PEGUERO TO REJOIN NARANJEROS THIS SEASON

Francisco Peguero, Yadier Hernandez, Mike Kickham

The Hermosillo Naranjeros last Friday announced their three allowable foreign-born players for the upcoming Mexican Pacific League season, including a Dominican outfielder who's become one of the top hitters in both leagues south of the border in recent seasons.

Francisco Peguero will be back for a third winter with the Orangemen after coming to terms with the team. Last season, Peguero hit .337 with seven homers in 33 games for Hermosillo but it was his initial 2018-19 LMP campaign that raised the most eyebrows among observers. That year, he hit .352 to edge teammate Jasson Atondo by one point on the final day of the season for the Mex Pac batting title. Peguero also finished fourth in the circuit with 44 RBIs and tied for tenth with six homers over 54 games.

The former San Francisco Giants gardener has had a greater impact during the summer in the Mexican League. Peguero debuted with Quintana Roo in 2015 and hit .294 with 16 homers for the Tigres. After a postseason trade to Monclova, he batted .311 with 15 homers for the Steelers in 2016. That was enough to earn a 2017 contract with the Toyama GRN Thunderbirds of the independent Baseball Challenge League in Japan, where he set a season record with 114 hits. Peguero then spent part of 2018 with the NPB Chiba Lotte Marines' farm team (hitting .277 with nine homers in 50 games) before returning to Monclova in time for the LMB's Fall season, and that's when he really hit his stride.

During that truncated 56-game season, Peguero batted .368 with 13 homers and 60 ribbies and was named the Liga's Most Valuable Player for his efforts. The 6'0" right-hander followed that up with another terrific season for the Acereros in 2019, belting 31 homers, driving in 106 runs and hitting .380 as Monclova went on to win their first pennant in 46 years of existence. He's expected to help anchor the middle of the Hermosillo batting order for manager Juan Navarrete.

Also joining the 32-year-old Peguero with the Naranjeros this year will be Cuban outfielder Yadiel Hernandez and American pitcher Mike Kickham, both of whom also played in Hermosillo in 2019-20. Hernandez debuted at 21 with his hometown Matanzas team in 2009-10 and hit .328 during the Cuban National Series that winter. He spent six seasons with the Cocodrilos, batting .324 with 53 homers over 514 games before defecting to the U.S. while playing against college teams in North Carolina in April 2015.

Francisco Peguero batting for the SF Giants

The Washington Nationals signed Hernandez for $200,000 a year later and he's since spent three summers in their farm system, batting an aggregate .301 and crashing 63 homers despite his 5'9" frame. Hernandez had a banner year with Fresno in the AAA Pacific Coast League last year with a .323 average, 33 homers and 90 RBIs and was a Nats non-roster Spring Training invitee this year. The 32-year-old hit .336 for the Naranjeros last winter, finishing second to Los Mochis' Isaac Rodriguez for the batting title, while his .462 on-base percentage (thanks to an LMP-best 50 walks) was tops in the Mex Pac. As with Peguero, the lefty-batting Hernandez will likely be a middle-of-the-order batter for the Orangemen this winter.

Kickham was a teammate with Peguero when both played for San Francisco in September 2013 (each spent parts of two seasons with the Giants) after signing as sixth-round draft pick out of Missouri State University in 2010. The 6'4" lefty spent five years in the Giants system before the Chicago Cubs picked him up on waivers after the 2014 season. That began a baseball odyssey during which the Cubs traded the 31-year-old to the Mariners a month after acquiring him. Kickham ended up pitching for four different organizations (Mariners, Rangers, Marlins and the Giants once more), plus a 2016 stint with Kansas City of the independent American Association. He was a 2017 Southern League midseason All-Star pitching for the Marlins' AA Jacksonville farm club.

In 2019, Kickham went 5-5 with a 4.27 ERA splitting time between the starting rotation and the bullpen for the Marlins' AAA affiliate in New Orleans, and was a non-roster invitee at the Boston Red Sox training camp this year before the Wuhan virus halted the baseball baseball season in its tracks. He made his first appearance in Mexican baseball last winter for Hermosillo and was outstanding, going 4-2 with a 1.97 ERA in seven starts, and will likely be in manager Navarrete's rotation this winter.

LMB WOULD HAVE OPENED TO EMPTY BALLPARKS IN 2020

Mexico's pandemic "traffic light" system

According to a story on the SeptimaEntrada.com website, the Mexican League would have started their delayed 2020 season playing in empty ballparks if they'd moved forward with their tentative plans for a shortened schedule. Instead, conditions brought on by a pandemic that has spread across Mexico caused LMB president Horacio de la Vega and the loop's team owners to cancel the season instead.

In hindsight, that turned out to be a wise decision. Septima Entrada writer Irving Furlong reports that when the abandoned August 7 opening day arrived, all 16 Liga teams were located within 14 states that had "red" or "orange" designations under Mexico's so-called Traffic Light system determining what type of activities will be allowed while the pandemic remains a problem. According to the system, a red traffic light means a maximum level of restrictions is applied, allowing only activities deemed essential and no public gatherings, while an orange traffic light indicates a high level of restrictions with some easing from red standards.

Given that sporting events at which fans would be allowed to attend will only be allowed in yellow-light (medium security) or green-light states (low security), along with longterm uncertainty in virus management, the LMB announced their better-safe-then-sorry decision to call off the 2020 season on July 1 with an eye on readying for a 2021 schedule.

According to Furlong, among LMB North franchises, only Tijuana and Aguascalientes were in orange-light states on August 7 while the remaining six teams operate in red-light states, including three in Nuevo Leon: Monterrey, Monclova and Union Laguna. Things were a little better in the LMB South, where Puebla, Tabasco and Yucatan were the only three teams in red-light states. In all, nine Mexican League teams were in red-light states while the remaining seven clubs were in orange-light settings.

Mexican Ministry of Health undersecretary Hugo Lopez Gatell said that as long as red or orange traffic light restrictions were in effect, professional sporting events could only take place behind closed doors. De la Vega said in an interview that it was not feasible to play without an audience in the stands, since around 60-70 percent of the income of LMB clubs comes from the box office and the general sales inside stadiums.

In addition, Furlong says de la Vega told Septima Entrada prior to the decision to cancel the season that teams not receiving governmental authorization to open their gates to fans for games might have chosen to sit out the season regardless of what was decided on a leaguewide level, making the LMB a short circuit (so to speak) this summer. Ultimately, all 16 team owners reportedly agreed that conditions made calling off the schedule the only prudent choice they could make.

PEREYRA: OLIVER PEREZ HAS ADJUSTED, SURVIVED

On July 26, Oliver Perez pitched in relief late in a game for the Cleveland Indians against Kansas City. The trip from the Tribe bullpen was his first in 2020, marking the eighteenth season he's appeared in a Major League Baseball game. That makes him the longest-serving Mexican player in big league history, breaking the record of 17 seasons he'd shared with Fernando Valenzuela, Juan Gabriel Castro and the late Aurelio Rodriguez.

Proceso.com.mx writer Beatriz Pereyra interviewed Perez after the historic event and talked about how the Culiacan native has had to adjust his approach to pitching and life to still be pitching in the majors long after his 2002 debut with San Diego. We repeat the translated column in its entirety here:

October 3, 2010. Last game of the season. The New York Mets face the Washington Nationals at home, both in the basement of the NL East. Mexican Óliver Pérez comes in to pitch the 14th inning of a game tied at one run apiece.

It's been 27 days since the left-hander has left the bullpen. Since May he has not been in the starting rotation. Not even as a reliever did the Mets use him. All season he has swallowed the boos of New York fans who deride his disastrous performances.

After striking out the first batter, Perez, the first player from Culiacan to reach the major leagues, gives up one hit. Unable to throw strikes, he walks two. Full house. Another base on balls. The winning run scores. Thirty pitches, of which only 11 were strikes. Óliver Pérez leaves the field of play under a rain of complaints. Final score: Washington 2, Mets 1.

At the end of the season, the Mets fired manager Jerry Manuel and general manager Omar Minaya, the one responsible for giving a three-year, $36 million contract to Oliver Perez, the left-handed pitcher who was completing his fifth season with the team (ninth in the majors) and who, after he signed for that amount, the saints turned their backs on.

The team also released the Mexican. The Mets board didn't mind paying him the $12 million they still owed him as long as he left. There would be no 2011 for Óliver Pérez in New York, where the press berated him periodically and reporters hounded him every day like wasps with stinging stings.

"It was very painful,” says Oliver. “Even if you are making millions, they come and tell you: 'We don't want you here anymore, get off the team!' It's very ugly. You feel like the smallest being on Earth; you want to hide because you think that everyone looks at you with hatred. I could have said: 'I'm staying, I have a contract,' but I'm not a conformist. I put up with that season and at the end, I continued preparing.”

July 26, 2020. Third game of an atypical season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Cleveland Indians host the Kansas City Royals in a duel of teams from the American League Central Division. The Mexican Óliver Pérez enters to pitch in the seventh inning of the game that the locals are winning 8-2. The southpaw is part of the relief corps, which in baseball is known as a "situational pitcher." He won a contract for this year because in 2019 he exceeded 55 appearances by participating in 67 games.

After teammate Carlos Carrasco allows a double, manager Terry Francona sends Pérez to restore order. He strikes out two opponents and the third rolls out to first base. Fifteen pitches, nine were strikes. Óliver Pérez leaves the field and his teammates congratulate him in the dugout. Final score: Cleveland 9, Kansas City 2.

With this performance Pérez became the first Mexican player to reach 18 seasons in the Major Leagues. A pale shadow remains of that tall player who made his debut with the San Diego Padres on June 16, 2002 at 20 years and 305 days. He is no longer that 97 mph fastball shooter who can strike out 239 opponents in one season.

Effort and perseverance

The 671 games in which Pérez has participated –195 as a starter and 476 as a reliever– and the 1,441 innings he has thrown have helped him to learn that skill is better than strength, that in baseball not everything is joy, that you learn to get up after you fall, that sacrifices have rewards, and that if you have to go down to the Minor Leagues there, you have to start over again.

“It's an honor to have played all this time,” Perez remarks. “What I've been through has not been easy. I've wondered in recent months how important this record is. All the Mexicans who have stepped into the Major Leagues must be an example for the new generations, to show who we are and telling children that everything is achieved with effort and dedication, even if there are stumbling blocks. "

This year, Pérez should be celebrating the start of his 19th season in the majors, but the setback he suffered left him out during 2011. That year he spent with Harrisburg, the Washington Nationals' AA farm team where he trained alongside of boys between the ages of 18 and 20 who looked at him from the bottom up because he was a major league player.

There, among kids, Pérez rebuilt himself with the help of Rafael “El Paisa” Arroyo, the Mets bullpen catcher whom he first befriended and now both call each other brothers. With his experience managing pitchers although he never played in the major leagues, Arroyo (a Los Angeles-born Mexican-American) took on Oliver's problems.

Arroyo witnessed how, with the Mets, Pérez's fastball lost speed, topping out at 89 MPH. He believes Perez misplaced security and trust. It didn't matter that Oliver arrived early, trained hard and was always ready to get on the mound. Fortune abandoned him. Together, they began to train with barbells and gym equipment, ate better and discussed in long conversations why they could not correct their course.

“I had tendinitis in his right knee in the leg I land on after every pitch,” says Perez. “One must land with the tip of the foot forward and mine fell horizontally. At the moment of turning the foot, the knee twisted. Imagine that for 100 pitches, over who knows how many games? One day it had to give. They were three very difficult years (from 2008 to 2010). That happened to me by not saying that I wasn't well and insisting on playing.”

For this reason it altered his pitching mechanics. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get out of the pothole. The Mets asked Perez to go to the minor leagues to try to compose himself. The player, thinking that to qualify for a pension he must accumulate 10 years of service in the Major Leagues, exercised his right of refusal.

His agent, Scott Boras, famous for landing clients multi-year contracts in exchange for millions of dollars, advised him not to agree to leave the roster of 25.

After the Mets released him, he went along with Arroyo, first to Phoenix and then to Culiacán. In the midst of family support, he tried to get ahead. Before the start of the 2010-11 season of the Mexican Pacific League, he trained to be fit and play with the Tomateros, but he was booed there too. He still couldn't find the strike zone and opponents were hitting him.

“I had to start from scratch. I had no team and that's when Washington caught me in 2011 to go to the minors. I felt the taste of the game again. I was with young kids and I also felt like a kid at 29 years old. That motivated me. They called me a leader and copied how I trained. I had a good season and that helped make Seattle notice me in 2012."

Great support

In his eagerness to help Oliver, Rafael Arroyo searched for videos of when he played for San Diego. He wanted to understand why his fastball had lost speed. He found that to compensate for the pain in his knee, the Culichi stooped down and that changed the angle of his arm and took away his strength. It took a lot to correct it. Barbell training, jogging on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix and shedding a few pounds also helped.

“Oliver gained strength and confidence, increased the speed of his fastball and started the rumor that he was in shape and ready to return,” says Arroyo. “Seattle gave him the opportunity to be a reliever and he did great because having to face fewer batters using fewer pitches, he could throw more than 97 MPH.”

In June 2012, just 10 years after his major league debut, Pérez returned to San Diego with the Seattle Mariners to face the team that opened the doors for him for the first time.

“It was watching the game go round. Everything was perfect. His family was there. Confidence is very important in this game and when you're not pitching regularly, you start to doubt. You have no control of the ball. You are not well physically, mentally nor emotionally but when you adjust, everything works,” explains the ex-catcher, now a physical trainer for other Mexican major leaguers such as Luis Cessa and Julio Urías.

Two seasons with Seattle led to one-and-a-half with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a few months with the Houston Astros and two more with the Washington Nationals, where he became a left-hander specializing in dominating left-handed hitters. The idea came from pitching coach Spin Williams, with whom Pérez worked in his early major league days with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Back then, Williams recommended that the Nationals sign him for the Minors in 2011.

The advice couldn't have been better. “You have a very good arm. You throw really well against lefties,” advised Williams, “so go to the bullpen and learn how to dominate lefties.” Perez eventually pitched for Washington in the 2016 and 2017 campaigns.

Statistics show that starting in 2012, when the average speed of his fastball was 94 miles per hour (with peaks of up to 97), Pérez began to challenge left-handed hitters by putting the ball in the center of the plate and not on the inside corner like he used to.

His rate of home runs allowed for every nine innings has also decreased, which is paradoxical because the trend in the major leagues has been for pitchers to give up more and more home runs. Pérez also stopped regularly using his sinker, a weapon with which lefties dominate right-handed hitters.

As of 2018, when he arrived with with the Cleveland Indians, it was clear how Oliver Pérez began to throw the slider more and depend less on his four-seam fastball. By becoming a left-handed specialist, he discovered that that power is what dominates lefties. He recognized that he could prolong his career by making these changes.

“You have to study everything you can face,” says Perez. “Right now we have all the statistics. The teams give you everything and you have to take advantage of it because that helps when you go up the hill. It makes sense: They told me that the percentage of being hit by the slider is lower than if I throw fastballs. That's why I took it. All of us, pitchers and hitters, have a lot of information and we have to study the situations that I face.

The Fastball Pitcher

In 2012, Pérez began throwing his fastball at the highest vertical launch point of his career. To put it in simpler terms: he stopped bending over – his knee injury gone now - and straightened his back. Those mechanics were used until 2017. That year, he lowered the angle of his left arm to make things uncomfortable while facing lefties.

Beyond the advanced statistics, his own experience leads him to make other types of adjustments that he invents.

Pérez fervently believes that both his fastball and the slider can be varied if, for example, before throwing home he pauses, shorter or longer, depending on who he is facing or, on the contrary, if he throws fast he sometimes lifts his leg up or down. He says he's reading hitters and wants to break their rhythm.

One day, in a game in Culiacán, he had to face a player who hit foul balls 13 times. Annoyed at being unable to get him out with a 94 MPH fastball, Perez lifted his right leg and suspended it in the air for three seconds and struck the hitter out. He improvised on that occurrence to see if that way he could dominate his rival.

“I want them to not get into the rhythm if they are waiting for the fastball,” explains Perez. “I take away their strength and I break their timing. I always think about how to decrease the possibility of giving up solid contact. Little by little I was inventing it. Sometimes a hitter gives you 10 fouls and you have to improvise those things.”

Perez only needs to play and win in a World Series to go debt-free to baseball. He has spent every fall of his career watching these games on television. He doesn't want to retire without the delight of having a championship ring, hopping on the field while colored paper rains down on him and dousing himself with champagne in the dressing room.

“Something I would like is to be the oldest player in the major leagues,” Perez says. “When I came up in 2002, I was the youngest in the entire league. I want to be there when a player born in 2002 makes his debut.”

Ahead of Pérez, who turned 39 on August 15, the player with the most campaigns in the Major Leagues in 2020 is the Dominican Albert Pujols. At 40, Pujols is completing his 20th season. The Los Angeles Angels' first baseman made his debut in April 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Perez admits that every season is a little tougher than the one before:

“We go year by year. I try to take better care of myself and eat healthier because if I have extra weight, my knees, ankles, and back hurt. Now I think about reaching season 20. Who knows if in 2021 I will have a contract? There is no other Mexican in any sport who has been active for so many years although when I wake up, everything hurts."

RIELEROS PLAYERS ASK LMB FOR FINANCIAL HELP

Aguascalientes players celebrating a homer

Mexican baseball players are waiting out their summer of Wuhan virus-induced inactivity due to the canceled Mexican league season until they're able to suit up for the anticipated Mexican Pacific League season openers in mid-October. A number of them, however, are reaching the financial breaking point while trying to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families. While many, if not most, players are still waiting for promised assistance from the LMB franchises, one group has tired of empty promises and are appealing to the Liga office in Mexico City directly for help.

According to PuroBeisbol.com editor Fernando Ballesteros, players and coaches for the Aguascalientes Rieleros have written a letter to LMB president Horacio de la Vega seeking aid from the league office because the Railroaders has failed to do so. When the Liga announced on July 2 that they were cancelling their season for the first time in the loop's 95-year history, players and umpires were promised by de la Vega and the 16 LMB franchises that they would receive financial support throughout the summer. Instead, the only teams that have reportedly followed through are the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros (both owned by billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu), although there may be others helping their players.

At the time of the announcement, the player assistance seemed a tall order for many of the LMB teams that typically operate on a proverbial wing and a prayer. One of the reasons the 2020 schedule was called off was the likelihood that fans would not be allowed inside ballparks to watch games, taking away the primary source of revenue in a circuit lacking large-scale sponsorships that bring in enough money to at least partially fill the monetary void that would be created by empty ballparks. While a handful of Mexican League teams like the Diablos, Monterrey, Monclova and Yucatan might have enough cash reserves to help their players, the majority of franchises like Aguascalientes simply lack the funds to do so.

When calls have been made in the past for LMB contraction, the Rieleros are usually one of the teams mentioned. Ever since Aguascalientes was first awarded a Liga franchise in 1975 (the current team marks the Railroaders' third incarnation), the city of 832,712 residents has only hoisted one pennant (1978) and more often resides near the bottom of both the standings and attendance tables.

Day game at Parque Alberto Romo Chavez

Last year was no different, as the Rieleros finished 12 games out of the playoffs, coming in sixth in the eight-team LMB North with a 54-65 record, while drawing 2,001 fans per game in 56 dates at 74-year-old Parque Alberto Romo Chavez for a total attendance of 112,077 on the season, 15th in the league (only Campeche attracted fewer patrons). Aguascalientes has averaged 3,000 or better in attendance twice since making their latest return to the Liga in 2012.

Aguascalientes does have some well-respected veterans on their roster like third baseman Michael Wing, catcher Carlos Rodriguez, 2017 LMB Pitcher of the Year Nestor Molina and future Salon de la Fama slugger Saul Soto, but the club is traditionally one of the most undercapitalized in the Mexican League and low revenues prevent bringing in top talent needed for a contending team.

While expectations the Rieleros were low even before the pandemic crossed the Pacific Ocean and scuttled the season, things are reaching critical mass with the team. Ballesteros quotes the letter, which was leaked to Puro Beisbol, as telling de la Vega "We are aware of the serious situation the world is going through, but we appeal to your support so that in some way we can be creditors of a loan or salary advance in order to be able to financially solve the needs of our families before everything returns to normality.”

The letter was signed by all the Aguascalientes players and coaches, including new manager Luis Carlos Rivera, who pitched for both Atlanta and Baltimore in 2000. Rivera managed Leon in 2018, turning in a 53-57 combined record for the LMB's two abbreviated seasons that year and reaching the playoffs in the Spring campaign.

MAYOS HOPING TO BRING BACK TAIWANESE PITCHER

Hu Chih-Wei pitching for Navojoa last year

Like every other team in the Mexican Pacific League, the Navojoa Mayos are figuring out who will comprise the three foreign players they're allowed for the upcoming 2020-21 season. Although team owner Victor Cuevas has confirmed that the Mayos will open the schedule with returnees Juan Perez (a ex-reds minor league who hit 23 homers for Saltillo in 2019) and former White Sox first base prospect Keon Barnum joining a newcomer, left-handed pitcher Mitch Lambson, who has been a starter the past four summers with Winnipeg of the independent American Association after being a reliever in the Astros system).

A fourth import listed as a reserve for Lorenzo Bundy's team will be coming the farthest to play for Navojoa if he gets the call. Taiwanese pitcher Hu Chih-Wei impressed the Mayos last winter in a short spell despite losing his only decision, turning in a 1.50 ERA with 13 strikeouts while walking only two batters over 18 innings in three starts. The 26-year-old righty is staying home for the time being after testing positive for the Wuhan virus but the team has remained in close contact with him.

Although he is a native of Taichung, home of the Chinese Professional Baseball League's Chinatrust Brothers, Hu has never pitched professionally in his homeland (although he did help Taiwan to a Silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. By then, he was already pitching in the Twins system after signing with Minnesota in August 2012 as an international free agent at age 18.

Midway through the 2015 season, Hu was dealt to Tampa Bay and he went on to represent the Rays as the only Asian product on the World roster at the 2016 All-Star Futures Game in San Diego. That year, he went on to lead the AA Southern League with a 2.59 ERA pitching for Montgomery and was named a postseason All-Star.

Hu is all smiles after 2017 MLB debut with Rays

Hu made his MLB debut with Tampa Bay on April 24, 2017 by tossing a perfect eighth inning during a 6-3 loss at Baltimore. He went on to finish with six appearances for the Rays, all in relief, and won his first big league game on the road over the Yankees on September 28, hurling a frame in the Ray's 9-6 triumph as Tampa Bay scored seven times in the fifth inning. The 6'0" 243-pounder finished 2017 with a 1-1 record and a 2.70 ERA in ten MLB innings, spending most of the year with AAA Durham.

After a 2018 campaign in which he was primarily a starter at Durham (although he did pitch five more times for the Rays, going 0-0 and 4.15 while striking out 12 over 13 innings), Hu was traded to Cleveland for second baseman Gionti Turner. His experience with Tampa Bay personified the capricious nature of baseball, as Hu was recalled to the Rays no fewer than eleven times in 2017 and 2018 while being optioned back to AAA an equal number of times before he was shipped to the Tribe.

That began another odyssey of sorts for Hu, who spent time in both the Indians and Cubs organizations last summer (going 3-7 with a 7.74 ERA for four teams at the AAA and AA levels) prior to signing a free agent contract last December with San Diego, who assigned him to AAA El Paso with a slot at the Padres' training camp as a non-roster invitee. Hu returned to Taiwan when he wasn't named to the Padres' taxi squad after training camp was halted, the minor league season suspended and MLB schedule delayed due to the virus.

PROSPECT LEAGUE OPENS SECOND SEASON

As we saw last month in a translated Proceso article, it's been a trying couple of years for Mexico's Probeis and director Edgar Gonzales. The former MLB and NPB infielder was building a successful post-playing career as a Mexican Pacific League manager and team executive before getting tabbed by Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to head the federally-funded Probeis program to build baseball from the grass-roots level up. However, as Gonzalez told Proceso's Beatriz Pereyra, much of the funding has not been made available due to Mexico's legendary bureaucracy and the San Diego native (who grew up in Tijuana) been forced to fly by the seat of his pants ever since.

Which has to make the opening of a second season for the Mexican Prospect League (or LPM) that much sweeter for Gonzalez, who's seen enough go wrong since last year to have a heightened appreciation for when things go RIGHT.

The four-team LPM kicked off its 30-day schedule last Thursday with a doubleheader at Estadio Charros in Guadalajara, where the loop will play all games in 2020. The teams are named after four contemporary Mexican baseball figures: Juan Gabriel Castro, Jorge Cantu, Oliver Perez and Joakim Soria.

The LPM is designed to attract the attention of talent-seekers from colleges, MLB and other baseball organizations, dozens of whom were on hand last week. Organizers held a Showcase last Wednesday, a day before the one-month season began. It put 120 players between the ages of 14 and 18 from across Mexico on the field displaying their physical skills through on-field testing and drills.

Play opened the next day as the Cantus topped the Castros, 8-6, in the first game behind the two hits, two RBIs and one run scored by Heber Villalobos. Tadeo Alejandro Osuna, younger brother of Houston Astros closer Roberto, had three hits for the Castros, scoring one run and driving in another. In the nightcap, the Sorias shut out the Perezes, 9-0, with starter Roque Gutierrez earning the win in the two-hitter.

LPM action last Thursday in Guadalajara

Teams will play 15-game regular season schedules through Saturday, September 12, with daily doubleheaders Thursdays through Sundays followed by instruction sessions Mondays through Wednesdays. After an All-Star Game on Sunday, September 13, the LPM will hold three days of playoff semifinal doubleheaders from Tuesday, September 15 through Thursday, September 17. A two-day Final will be held Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19, followed by closing ceremonies on Sunday, September 20.

All LPM games will be streamed live and archived free of charge through the World Baseball Softball Confederation's channel on the GameTime website.

According to a story on SeptimaEntrada.com, the LPM "intends to build a successful platform for young baseball players with professional prospects to represent Mexico with dignity. The aim is for this development system to be the most effective in Mexican baseball and to become a benchmark model at the national and international level.

"The mission is to produce a summer league with a professional environment, which brings together the best prospects in the country to transmit academic-sports knowledge that decisively contributes to their personal and professional development."

MEX PAC RELEASES 2020-21 SCHEDULE

The Mexican Pacific League office has released its regular season schedule for the upcoming winterball season. The calendar has all ten teams playing 68 games spread over two halves, beginning in mid-October and running through the end of December, with Mondays used as a travel day (as has been the case for years).

One unusual feature is that the traditional two-game, home-and-away inaugural sets between rival teams are being discarded for 2020-21. While those series typically result in packed ballparks across the circuit, the possibility that no fans will be allowed in the stands due to the panicdemic has compelled the LMP to take no chances.

Instead, the regular season will open with five four-game series commencing Thursday, October 15: Mexicali at Obregon, Hermosillo at Navojoa, Mazatlan at Los Mochis, Guasave at Culiacan and Jalisco at Monterrey.

It appears that the Monterrey Sultanes may have backtracked on their plans to play home games in Mazatlan this season, although the team website wasn't even displaying a Mex Pac schedule or ticket information as this story was being written on Sunday afternoon. Sultanes sports manager Jesus Valdez Jr. was quoted in SeptimaEntrada.com as saying he was confident that the team will get the okay from Nuevo Leon state government officials to play in Monterrey with people in the stands. The Sultanes will train in Mazatlan prior to the season opener.

The first half will consist of 35 games and run through Sunday, November 22. The second half will open Tuesday, November 24, with 33-game schedules being played through Wednesday, December 30. A full eight-team, three-stage

postseason will be staged in January to determine a champion that will represent the LMP and Mexico at the Caribbean Series in Mazatlan, scheduled to run from late January into early February.

Who else will participate in the Serie del Caribe is another matter due to health, economic and political concerns in other nations. Cuba was already uninvited earlier this year due their pullout from the 2020 tournament just prior to it being held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Colombia joined 2019 champion Panama to make it a six-team field with champions from traditional CS countries Mexico (represented by LMP title-winner Culiacan), Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

ISMAEL VALDEZ SELECTED TO LATIN BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ismael “Rocket” Valdez was named last month as a 2020 inductee to the Latin American Baseball Hall of Fame in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Valdez will join Panamanian Mariano Rivera as the newest members of the pantheon, which was opened in 2010. Induction ceremonies have been delayed due to the panicdemic.

A native of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Ismael Valdes (who changed his surname to Valdez later in his career) was signed at age 17 in 1991 by the Dodgers out of the Pasteje Academy in Mexico City, a forerunner to the current Mexican Baseball Academy near Monterrey. Valdes was assigned to the Dodgers' Gulf Coast League Rookie Team in Florida that summer and went 2-2 with a 2.33 ERA in ten starts.

Three years later, after stops in AA San Antonio and AAA Albuquerque, Valdes made his big league debut at 20 in Los Angeles on June 15, 1994, tossing two innings of scoreless relief in a 4-2 loss to Cincinnati in front of over 51,000 onlookers at Dodger Stadium. His first win came July 5 in relief as the Dodgers pulled out a 2-1 victory in ten innings at home as the 6'3” right-hander pitched mostly out of the bullpen in 21 outings, finishing 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA. It was a nice debut for Valdes but gave no indication of what was to come.

Los Angeles manager Tommy Lasorda moved Valdes into the starting rotation early in 1995 and was rewarded when Valdes turned in a 13-11 record and 3.05 ERA (fourth-best in the National League) that included six complete games, two of them shutouts. He started a League Divisional Series against Atlanta and got a no-decision after pitching seven innings of in a 5-4 loss to the Reds, allowing a two-run homer by Reggie Sanders in the fourth.

Still, it was a good year for Valdes, who finished seventh in Rookie of the Year balloting, and began a string of five seasons in LA in which he won 58 games and turned in a sub-4.00 ERA each year before he was sent the the Chicago Cubs as part of a five-player trade in December 1999. After an ineffective stint with the Cubs (2-4, 5.37 in 12 starts), Valdes was sent BACK to the Dodgers for two minor leaguers and cash in July 2000, struggled his way to three more losses in eight starts and was declared a free agent after the season.

Valdes signed a contract with the Anaheim Angels for the 2001 season but became a bit of a baseball vagabond for the rest of his career, changing teams five times before tossing his final MLB pitch for the Florida Marlins in 2005. He had limited success along the way, going 14-9 in 2004 (after changing his surname to Valdez before the season), but ending that year with a 5.19 ERA and being traded by San Diego to the Marlins in midseason. Valdez' final big league appearance was on October 1, 2005 when he threw five relief innings against Atlanta, allowing three runs on five hits in a 6-4 win over the Braves in Miami. He then retired from baseball just weeks after his 32nd birthday. In 12 Major League seasons, Valdez had a 204-205 record and a 4.09 ERA, striking out 1,173 batters over 1,827 innings.

Valdez came out of retirement in 2013 when, at 39 years of age, he pitched eight games (including two starts) for the Mexican League's Quintana Roo Tigres. It was not the swan song he may have hoped for, going 1-1 with a 10.91 ERA before retiring for good in June, but his signing did draw the Cancun team some extra nationwide attention and he did contribute a win for manager Matias Carrillo's pennant-winning club.

He now becomes the twelfth Mexican named to the Latin American Baseball Hall of Fame. Hector Espino and Beto Avila were among the first inductees in 2010 and have been followed by Mel Almada, Chile Gomez, Angel Castro, Felipe Montemayor, Vinny Castilla, Nomar Garciaparra, Aurelio Lopez, Ted Higuera and Fernando Valenzuela. Garciaparra is actually California-born but his father Ramon is a Mexico native; Nomar is “Ramon” spelled backwards.

LIQUIDITY: THE GENERAL PROBLEM OF THE LMP

Writer Tito Escobar of ElJonronero.com recently wrote a story outlining the problems the Mexican Pacific League will face as they move forward in anticipation of playing a 2020-21 season. According to Escobar, the main problem will be the ability of Mex Pac teams to pay the bills in the face of the current panicdemic. Here is a Google translation (slightly edited) of his column:

El Jonronero cronista Tito Escobar

We already know all the effects that the devastating pandemic has brought worldwide. Mexico is one of the countries hardest hit by infections and deaths, but the drive and the desire to move ahead with order while following the instructions of the federal health authorities have encouraged the reactivation of the economy in different business areas. The decision was made to carry out the 2020-21 campaign of the Mexican Pacific League but, like all entrepreneurs, today they are experiencing a complicated situation on the issue of liquidity.

This reporter has talked with owners, brands, sponsors, advertising agencies and with all those involved in the mechanics of advertising and getting sponsorships, brand managers and advertising sellers. They have found as a barrier in their work: the obvious problem of lack of liquidity.

Even so, the Mexican Pacific League remains firm, but at the moment things are complicated collectively and with almost all clubs. We know who the clubs are that have the most economic power due to their locations, but they are all important and the efforts are aimed at them: Having advertisers, the best players and, therefore, having liquidity to face the campaign.

As an example and unofficially, the negotiations with the players have flowed, but if there are cases where we will soon find out about players who (given the decision not to accept the reduction that exists as a league agreement to lower the payroll to 50%) have rejected the offers and will not play. There is everything, those who demand discreetly and those who publish private conversations such as the Cuban Félix Pérez of the Monterrey Sultans.

Each one handles their situation differently and faces the pandemic in a different way. Most understand that the easy thing was for the owners to say NO to play and voila'…they leave the player to his own devices. But that's not the case. The player is going to play with everyone sacrificing something in the face of the difficult situation because having a job in these times is a blessing.

And as many owners have mentioned to El Jonronero, with a player who does not want to play there is no problem: he stays at home, next year things are better in every way and contract negotiations begin on a regular basis. But, of course, there are no loans to other clubs for this year in the case of players who wish not to sign with their club for not wanting to accept the mandatory reduction in salary.

On the topic of brands, El Jonronero received unofficial information that two of the main advertisers at the LMP level have said no for this campaign: One prestigious brand of fried foods and a major sportsbook that has been enthusiastically supporting winter baseball year after year. But obviously, the economic damage caused by the effects of the pandemic leads them to step aside this year. Sponsoring brands are obviously also experiencing economic problems in this chain of problems unleashed by the global pandemic.

The beer brands have individual contracts with the LMP clubs and are normally one of the strongest sponsorships, but today they are in serious economic difficulty to be able to participate according to contracts. There are cases in which they want to be absent this season, as there are those who can only contribute 25% of what was agreed to and thus help in some way. Each city and each beer brand is different. The soft drink brands that distribute bottled soft drinks, tea, and natural water are waiting mainly for what is the number of people who will be authorized by the federal health authorities to enter each ballpark of LMP. They go through that as a sales projection exercise and it is logical in their business.

And so hundreds of examples, like the dealers who are seeing if they bet on selling their products like other years, are waiting. The sale of seats is a very complicated topic among fans. Buying tickets or not is what fans have in mind in all the cities and to a certain extent, it is understood. The work of each club in this sense is titanic when it comes to the bet they have made that the Mexican Pacific League season is going to be played.

All the actors in the different areas should cooperate to boost the Mexican baseball economy and try to normalize as soon as possible this great game that we all enjoy in Mexico.

LMP SEASON REAFFIRMED, THREE TEAMS WORRIED

LMP teams say they're committed for 2020-21

The Mexican Pacific League held a Board of Presidents meeting last Thursday and while the LMP reaffirmed their intention to play a full schedule in the upcoming 2020-21 season, one website reports that at least three teams broached the possibility of sitting out the campaign due to concerns originating from the Wuhan virus.

Tito Escobar of ElJonronero.com reports sources told the website that three unnamed franchises expressed their concerns over operating at all next winter while discussions were held to address difficulties in securing advertising, contract disagreements and readjustments regarding beer and soft drink brands sold at ballparks and the uncertainty over how many fans will be allowed to attend games (if health authorities allow people in the stands at all).

Another worry brought up among the owners was the status of the Caribbean Series which is scheduled to take place in Mazatlan from late January into early February. Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation president Juan Francisco Puello has already spoken of the possibility of affiliated leagues not playing their season because of the Wuhan virus, which would necessitate a Plan B of sorts if the Serie del Caribe is to be salvaged. One possibility is that a de facto all-star team consisting of players on LMP rosters could be cobbled together, in a fashion similar to how National Teams are formed, to represent Mexico in the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball.

In the end, all the hesitant teams agreed to move forward, however tenuously, toward playing the upcoming winterball season. Although the Monterrey Sultanes will be playing their home games in Mazatlan, sharing Estadio Teodoro Mariscal with the hometown Venados, no other similar arrangements were announced, even though there's been talk of the Mexicali Aguilas moving to Hermosillo for the season and alternating home series with the Naranjeros. Another rumor involved the less-likely prospect of the Jalisco Charros wintering in Culiacan and playing at Estadio Tomateros. Guadalajara, which also hosts the LMP office, is closer to other Mex Pac cities than either Monterrey or Mexicali while Charros ownership would be loathe to want to ship their team out of town for the season. The LMP was scheduled to announce the regular season schedule on Monday, August 10.

Locker rooms to be empty for player safety

The SeptimaEntrada.com site reported that safety protocols for the season were discussed. LMP president Omar Canizales said during a videoconference that there are a number of steps the Mex Pac and its ten franchises will take to help ensure the health of players, coaches and team staff. The first step, Canizales said, is to talk with players and staffs, asking them to stay away from any risk and to isolate themselves and monitor their health for 15 days before they think they'll report to their teams.

He said the next step would be to test everyone for the Wuhan virus upon their arrival to training sessions, with those testing positive quarantined according to procedure. Finally, players and coaches will be instructed to leave their hotels for games already in uniform, while waiting upon their return to change in order to avoid the use of ballpark dressing rooms, where players would be in close proximity to each other while dressing before and after games.

YOANYS QUIALA SIGNS WITH CPBL FUBON GUARDIANS

Yoanys Quiala pitching for Los Mochis

The Mexican Pacific League's 2019-20 Pitcher of the Year has signed a one-year contract with a team in Taiwan after his anticipated summer with the Tijuana Toros was scuttled when the Mexican League pulled the plug on playing games in 2020.

Cuban right-hander Yoanys Quiala inked a pact last month with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, who also signed Mexican pitcher Manny Banuelos s an import in June. The CPBL is the only league in the world to begin its season on time in April and play a full schedule (minus rainouts) while other loops have delayed or canceled their seasons altogether due to the Wuhan virus. Quiala will undergo a physical and two-week quarantine in New Taipei City before being activated.

The 26-year-old Quiala was born in Mayari, Cuba but defected from the island nation prior to signing a free agent contract with the Houston organization in time for the 2015 season, when he posted a 2-0 record with a 1.54 ERA in nine appearances (four stats) for

an academy team in the rookie Dominican Summer League.

Quiala as an Astros prospect

Quiala pitched in the Astros minor league system for four years, appearing in the 2017 Carolina League All-Star Game while pitching for Buies Creek. However, his 2018 season with AA Corpus Christi ended early after he received an 80-game suspension for using steroids. Quiala was subsequently released by Houston and signed a minor league free agent contact with San Francisco for the 2019 campaign. He was 6-8 for the Giants' AAA Sacramento affiliate and had a 6.68 ERA for the River Cats before he was released on August 10. The 6'3” righty, who tips the scales at 235 pounds, signed with Tijuana last November.

Expectations weren't high when Quiala reported to Los Mochis last season. He'd pitched for the Caneros in 2018-19 and went 3-5 with a 4.37 ERA as a swingman, which had been his usual role over five professional seasons. However, after he was used solely as a starter with Sacramento, Caneros manager Victor Bojorquez gave Quiala the ball every fifth game and he rewarded Los Mochis with a 9-2 mark (for a 32-36 team), leading the MLP in innings pitched (87.2), wins (9) and WHIP (0.98) while coming in second in ERA (2.57) and strikeouts (71) en route to an easy win as the Mex Pac Pitcher of the Year.

Quiala was set to help fill Tijuana's starting rotation this year before the season was called off and rumors began circulating early last month that he was in talks with Fubon to pitch in Taiwan. The CPBLstats.com website reports that five days later, the Guardians filed a hiring application for a new player with the Ministry of Labor and Quiala was confirmed as that player. At last report, Quiala was awaiting results of a test for Wuhan virus and hoping to arrive in New Taipei City by early August.

LMB TEAMS TO LOSE 1-3 MILLION PESOS MONTHLY IN SHUTDOWN

Yucatan's Estadio Kukulkan sits unused in 2020

According the Beatriz Pereyra of Mexico City's Proceso.com.mx, the Mexican League's sixteen franchises stand to lose between one to three million pesos (US$45,000-135,000) per month now that the LMB has cancelled its 2020 schedule. LMB president Horacio de la Vega called off the season in late June for the first time since its 1925 inception due to ongoing concerns over the Wuhan virus, which has taken a steep toll in confirmed cases and deaths south of the border.

The possibility of playing games behind closed doors was considered until it was determined that most Liga teams could not afford to put teams on the field without ballpark-related revenue. Owner decided that their losses would be reduced by not playing a shortened regular season followed by playoffs. Although there are a handful of franchises like the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Monterrey Sultanes and Tijuana Toros who have the financial strength to withstand what will be a year's worth of red ink without income generated at their home stadiums, most of the teams were already operating on the margins even before the pandemic arrived last spring, causing an initial delay in the LMB's anticipated April openers.

Empty coffers to devastate LMB teams

Even though the anticipated monetary losses will cause further damage to the league's Have-Nots, LMB franchises will spend money to help finance the league office in the nation's capital, including financial support for ballplayers and the circuit's 36 umpires, because the loop does not have sponsorship resources allowing it to fund itself at the executive level. Pereyra says the league office issued a statement saying, “The LMB and its 16 teams have agreed to provide financial support to the players, as well as to the corps of umpires.”

As a result, each team will analyze what percentage of salaries for their rostered players as well as coaching staff members. Pereyra states that the average player in the Mexican League is paid US$6,700-7,600 per month, although there are novice players earning US$2,000-2,250. At the higher end of the payroll, star players may receive up to US$22,500 per month during the season, although the range for them is usually closer to US$13,500-18,000 every 30 days.

With the 2020 campaign abandoned, the LMB is moving ahead with plans to open their next season in April 2021 and using their extended offseason to invest in a “digital and technical transformation,” as the league office says, while addressing a television and media infrastructure that de la Vega considers a “weakness.”