Yuniesky Betancourt Pérez (born 31 January 1982) is a Cuban former professional baseball shortstop.

Betancourt played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals.

His early career was spent in the Cuban leagues, including Villa Clara of the Serie Nacional.

He left Cuba on a speedboat in December 2003 [1] and ended up in Mexico, where he played for a while before signing with Seattle Mariners scouts Bob Engle and Patrick Guerrero on 26 January 2005.

In his first few seasons, he had been considered one of the best fielders in the game, combining excellent range, quickness, soft hands, hand-eye coordination, and a strong, accurate throwing arm.

[14] On 10 July 2009, he was acquired by the Kansas City Royals along with a portion of his salary for Minor League pitchers Derrick Saito and Dan Cortes.

[21] Betancourt hit his first career postseason home run on 9 October 2011 in a 9–6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLCS.

[23] On 20 December 2011, Betancourt signed a one-year deal to return to Kansas City worth $2 million.

[26] On 28 January 2013, Betancourt signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies with an invitation to spring training.

[31] On 28 January 2014 Betancourt signed a 1-year deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball.

[35] Betancourt is expected to rejoin Villa Clara for the 2019–20 Cuban National Series, as he has previously stated a desire to finish his career playing for his hometown team.

[36] In April 2024, Betancourt was arrested after being accused of defrauding Chicago-based insurance provider Kemper in Florida.

He and three others were charged with filing false insurance claims, an organized scheme to defraud, faking an accident, and third-degree grand theft.