 |
| 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 |
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 |
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.
 |
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
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
“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
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."
No comments:
Post a Comment