ORANTES STROKES 1,000th CAREER MEXPAC HIT

Persistence really does pay off.  

It took him 22 seasons to do it, but longtime Los Mochis star Ramon Orantes became the 13th player in Mexican Pacific League history to accrue 1,000 career hits on November 15 in Mexicali when he doubled against Aguilas hurler Edgar Osuna for one of his three two-baggers in the game.  Mexican baseball legend Hector Espino is the LMP’s all-time hits leader.

Orantes, who turns 42 on December 5, began his MexPac career with Obregon in 1993-94 and spent three seasons with the Yaquis and spent one winter in Mexicali before coming to Los Mochis in 1997.  He’s been with the Caneros ever since, playing on the team’s 2002-03 pennant winners and collecting two batting titles in his 18 seasons there.  Orantes has been no less successful in the summer.  The La Paz product has spent 23 years in the Mexican League compiling a .298 average with 2,098 hits with several teams (batting .285 with Saltillo last summer) for a total of 3,012 combined hits between the Liga and MexPac regular season schedules.

  
If age is catching up to Orantes, nobody’s told him about it.  In 19 games for Los Mochis this winter throughSunday, he’s batting .356, including a .522 average over his last ten games.