OJEDA NAMED MANAGER OF GIANTS' AA AFFILIATE

Former major league catcher and Mexico City Diablos Rojos manager Miguel Ojeda has been hired to manage the San Francisco Giants' Class AA Southern League affiliate in 2016.  Ojeda will replace Venezuelan Jose Alguacil as head man for the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

A Guaymas, Sonora native who turns 41 next month, Ojeda made his pro debut in 1993 as an 18-year-old catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates' Gulf Coast League rookie club.  After spending the following season with Welland in the Class A New York-Penn League, Ojeda returned south of the border in 1995 for the first of nine seasons with the Diablos Rojos (plus a short stint at AA Carolina in 1998).

The 6'1", 230-pounder was sold during the 2003 season to the San Diego Padres, for whom he hit .234 with 4 homers over 61 games. Ojeda played all or part of four MLB seasons with the Padres, Mariners, Rockies and Rangers, batting .224 with 15 longballs in 212 career games.  He returned to the Diablos in 2007 and played another four years for them and spent 2011 in Reynosa before retiring from Quintana Roo in 2012 at age 37 after 20 years playing pro ball.

Ojeda was named manager of the Diablos for 2013 and proceeded to win 201 of 333 regular season games over the next three seasons for a .604 record, finishing first in the North Division all three years and copping the team's record 16th Mexican League pennant in 2014. The Red Devils posted a 73-39 record last summer before losing to Tijuana in the first round of the playoffs.

Earlier this month, Ojeda resigned as manager of the Mexican Pacific League's Mazatlan Venados with the team mired in last place in the MexPac's second half standings.  He's been replaced at the helm by longtime Mexican baseball figure Juan Jose Pacho, who led the Venados to the 2006 Caribbean Series crown in front of hometown fans at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal.