shortstops, he was third in RBIs (40), fifth in hits (61) and home runs (10), and sixth in batting average (.286). Additionally, he hit .345 for the season with
runners in scoring position. The Phillies re-signed Gregorius to a two-year, $28 million contract on February 10, 2021. Due to the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gregorius was one of seven Phillies who ran into
visa issues and reported late to 2021 spring training. Manager
Joe Girardi was unconcerned about Gregorius' late start to training camp, telling reporters, "I would expect that Didi's in pretty good shape because that's who he is and that's what I'm used to seeing." On March 29, Gregorius was named as the Phillies' starting shortstop for the
2021 season, sharing the middle infield with
Jean Segura. On opening day, Gregorius made an over-the-shoulder catch to stop
Ozzie Albies and help extend to extra innings, where the Phillies beat the
Atlanta Braves 3–2. In mid-April, Gregorius injured his elbow while making a catch and missed three games due to swelling in the area. He initially avoided going on the injured list as doctors drained the elbow, but a recurrent swelling in mid-May forced him out of the lineup again. The elbow injury continued to hinder Gregorius through a series of rehab assignments with the
Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and on June 16, he was diagnosed with
pseudogout and was able to begin an appropriate treatment program. He returned to the lineup on July 2, after missing 41 games to the injury. In his first game off of the injured list, Gregorius hit a solo home run in the fifth inning of a 4–3 extra-innings win against the
San Diego Padres. Gregorius proceeded to have the worst season of his MLB career, batting only .210 with a .667
on-base plus slugging (OPS) in his first 200 at bats following his stint on the injured list. He blamed his offensive difficulties on the effects of the
COVID-19 vaccine, which he claimed led to his battle with pseudogout, a conclusion that doctors at the
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said was incorrect. Gregorius batted .209 in 103 games for the Phillies, with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs in 368 at bats in 2021. His offense did not improve in 2022, as he slashed .210/.263/.304.
Algodoneros de Unión Laguna On May 1, 2023, Gregorius signed with the
Algodoneros de Unión Laguna of the
Mexican League. In 26 games for the Algodoneros, he hit .359/.431/.777 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI.
Seattle Mariners On June 8, 2023, Gregorius signed a minor league contract with the
Seattle Mariners. He joined the Triple-A
Tacoma Rainiers at the end of June. In 25 games, he hit .192/.282/.337 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. On August 2, Gregorius opted out of his contract and became a free agent.
Arabia Wolves (left) with the
Arabia Wolves in 2025|alt=Didi Gregorius, facing forward, and several teammates in dark colored Arabia Wolves jerseys standing in a row On October 23, 2023, Gregorius was selected third overall in the inaugural
Baseball United draft by the
Dubai Wolves. During the league's all-star showcase event in November 2023, Gregorius went a combined 2-for-8 with a double for the United West All-Stars.
Algodoneros de Unión Laguna (second stint) On April 7, 2024, Gregorius signed again with the
Algodoneros de Unión Laguna of the
Mexican League. In 74 appearances for the Algodoneros, he hit .262/.363/.410 with seven home runs, 43 RBI, and six stolen bases. Gregorius returned with Laguna for a second season for the 2025 season. In 50 games, he hit .288/.346/.389 with 2 home runs and two stolen bases. ==International career==