AGUILAS GIVEN GREEN LIGHT FOR FANS IN STANDS

Mexicali's El Nido ballpark

     The number of Mexican Pacific League teams allowed to open their home ballparks to limited fans at home games is now up to five. Rafael Martinez Barraza of AlBat.com reports that Mexicali mayor Marina del Pilar Avila has authorized the Aguilas to admit up to 30 percent of El Nido's 17,000-seat capacity (or about 5,100 fans) during the 2020-21 season. The governor of Sinaloa gave the green light for four Mex Pac teams to open their stadiums for up to about 40 percent capacity this season. The league schedule will begin Thursday, October 15 while the Aguilas will host Monterrey in their home opener five nights later. Mexicali is the loop's lone team in Baja California.

     Martinez says league security protocols will be strictly adhered to during Aguilas home games this winter. In order to enter El Nido, fans will be required to have their temperature taken at the gate, use antibacterial gel and wear masks in the stands. Mayor del Pilar adds that if Mexicali experiences an outbreak of the Wuhan virus during the season, the stadium will be closed to the public and people who bought tickets in advance will “eventually” be given a refund.

     The partial opening in Mexicali leaves five LMP franchises still looking at playing behind closed doors this winter: Hermosillo, Navojoa and Obregon in Sonora, Monterrey in Nuevo Leon and Jalisco in that state. Martinez says the four Sinaloa teams allowed by Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel have already begun to block off their ballpark seating to reflect social distancing requirements, including the Mazatlan Venados.

Seats in Mazatlan being blocked off

     At Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, where the 2021 Caribbean Series is scheduled to be held in late January and early February, Venados staff members are covering three seats in each row, with two seats being left open in alternating fashion for occupancy during games. The scheme is meant to provide a “cushion” of sorts in which pairs of fans will be surrounded by empty seats to the front, rear and sides in a zig-zag pattern.

     All ballparks allowing fans to attend games are expected to follow a similar format.

PLAYERS REPORTING AS ALL MEX PAC CAMPS GET UNDERWAY

     Ballplayers from across Mexico and points elsewhere have been reporting to the Mexican Pacific League teams as all ten LMP training camps are now in full swing. Opening night is a little over two weeks away, with five games slated for Thursday, October 15.

Johnny Davis rounding third for Rays

   Three players in particular are considered vital for the upcoming season by their respective Mex Pac squads, including incoming Culiacan outfielder Johnny Davis. The 30-year-old Davis had a very good year in the Mexican League in 2019, batting an even .300 and leading the LMB with 54 stolen bases for Dos Laredos and Oaxaca before his contract was sold to the Tampa Bay Rays in md-August. After spending a few days with the Rays' AA Montgomery affiliate, the Compton Comet was called up for his MLB debut September 11. He played eight games for the Rays and had a triple in four at-bats, scoring five runs while being used primarily as a pinch-runner.

     Davis, who did not play baseball in high school, signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay for 2020 but has not played this season. He's being brought to the defending champion Tomateros to replace centerfielder Rico Noel, who refused to sign a contract with the team at a lower salary. Culiacan sport manager Mario Valdez says, “We're confident he can help us very well by covering center field and being the team's leadoff hitter. He has excellent speed and that fits very well with the type of game that we've been playing in recent years.” Davis is expected to report October 1. This will be the 5'10 switch-hitter's first season in the Mex Pac, although he has played winterball in Venezuela in the past.

Japhet Amador in Charros batting cage

     One player who needs no introduction to LMP fans is looking forward to his 13th season in the league. Hulking first baseman/designated hitter Japhet Amador has reported to the Jalisco Charros training camp in Guadalajara after missing all of last season to heal an Achilles tendon injury he'd suffered in late 2019 playing for Mexico City in the Mexican League. The 6'4” 310-pounder whose nickname is “The Mulege Giant” acknowledges that he has work to do after not playing baseball for over 13 months. “A year without playing is something difficult to come back from,” Amador says. “You have to be ready at the beginning of the season to do well all year long.”

     When healthy, Amador may be the most feared slugger in Mexican baseball. After his 2007 Mexican League debut with the Minatitlan Petroleros at age 20, Amador has hit .332 with 195 homers in 794 games over 10 LMB seasons while cracking another 96 roundtrippers to augment a .269 average in ten LMP winters. He also socked 56 homers over 242 games in three seasons in Japan with the Rakuten Eagles before being sent packing for PED use in 2018. Amador had a .336/28/115 season for Mexico City in 2019 and is expected to be one of the anchors of Jalisco's batting order this winter along with outfielder Dariel Alvarez and longtime third baseman Agustin Murillo. Alvarez and Murillo were expected to report to the team in Guadalajara last week and undergo testing for the Wuhan virus before integrating with their teammates.

Navojoa Mayos righty Hector Velazquez

     A top pitcher joined the Navojoa Mayos on Friday after a sometimes-trying summer during which he was a member of three MLB organizations without entering a single game after having spent parts of the previous three years with Boston. Hector Velazquez, a 31-year-old righty from Obregon who went 11-7 in 879 appearances (including 19 starts) between 2017 and 2019, opened the year in the Red Sox training camp hoping for a berth with a team rebuilding just two years after winning the World Series.

     Instead, Velazquez was waived to Baltimore in early March shortly before the pandemic shut down baseball across the Western Hemisphere and then traded to Houston on July 29 for a player to be named later. A two-time LMP Pitcher of the Year with Navojoa, Velazquez went 1-1 with a 1.80 in ten innings over as many appearances last season for the Mayos. In nine Mex Pac seasons, the last ten with Navojoa, Velazquez has a 29-23 record with a 3.87 ERA. Over seven summers in the Mexican League, six of them for Campeche, he was 43-29 over 120 starts with a 3.76 ERA. His best year was in 2016-17, when he went a combined 15-4 for the Piratas and Mayos, turned in a 2.33 ERA and struck out 218 batters while walking only 35 overall in 227 innings.

BBM EDITORIAL: MEXICAN LEAGUE MUST CONTRACT TO SURVIVE

IN: Puebla Pericos

     When I wrote my first column on Mexican baseball for the OurSports Central website in March 2005, it was a temporary creative outlet between radio jobs. I'd cover the Mexican League until September, when I'd hopefully be back in radio, and that would be it. I eventually did land a radio job that summer but a funny thing happened by the time manager Che Reyes had piloted the Angelopolis Tigres to the LMB pennant: I'd come to care about the Mexican League and baseball south of the border in general, so I kept on writing and fifteen years later, I'm still here. Radio? Haven't earned a living in it since 2012. Who knew?

     In all this time, although I've thrown an occasional personal observation into a story, I've tried to maintain the role of objective reporter rather than biased commentator about baseball in Mexico. It hasn't always been easy but I think I've largely succeeded and can count the number of editorials I've written on this topic on one hand. Journalistic detachment aside, I truly want the Mexican League to not only survive but flourish and the things we've all seen the past few years suggest the opposite is happening. Things HAVE to change or the LMB may collapse under its own weight.

     The biggest threat to the survival of the Mexican League is that there are simply too many teams. While there are certainly a number of success stories among the LMB's 16 clubs (Tijuana, Monterrey, Monclova, Yucatan, etc.), there are far too many are underperforming franchises that are dragging the rest of the Liga down with them. For every team like the Tijuana Toros, who led all of Minor League Baseball by averaging 11,291 per night in attendance, there are two teams like the Leon Bravos (who averaged fewer than 3,500 a game) and the Campeche Piratas, whose 1,743 per opening ranked an embarrassing 146th among all Minor League Baseball teams, including every team in the short-season Class A Northwest League. What are Leon and Campeche doing in a AAA league in 2020?

     The Mexican League was going to contract to 12 teams in 2019 by giving Aguascalientes, Laguna, Leon and Puebla the year off (ostensibly to reorganize their finances), but then-new Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador overruled the move and ordered all four team reinstated. Puebla was somewhat resuscitated under wealthy new owner Jose “The King of Beans” Miguel and the Pericos averaging 4,693 per game, seventh in the LMB, but the other three continued continued to languish on and off the field.

     So what to do? As a longtime believer than any league, like a chain, is only as strong as its weakest league, the Mexican League needs to say adios to its weakest links by contracting. There were still too many poor franchises even after the first contraction attempt so rather than dropping four teams, the LMB would be best served by cutting itself in half to eight teams. My observation (admittedly from a distance) is that those eight remaining teams should be the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, Monclova Acereros, Monterrey Sultanes, Puebla Pericos, Saltillo Saraperos, Tijuana Toros, Yucatan Leones and Mexico City Tigres.

   Yes, the Tigres should return to the city of their birth to revive their 65-year rivalry with the Diablos, even though that guarantees that Fernando Valenzuela will sell the team rather than co-exist with a rival that has been the bane of his existence since buying the legacy franchise in early 2018. The smaller Mexican League would maintain balance, with four teams in the LMB North (Monclova, Monterrey, Saltillo, Tijuana) and four in the LMB South (Diablos, Tigres, Puebla and Yucatan). Assuming the Tigres are sold to qualified buyers who could co-exist with Alfredo Harp Helu and the Red Devils (perhaps even as tenants in Harp's namesake ballpark), all eight franchises would have financially solid ownerships in cities that have all proven past support for baseball.

OUT: Campeche Piratas

     This is not to say that the eight contracted franchises shouldn't have the chance to be part of future LMB expansions after the Liga stabilizes. They could even continue to serve as AA affiliates of remaining LMB teams for player development and call-ups, much as the Liga Norte has done in the past. A four-team Liga Centro could be formed with Aguascalientes, Dos Laredos, Durango and Laguna while a similar Liga Sur could be cobbled from Campeche, Leon, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Although salaries would be lower, such a move would save 200 playing jobs while teams operating on lower budgets would have a better chance of sustainability at the AA level.

     How likely is any of this? Frankly, Don Quixote's dream was more realistic. Even owners in a league in dire need of change to survive in the future would find it too difficult to do, even if it meant strengthening their product in the process, and let's not forget how AMLO killed a contraction half the size of this one. Just as Major League Baseball and Rob Manfred are using the bizarre 2020 season to reshape all of baseball north of the border (with rumblings that MLB even has an eye on a takeover of Little League Baseball), the Mexican League has a similar opportunity to take a hard and honest look at how it might best continue operating without drowning in a sea of red ink. Right now, the LMB has eight underfinanced and inadequately supported franchises dragging down the other eight that appear to be succeeding. They need to go, at least for now.

     What appears to be a most radical change also seems to be the most obvious one. Even the strongest trees need pruning to remain healthy.

TIGRES FOR SALE? PEREYRA SAYS YES, TEAM SAYS NO

Tigres owner Fernando Valenzuela

    A Twitter entry by Proceso writer Beatriz Pereyra regarding rumors that former Cy Young Award winner Fernando Valenzuela and his wife Linda Burgos are trying to sell the Quintana Roo Tigres has raised several eyebrows across the country, with the team office denying Pereyra's claim a day after it was first posted.

    Pereyra's translated comment on Twitter last Wednesday was that "the Tigres for sale. There are several interested, mainly in northern states of the country. The team will inevitably change owners. The Valenzuela family will say goodbye to the project.”

    A translated tweet from the Tigres team office in Cancun on Thursday read in part, “The Tigres de Quintana Roo organization categorically denies the rumors that occurred in the last hours about its sale. The team remains under the leadership of the Valenzuela Burgos family based in Cancun, Quintana Roo. We appreciate the support and endorsement of the fans to our team during all these years.”

    Still, Pereya doubled down on her claim following the Tigres' tweet. "I maintain that the team is for sale," she said. "Time will tell who is right. Fact: Do you remember when Mr. Murra denied that he was not the owner of the Union Laguna Algodoneros? It is something similar.” Pereya's reference is to Union Laguna's current president Guillermo Murra Marroquin, who denied his family was buying the Cottoneers from the Arellano brothers (also co-owners of the Yucatan Leones) in January 2019, a month before the Murras were announced as the franchise's new owners.

    Longtime Mexican baseball coach, scout and administrator Carlos Fragoso of Mexico City says simply, “Fernando Valenzuela declared that the Tigres are not for sale, so as of now they will continue being part of LMB.”

    Valenzuela had fronted a group of investors to buy the Mexican League heritage franchise from Carlos Peralta (son of team founder Alejo Peralta) for an undisclosed amount in February 2017. Almost immediately, the former Dodgers All-Star and his wife were confronted by challenges when their partners reportedly bailed out on the investment, leaving them sole owners of the 12-time LMB champions. Then it was discovered that a number of prospects who'd been on a list of protected players given to the Valenzuelas prior to the sale had been surreptitiously transferred to the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, touching off the Rookiegate scandal that rocked the LMB for months.

    The common denominator in Rookiegate appears to be Francisco "Pollo" Minjarez, who worked in the Tigres' front office prior to the sale before taking the Diablos' general manager's job shortly afterward and was thus the recipient of the six prospects, two of whom were subsequently sold to the Texas Rangers for more than two million dollars combined. Former LMB president Javier Salinas eventually ruled that the rights to the prospects be returned to the Tigres along with the money received from the player sales but at last report, the Diablos have honored neither order.

Cancun's Estadio Beto Avila

    Minjarez was also placed on suspension by the Liga office, but reportedly never gave up his duties in the Red Devils' front office. He'd previously been suspended indefinitely by the Mexican League in 2013 after allegedly violating internal agreements and using inappropriate behavior as general manager of the Obregon Yaquis and has not worked in the Mex Pac since.

    Although Cancun has grown to over 700,000 residents and has a 9,500-seat ballpark (Estadio Beto Avila), the city has never greatly supported baseball. An earlier LMB team, the Langosteros, played in Cancun from 1996 through 2005, when Hurricane Wilma devastated the ballpark and forced the team to move to Poza Rica after ten seasons of tepid response from the local audience. The Tigres moved to the tourist mecca in 2007 and despite four division titles and three pennants since, the club is usually in the middle of Liga attendance tables. In 2019, they finished eighth with 226,525 fans over 59 home dates for an average of 3,839 per opening. The Tigres have never drawn 4,000 a night.

    If the Valenzuelas do sell the Tigres, it would mark the end of a 43-month era in Cancun that began with great fanfare accompanying the purchase of one of Mexico's most-storied baseball teams by perhaps its most popular Major League star. Instead, the Tigres have since seen middling success on the field accompanied by a rising tide of red ink in the franchise's coffers.

    There have been calls over the years for the team to move back to its original home of Mexico City but given their enmity towards the Diablos, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is more likely to renounce baseball for cricket than the Valenzuelas sharing the capital city with the Red Devils.

    Nobody from the "northern cities" Pereyra mentioned in her initial tweet has been identified, but Septima Entrada's Jose Alfredo Ortiz reported earlier this month that the Aguascalientes Rieleros are rumored to be moving to Veracruz for 2021. Otero mentioned nobody in his story either, but it's been said that sisters Regina and Fabiola Vasquez Saut (who operated the now-defunct Veracruz Winter League in 2018-19 and owned the rights to the Acayucan Tobis franchise) are interested in bringing an LMB team back to Veracruz.

FOUR SINALOAN LMP TEAMS ALLOWED 40% CAPACITY AT GAMES

Gov. Ordaz at bat in Ahome ballpark

   With the opening of the 2020-21 season less than a month away, there was concern among the ten Mexican Pacific League teams that they may all have to play games with no fans in the stands due to health concerns over the Wuhan virus. Some welcome news arrived last week when the governor of Sinaloa said in an interview that the four LMP teams within the state will be allowed to play before live audiences comprising up to 40 percent of each ballpark's capacity, depending on each facility's regular season and layout.

    According to Puro Beisbol, Sinaloa governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel told the Linea Directa website that protocols required by the Ministry of Health will be carried out so fans in Culiacan, Guasave, Los Mochis and Mazatlan can attend games this season. A Mex Pac press release says the the league will work "hand in hand with government and health authorities" to ensure that people can see games in person.

    Culiacan will be able to sell 8,000 tickets at 20,000-seat Estadio Tomateros while the Mazatlan Venados can play with 6,400 aficionados at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal (capacity 16,000). In Los Mochis, 4,800 seats at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada (12,000) can be filled for Caneros home games while in Guasave, the Algodoneros may play for up to 4,200 fans at 10,000-seat Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon. The regular season is due to open Thursday, October 15 with games in Culiacan, Los Mochis and Mazatlan among the five scheduled for that night.

Guasave's Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon

    According to the press release from the Mex Pac's Guadalajara office, "Each of the 35 games that these organizations have on their calendar for the regular season, plus the eventual playoffs, will have the proper controls and limitations, for all areas such as locker rooms, entrances, corridors, toilets and restaurants with the sale of drinks and food, respecting the protocols of their sectors at all times."

    Masks will be required (and make for great fashion statements) at all times while spaces designated for handwashing with antibacterial gel will be installed at each ballpark. Fans failing to comply with the rules will be forced to leave the ballpark.

RAMOS, PAREDES SEEK MEX PAC RETURN THIS WINTER

Naranjeros first baseman Roberto Ramos

    A pair of Hermosillo products, one who's become one of the top sluggers in Korean baseball and a highly-touted infield prospect who made his MLB debut last month, want to play in Mexico this winter once their current seasons end. Puro Beisbol editor Francisco Ballesteros reports that LG Twins first baseman Roberto Ramos is hoping to suit up for his hometown Naranjeros while Detroit Tigers third sacker Isaac Paredes seeks to perform in Mazatlan after being traded by Obregon to the Venados for veteran catcher Sebastian Valle in the offseason.

    The 25-year-old Ramos was an obscure power-hitting minor leaguer in the Colorado Rockies minor league system for six years before his contract was sold to the Korea Baseball Organization's Busan-based Twins in January, with whom he reportedly signed a one-year, U$500,000 contract. His batting average has cooled down after a sizzling start to his first year in the KBO (although he's brought it back up to .285 in recent games), but Ramos recently belted his 33rd homer of 2020 to extend his single-season record of most homers for a Mexican-born player in South Korea after breaking Karim Garcia's old standard of 30 earlier this month.

    Ramos has spent parts of the past five winters as an unheralded member of the Orangemen, hitting .220 with 14 homers in 145 games, but his newfound celebrity status in Korea will likely carry home with him. Naranjeros GM Juan Aguirre says that with the Twins expected to reach the KBO playoffs, they don't expect Ramos in Estadio Sonora until the second half of the Mex Pac season. "We have spoken with Roberto and we are aware that the first round would be lost," said Aguirre. "In fact, we will give him enough space to see if we can count on him as of December." With the Twins likely interested in signing Ramos for 2021, they'd need to sign off on him playing winterball back home.

Isaac Paredes hitting for Obregon

   The 21-year-old Paredes, who signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 and came to the Detroit organization a year later as part of a five-player trade, was a midseason All-Star with Class A Lakeland in 2018 and Class AA Erie last year. He spent this season practicing and playing intrasquad games at the Tigers' alternate training site in Toledo before being called up August 17. Paredes went 1-for-4 that night with a two-run single during a 7-2 loss to the White Sox in Chicago and was batting .318 after one week (belting a grand slam in 10-5 win at Cleveland on August 21). He was still hitting .258 at the end of August before going into a September slump that saw him go 4-for-36 to start the month as his averaged plummeted to .176.

    His plate woes haven't affected his work at the hot corner, as Paredes committed just one error over his first 23 games and took part in seven double plays for a .981 fielding percentage. While the Tigers are concerned over his tendency to take first-pitch strikes, they love his ability to play three infield positions (Paredes appears best-suited for second base despite his 5'11” 210-pound frame) and think his patience at the plate will be a virtue.

    Paredes has spent the past three winters with Obregon, batting a cumulative .283 with seven homers over 104 games with the Yaquis. Mazatlan GM Jesus “Chino” Valdez says Paredes should be with the Yaquis along with Houston pitcher Jose Urquidy this season. “In the talks I've had with Issac, he plans to report,” says Valdez. “The same thing will happen with Urquidy because he thinks he'll need innings this winter because of the lack of activity he's had this year in the majors.”

NEW STADIUM ON DRAWING BOARD FOR YUCATAN

      A new, privately-financed, solar-powered multipurpose stadium is being planned for Yucatan with a targeted opening of Spring in 2023. Estadio Sostenible (“Sustainable Stadium”) is projected to seat 23,000 for baseball's Yucatan Leones of the Mexican League and 27,000 for soccer's Yucatan Venados FC of the Liga Expansion MX, a new semipro circuit that hopes to open this fall as a replacement for the financally-plagued Liga Ascenco (which had been Mexico's second-tier soccer league until folding last winter). Concerts will hold 32,000 attendees. Stands will be portable to allow configurations for various events.

    The site of the state-of-the-art facility has not been determined, although the Merida area (which currently serves as home for both the Leones and Venados FC) is all but certain. A related announcement is expected by the end of 2020. Yucatan governor Maurico Vila Dosal presided over last Wednesday's press conference revealing the project and said, “We are creating a world-class project which will generate more than four thousand jobs during its construction phase. When it begins to operate, it will generate more than a thousand permanent jobs.”

   According to a Leones press release, Estadio Sostenible Yucatan will be “the best stadium in Mexico,” with a shopping center, hotel, restaurants and museum, all inspired by the Mayan culture. The estimated cost will be 2.2 billion pesos, or about US$104 million. The company reportedly making the investment will be New York-based Juego de Pelota, which was represented at the press conference by founder Cesar Octavio Esparza Portillo and operations director Jose Antonio Tellez.

    Leones co-owner Erick Arellano said, “This is great news for lovers of baseball and any sport, it is something we were looking for since we took command of the team, now we can be satisfied that Yucatan will have a stadium at the height of its fans. With this, we will seek to bring in Major League Baseball games since we will have one of the best stadiums in the world.”

   Although Merida is considered one of the LMB's most stable franchise sites, it wasn't always that way. The original Leones entered the Liga in 1954 and won their first pennant in 1957, but only lasted through 1958 before the team moved to Veracruz the next season. Yucatan's second Mexican League team lasted five seasons between 1970 and 1974 before that version of the Leones shifted west to Villahermosa in 1975 and became the Tabasco Olmecas. The current iteration of the Yucatan Leones returned in 1979 and have played continuously since, winning six LMB South championships and three Serie del Rey titles.

    The team's current home stadium, the 14,917-seat Parque Kukulcan, was opened in 1982 and is considered one of the nicest ballparks in the LMB as Yucatan annually ranks at or near the top in attendance. In 2019, the Leones drew 520,350 fans to 60 home games for an average of 8,673, ranking third in the Liga (and all minor league baseball) behind only Tijuana and Monterrey.

TWO PROSPECT LEAGUERS SIGN CONTRACTS WITH MLB TEAMS

New Padres prospect Jose Reyes

       Under the auspices of the federal ProBeis agency, the Prospect League is wrapping up its second short season in Guadalajara as a showcase tournament for many of the country's top young ballplayers. Participants are hoping the event, which is attended by scouts from most Major League organizations and several American colleges, leads to either a contract with an MLB or Mexican League team or a scholarship offer from north of the border. Two such players had their dreams realized last week.

    Team Cantu pitcher Jose Reyes, a Mexicali native in his second summer in the Prospect League, has signed a contract with the San Diego Padres. Reyes, who turned 18 last month, is a 6'2” righthander who tips the scales at 190 pounds and can reach 89-92 MPH on the radar gun and, according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez, also includes a slider and change in his repertoire.

    The AlBat.com website quotes Padres scout Emmanuel Rangel as saying about Reyes, “We've followed him for a long time and we like the way he works on the mound. His speed is very good, his breaking pitches have a very good rotation and we believe that with his discipline, he can go a long way.” Reyes, who has left Guadalajara to join his hometown Aguilas in training camp, says, “Another of my dreams is coming true. One of them was to belong to the Mexicali Aguilas and now I am fulfilled by belonging to a Major League organization.”

    The other Prospect Leaguer to ink a deal is Team Castro outfielder Alejandro “Alex” Osuna, brother of Houston Astros closer Roberto Osuna. The younger Osuna, a Los Mochis product, has come to terms with the Texas Rangers.

Rangers sign Alex Osuna

   Osuna ranked second among the Prospect League batting leaders this summer, his first in the loop, batting .467 with 13 RBIs over his first 12 games. Along with his twin brother Pedro, Alex signed with the LMB Monclova Acereros on February 7 of last year as part of older brother Roberto's 24^th birthday celebration. The winterball rights to all three Osunas are held by the Mex Pac's Jalisco Charros, who are hosting the Prospect League this year.

    Alex Osuna is no stranger to American baseball. The 5'9” 17-year-old has received a “9” grade from the Perfect Game organization, which rates young players from across the continent. His left arm is strong for an outfielder, with his throws clocked as high as 86 MPH. Not surprisingly, he's done some pitching. While not especially tall, Osuna has a compact build and is considered a very good line-drive batter with some power to right field.

    With two games remaining on the 15-game Prospect League schedule, Team Juan Gabriel Castro was running away with the regular season crown with a record of 9-4-0, well ahead of Team Jorge Cantu at 5-6-2. Team Joakim Soria (4-5-4) was in third while Team Oliver Perez was fourth at 3-6-4. A pair of three-game semifinal series will run Tuesday through Thursday this week, followed a three-game championship set Friday through Sunday.

RAMOS BREAKS KBO SEASON HOMER RECORD FOR MEXICANOS

   When LG Twins slugger Roberto Ramos crashed a home run against the Lotte Giants early last week, it was his 31st of the Korea Baseball Organization season, setting a single-year KBO record for Mexican-born players. The old record was held by former MLB outfielder Karim Garcia, who socked 30 roundtrippers for the same Lotte Giants in 2008.

    The Twins were trailing, 10-1, when Ramos stepped up to the plate in the top of the third inning on September 7 in Busan. Facing Giants starter Park See-Woong with a man on base, Ramos took one pitch for a ball before launching a Park delivery for a high-arcing drive over the wall in right-center field that landed on an exit to a tunnel for his record-breaking longball. The Twins ended up losing the contest, 12-6.

    After a red-hot start to his first season in Asia in which he was leading the KBO with 13 homers while sitting in third place in both batting average (.391) and runs batted in (31), Ramos missed a few games in June with back and ankle pain. While he's regained his home run stroke and his 70 RBIs lead the team, his average has dropped to .250 since returning to the Twins lineup. The team dropped a pair of games to the Samsung Lions over the weekend to fall to 59-45-3 for the season, but are still in a good position to earn a playoff berth in third place just three games behind the co-leading NC Dinos and Kiwoom Heroes.

    Born and raised in Hermosillo, the 25-year-old Ramos moved to San Fernando, California prior to his junior year of high school and hit .429 with 11 homers as a senior. Bypassed in the 2013 draft, he enrolled in College of the Canyons in nearby Santa Clarita and played one season of Juco ball, batting .317 with seven homers for the Cougars in 2014. That was enough for Colorado to draft Ramos in the 16^th round that June.

    The 6'3” first baseman-outfielder went on to spend six seasons in the Rockies system, batting .292 and belting 98 homers over 496 games. Ramos had a banner 2019 for AAA Albuquerque, hitting .309 with 30 homers and 105 RBIs in 127 contests, earning midseason PCL All-Star honors. Despite his impressive numbers and a lack of power at first base with the parent club, the Rockies traded his rights in January to the LG Twins, who then signed him to a reported one-year, $500,000 contract (according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency).

    Ramos is one of three imports on the Twins roster, joining former Padres pitcher Casey Kelly and ex-Orioles hurler Tyler Wilson.

MEX PAC TEAMS START OPENING TRAINING CAMPS

Day 3 of Hermosillo Naranjeros training camp

With the scheduled start of the 2020-21 regular season a little over a month away, Mexican Pacific League teams are beginning to open their training camps as players trickle in from across Mexico and elsewhere to start loosening up for their October 15 openers.

The Hermosillo Naranjeros opened camp last Tuesday at Estadio Sonora under new manager Juan Navarrete, a Salon de la Fama member who replaced former MLB star Vinny Castilla at the helm of the Orangmen. After going through preliminary protocols for the Wuhan virus, players broke into groups who worked out under the eye of Navarrete's coaching staff, which includes ex-MLBers Erubiel Durazo, Maximino Leon and Elmer Dessens plus former Mexican League star Cornelio Garcia. Among the players who reported to Hermosillo the first day were veteran pitchers Juan Pablo Oramas and Jose Samayoa, 2018-19 LMP Rookie of the Year infielder Jasson Atondo and outfielder Norberto Obeso, who hit .283 last winter for his hometown Naranjeros after batting .276 over five seasons in the Blue Jays farm system.

Although the Mexicali Aguilas aren't scheduled to open their training camp until this Thursday, three pitchers showed up early for a three-day minicamp over the past weekend. Starters Javier Solano and Eduardo Vera were joined by closer Jake Sanchez. The trio of right-handers performed calisthentics and bullpen sessions under pitching coach Bronswell Patrick after going through virus protocols. They also worked on situation pitching from the mound at La Nida, the Eagles home ballpark.

Mexicali Aguilas P Javier Solano

Solano, a former Dodgers farmhand who physically resembles one-time Detroit hurler Mickey Lolich, is preparing for his eighth winter in Mexicali. The LMP's 2015-16 Pitcher of the Year was only 3-5 last season but otherwise had a strong campaign in the border city, with a Mex Pac-leading 2.23 ERA while tossing the only complete game shutout of the season. The 30-year-old Solano, who spent five seasons with Hermosillo before coming to the Aguilas, has a lifetime 44-30 record and 3.60 in 160 outings over 12 seasons.

Other LMP teams will open their respective camps over the next couple of weeks as various clubs announce their training invitees. Defending champion Culiacan, who'll begin training next Monday at Estadio Tomateros, are requesting the presence of 48 players (28 of them pitchers). Among the invited are infielders Joey Meneses, Efren Navarro, Jose Guadalupe Chavez and Ramiro Pena, all mainstays of last winter's title team, plus newcomer Michael Wing, who was aquired in a trade from Monterrey earlier this summer. Outfielder Sebastian Elizalde will be back, as will pitchers Manny Barreda, Danny Rodriguez, Anthony Vazquez, Aldo Montes and Alberto Baldonado.

The Los Mochis Caneros have likewise announced their 50-player list of camp invitees. Among the more familar names will be third baseman Rudy Amador, infielder Esteban Quiroz, designated hitter Saul Soto, second baseman Isaac Rodriguez (the 2019-20 LMP batting champion), outfielder Leandro Castro and pitchers Andres Avila, who only went 2-6 but whose 2.48 ERA over 10 starts bettered teammate (and LMP Pitcher of the Year) Yoanys Quiala's 2.57. Los Mochis will have a good lineup and pitching staff if everyone comes to play under manager Victor Bojorquez and could be a darkhorse to unseat Culiacan from the throne.

A full slate of five games on Thursday, October 15 will kick off season-opening four-game series: Hermosillo at Navojoa, Mexicali at Obregon, Mazatlan at Los Mochis, Guasave at Culiacan and Jalisco at Monterrey. The Sultanes had earlier announced plans to move their home games to Mazatlan, where they'd have shared Estadio Teodoro Mariscal with the Venados, but have decided to play at home in Estadio Monterrey as usual.

LITTLE LEAGUE HERO MACIAS IN FAILING HEALTH, HELP NEEDED

1957 LLWS hero Angel Macias

Ambidextrous pitcher Angel Macias' 4-0 perfect game win (as a right-hander) for Monterrey over La Mesa, California in the 1957 Little League World Series championship game made the Mexican team the first from outside the United States to win the LLWS title.

It also made an international star of Macias, who was profiled in two subsequent movies, and led to a 13-year professional career in both the Los Angeles Angels farm system and the Mexican League, where he was an outfielder for the Reynosa Broncos and Monterrey Sultanes between 1963 and 1974, when he retired at age 30 after the season. Macias is not a member of the Salon de la Fama in Monterrey despite his heroics and solid professional career, but he was enshrined in Little League Baseball's Hall of Excellence in 2017.

However, Macias (now 76) has been going through difficult times regarding his health due to complications from Alzheimer's Disease, and his family is asking baseball fans around the world for financial assistance.

Monterrey Sultanes owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz was a teammate of Macias' in that historic 1957 run that opened the door for teams and players from Latin America, Asia and Europe to participate in the Little League World Series and often enjoy success (most notably teams from Taiwan that won 17 titles between 1969 and 1996). Maiz explains that Alzheimer's has created extra problems for Macias over the past several months, a sad state for someone who has meant so much to the worldwide growth of Little League Baseball.

"He is the one who most promoted Little League not only at the national level, but at the world level," say Maiz, who presently serves as Mexico's Little League director in addition to his role with the Sultanes. "With his perfect game, Little League Baseball went to the East, with countries like Taiwan, Korea and China, and also to Central and South America." Add to that list Japan, which has won 11 LLWS championships (eight since 1999).

SeptimaEntrada.com says Macias' wife has confirmed that Angel's declining health has forced the family to sell some of their possessions in order to cover his expenses.

During a past interview with Grand Slam's Gaspar Garza Gandara, Macias said he felt no pressure while throwing his perfecto against La Mesa in the championship game (the only time that's happened in a LLWS). "No, no, no, nothing," exclaimed Macias. "It was like a normal game for us. We knew it was an important game but we played it without pressure. We did it and things worked out." Macias struck out 11 batters in six innings.

Macias with display at LLB Hall of Excellence

He added that after recording the final out, the team congregated on the mound to celebrate before heading to the showers because their uniforms were so dirty after not having been washed the whole tournament. Asked if not washing the uniform for 13 games was a team cabal, Macias laughed and said, "Of course it was! It was a cabal!"

Macias said winning the LLWS changed the lives of everyone on the team: "What happened is that in one way or another, the doors were opened everywhere. We had the opportunity to get scholarships in schools. Then we played professional baseball. We had many nice, pleasant things that we enjoyed."

The Aguascalientes-born Macias had mixed opinions regarding the two movies made of the 1957 Monterrey Little League team. He praised the 1960 film, "The Little Giants," saying "The first one is almost 100!" Macias didn't think as highly of "The Perfect Game," which was released in 2010. "It's very different because the approach they gave me didn't seem like me personally. They could've done better than that because it had no impact on people. It went completely unnoticed."

If any Baseball Mexico readers would like to help Angel Macias and his family in a time of needs, an account has been set up for direct deposits at www.SantanderBank.com. The account number is 60-593737105.

FROM TECOS TO TACOS: P OMANA WORKS STAND DURING LMB SHUTDOWN

In the wake of the Mexican League cancelling its 2020 season due to the ongoing pandemic, players and coaches have had to scramble to make up for the lost income until some can perform in the Mexican Pacific League between October and January. Most LMB teams are not paying their players as promised, so people like Dos Laredos Tecolotes pitcher Henry Omana have had to look outside baseball to make ends.

The California-born Omana played two years of college ball at Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Cal Poly Pomona, where the 6'4” right-hander went 6-5 with a 2.48 ERA in 2017. He signed with Monclova of the Mexican League and began his professional career with the Acereros that summer.

The following is a translated feature on Omana from SeptimaEntrada.com:

Henry Omana pitching for Dos Laredos Tecos

He should be on top of the hill pitching for Los Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, but the 'new reality' has him in front of a grill, making tacos in the United States.

Since there is no season in the Mexican League, many players have had to look for different alternatives to be able to support their family, and pitcher Henry Omaña is one of those responsible for 'Tacos Omaña, a taqueria in Greater Los Angeles, California.

This site started in the 1980s and is a business in which Henry and his brothers David and Christian participate. The pitcher has worked at this site since he was young but when he became a professional player, he could only work there when he was not called up to a winter league.

What activities does Henry do at the taqueria? “I work making tacos...I'm a cook. Whatever my brother David (the manager) needs, I do,” he mentioned. "Also, if they need me to go to the store for meat and different things or if they want me in front (at the checkout), I do it. I am a general assistant."

The taqueria belongs to the father, David acts as manager and Christian is in charge of the administration of the place, which began when his grandfather began selling tacos at a swap meet. The business later settled into a place in South El Monte, 15 miles from Los Angeles. They already have two more restaurants on that site.

The roots of the native of San Dimas, California come from Huatabampo, Sonora with his father Henry, and from Jalisco with mother Yolanda.

These origins favor the taqueria, offering a variety of ingredients and dishes such as a green chili plate, roast beef donkeys, the 'taco perrón', as well as the inevitable shepherd, chicharrón, red chili, tripe, crop and head. “In Pomona there are many taquerías nearby but people like to come with us for the green chili plate and the salsa," answered Henry when questioned how the business is doing in that town. "My brother makes a very good sauce and I think that people come to us more."

Omana making tacos at his family's stand

Although at this moment there is no professional baseball and he is focused on the taqueria, Omaña remains in the practice of baseball, training young people with sessions in batting cages, infields and various exercises. 2020 was to be his fourth season in the Mexican League, in which he arrived in 2017 with the Monclova Acereros before migrating to the Puebla Pericos the following year. It was in the final part of the 2019 campaign that he wore the colors of the Tecolotes. Before coming to Dos Laredos, he had three victories with the Sonoma Stompers of the independent Pacific Association.

"I have three years in this League (LMB) and in 2017 I threw well. I was getting outs with my curve but in 2018 I had problems trowing strikes, I had a bit of a problem pitching in Puebla," he commented on his first stay in Mexico. Meanwhile, Henry assured that he will have patience in all the coming months and that he will continue preparing because he has his sights set on returning to the LMB with the Tecolotes in 2021.