YAQUIS' LOPEZ TOSSES NO-HITTER AGAINST NAVOJOA

Arturo Lopez after final out of no-hitter

    Obregon Yaquis left-hander Arturo Lopez tossed the first no-hitter of the Mexican Pacific League season (and 44th in the loop's history) last Saturday night, blanking the visiting Navojoa Mayos, 6-0, in front of 5,421 spectators at Estadio Yaquis. The 39-year-old Lopez struck out eleven Mayos batters, walking one and hitting another in allowing two baserunners en route to the third no-hitter in Obregon history and first ever at Estadio Yaquis.

    Lopez got all the offensive support he'd need in the bottom of the first inning when Victor Mendoza's double to left off Navojoa starter Rogelio Martinez brought Josuan Hernandez all the way around from first base. Just in case, the Yaquis plated three more runs off Martinez in the third, two on a Yadir Drake double. A Mendoza seventh-inning single scored the final two runs of the night for the winners.

    The 5'9” Lopez, who posted a 19.49 ERA in 2009 for the San Diego Padres over four relief appearances, was hitting the corners all night and threw 70 strikes in 97 pitches as neither Mayo to reach base got into scoring position. A Culiacan native who has represented the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in five Mexican League All-Star Games, Lopez is in his 16^th Mex Pac season and has a 60-38 career LMP record and surpassed 600 strikeouts during his no-no.

    Despite winning two of three games in the weekend set against the Mayos, the Yaquis remain in a tie for last place with defending champion Jalisco and Monterrey at 9-14, one game behind 10-13 Culiacan. Hermosillo remains in the first half lead at 15-8 but the race has tightened at the top, with 14-9 Mazatlan one game back in second and 13-10 Los Mochis two games out in third. Guasave, Mexicali and Navojoa are knotted up in a tie for fourth at 12-11 each.

    There HAS been a change at the top in the Mex Pac batting race, as last week's leader (Ramiro Pena of Culiacan) has dropped to third with a .359 average. Los Mochis' Yosmany Tomas went 2-for-3 against Culiacan Sunday to raise his league-leading mark to .378, 14 points ahead of Monterrey's Alberto Carreon (.364). Anthony Giansanti of Mexicali leads the winter circuit with seven homers, two more than Obregon's Sebastian Valle and Giansanti's Aguilas teammate Niko Vasquez. Christian Villanueva of Jalisco had a good week, going 9-for-24 (.378) and moving into first on the RBI table with 20, two more than the 18 ribbies each from Vasquez and Monterrey's Fernando Perez. Jose Cardona held the stolen base lead with 10 swipes for Hermosillo, ahead of the eight steals of Mazatlan's Randy Romero.

    The number of pitchers with three wins has grown to six, with Raul Carrillo (Navojoa), Matt Pobereyko and Jeff Kinley (both Guasave) joining Juan Pablo Oramas (Hermosillo), David Reyes (Mexicali) and Tyler Alexander (Jalisco) for the LMP leadership in that category. Luis Miranda of Los Mochis still leads the ERA race with an 0.00 mark after four starts and 22 innings pitched, ahead of Oramas (1.25) and Gusave's Nico Tellache (1.44). Jalisco veteran Javier Solano, now in his 15th MexPac season, tops the strikeouts list with 30 in 33.2 innings, one more than Lopez of Obregon's 29 and three up on Pobereyko's 27. Brandon Koch of Guasave has edged one save ahead of Mazatlan's Elkin Alcala, 10 to 9 while Mexicali's Jake Sanchez (who set the LMP record with 26 salvados last winter) is third with eight.

    With two weeks left in the first half schedule, teams are starting to jockey more for playoff points placement. The biggest upcoming midweek series is probably going to be in Mazatlan, where the Venados host Hermosillo in a battle of the current top two clubs. Next weekend, the most intriguing three-game set may be between perennial power Culiacan and 2021-22 pennant winner Jalisco at Estadio Tomateros with both teams struggling to find their way out of the second division.


THREE LIGA TEAM SEEK, PICK SKIPPERS FOR 2023

New Saltillo manager Mark Weidemaier

    With the Mexican League's 2023 season five months away from opening, three LMB teams have been working on filling managerial openings. One of them has been the Monterrey Sultanes, who are seeking to replace former Major League outfielder Roberto Kelly. The former Yankees outfielder led the Grey Ghosts to an LMB North playoff title and a berth in the 2022 Serie del Rey before falling to the Yucatan Leones after finishing fourth with in the regular season with a 51-39 record.

    Kelly, who'd returned to the Sultanes this year after taking the 2021 season off, has been named to the Texas Rangers coaching staff under new manager Bruce Bochy. Kelly was a manager in the Giants system before joining Bochy's staff as first base coach when the latter managed San Francisco to three World Series titles between 2010 and 2014. The Panamanian first came to Monterrey in 2018 and led the Sultanes to their tenth pennant in the shortened Fall 2018 season, beating Yucatan in the Serie del Rey and being named Manager of the Year.

    Another ex-MLBer, Geronimo Gil, will manage the Oaxaca Guerreros next year. Gil made his Mexican League debut in 1993 as a 17-year-old catcher and went on to spend all or part of six seasons with Baltimore and Colorado between 2001 and 2007, hitting 12 homers and driving in 45 runs as the Orioles' starting receiver in 2002. After wrapping up his 23-year professional career in 2016, he coached for Oaxaca for one year, managed Ensenada to the Liga Norte pennant in 2018 and then spent 2019 managing Yucatan in 2019. The 47-year-old Oaxacan took the Leones to a 66-52 season record and a playoff run that ended with a seven-game loss to Monclova in that year's Serie del Rey.

    Gil has also spent time as an instructor at the Alfredo Harp Helu Academy in Oaxaca and managed in the LMB Prospect League. He's currently at the helm of the combined Mexico City-Oaxaca team in the Mexican Winter League. Both the Diablos Rojos and Guerreros francises are owned by Harp, one of Mexico's richest men. Gil will replace another former catcher, Erick Rodriguez, at the helm of the Guerreros, who finished 34-53 in seventh place in the LMB South, six games out of the division's last playoff berth.

    Finally, the Saltillo Saraperos have let Adan Munoz go as pilot and hired Mark Weidemeier as their new manager following a 38-52 campaign this year. Munoz stepped in at the helm in Saltillo after Roberto Vizcarra resigned as manager to take over in Yucatan, leading the Leones to the LMB pennant. Weidemeier also managed in the Mexican League in 2022, albeit in abbreviated fashion. A first-time skipper for Dos Laredos, he led the Tecolotes to seven wins in their first ten games before leaving the border team for what the club termed “personal reasons.”

    Although he never played professionally, Weidemeier is a baseball lifer who got his first paying job out of college in 1982 when the Kansas City Royals hired him as a minor league coach. Since then, he's worked for numerous MLB organizations including the Angels, Yankees, Indians, White Sox, Dodgers and Diamondbacks. He coached under Matt Williams with both the MLB Nationals and Korea's KIA Tigers. Weidemeier has spent much time in Mexico as well, including managerial stints in Laguna and Veracruz, where he first worked for Tecos owner Jose Antonio Mansur, who has owned (and moved) several LMB teams over the years. One of Weidemeier's Tecos players, first baseman Kennys Vargas, told the Laredo Morning Times during training camp that “Players love him a lot because he is a fun manager. He tries to transfer all the experience he has onto us.”


MEX PAC SERIES IN TUCSON CANCELED

Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, Tucson

    Just weeks after it was first announced to the public, a three-game series between the Mexicali Aguilas and Obregon Yaquis slated to be played next week in Tucson has been called off. It would have marked the first time that Mexican Pacific League regular season games would be played north of the border. Instead, the Tucson series was canceled due to what the LMP office called “contractual reasons” and moved back to Obregon, the original venue of the three-game series on the league schedule.

    The contests were scheduled for Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13 at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, former spring training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox as well as a pair of since-moved Pacific Coast League franchises. The 11,500-seat facility is now the flagship ballpark for the annual Mexican Baseball Fiesta involving MexPac teams in October and also the home facility for the Tucson Saguaros, winners of three pennants over seven seasons in the independent Pecos League, which boasts 16 teams in six states stretching from California to Kansas.

    The following is a translated press release from the Mexican Pacific League and first posted on their website Sunday, four days before the first game in Tucson was to have been played:

    Guadalajara, Jalisco; November 7, 2022 (LMP Media) - We regret to have to inform that, for contractual reasons, the decision has been made to definitively suspend the series between Águilas de Mexicali and Yaquis de Obregón, which would have taken place in the city of Tucson, Arizona on November 11, 12 and 13 of this year.

    This commitment will be made on the same dates, but at the Yaquis Stadium as originally scheduled, leaving for next season the possibility of playing in North American territory.

    We apologize on behalf of the teams for any inconvenience this may represent for our fans.

    We are convinced that the internationalization of the LMP is of paramount importance for our future growth. However, this first attempt could not be realized in a favorable way for the parties involved.

    We will continue working so that from next season this and other activities can be carried out.

    We appreciate your understanding.

    The Tucson Saguaros have released their 2023 Pecos League schedule, starting with a May 31 game in Austin and a June 8 home opener against Roswell at Kino Stadium.

MEXICO KO’D IN SEMIS, FINISH 3-3 AT CARIBBEAN SERIES

  After dropping their first two games at the Caribbean Series, Mexico bounced back with consecutive shutout wins over Colombia, Puerto Rico and Panama to qualify for the semifinals. However the magic ended last Wednesday in Santo Domingo as the host Dominican Republic eliminated the Mexicans, 2-1,at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal to advance to Thursday’s title game against surprising Colombia, who’d lost all their games in two prior Serie del Caribe appearances before going 3-2 in this year’s first round and crushing Venezuela, 8-1, in the first semi game.

Following their 1-0 victory over Colombia last Sunday for their first win of the 2022 Serie del Caribe, last Monday featured a 5-0 triumph over Puerto Rico that evened Mexico’s first-round record at 2-2 while eliminating the Boricuans from final four contention. Nick Struck whitewashed the Puerto Ricans over 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out two. Struck and four relievers got all the support they’d need when Esteban Quiroz belted a two-run homer off Oscar de la Cruz in the first inning after Jose Cardona led off the game with a single. Mexico scored twice more in the third when Victor Mendoza doubled Cardona home and then came in on a Japhet Amador single. Felix Perez scored the final run of the game in the sixth when he touched home plate on an Agustin Murillo single.

Mexico then set a Caribbean Series record with their third straight shutout last Tuesday when they blanked Panama, 1-0, punching their ticket to the knockout stage in the process. This time it was longtime veteran righty Javier Solano who got the start (and win) with six solid frames, allowing just two hits and two walks as Mexico ran their consecutive scoreless innings total to 29, another Serie del Caribe record. After Jose Cardona hit a two-out single and stole second in the bottom of the fifth, Quiroz stroked a single to left off reliever Luis Ramos that saw the speedy Cardona motor in with what would be the winning run. Roberto Osuna struck out Rodrigo Orozco to end the game and earn the save, his second of the tournament.

Mexico then faced the host Dominicans in the Final Four Wednesday night. Although Brennan Bernardino had a good outing, scattering seven hits and allowing one run in 5.2 innings, the game belonged to Dominican starter Tyler Alexander. The Detroit Tigers swingman carried a perfect game into the ninth inning and threw 71 strikes among 88 pitches before being pulled after allowing a leadoff double to Isaac Rodriguez. Last year’s LMP batting champion eventually scored on a Cardona groundout but reliever Juan Minaya retired Quiroz on a 4-3 grounder to end the game. DR rightfielder Moises Sierra singled in Henry Urrutia in the bottom of the second inning for the first run of the game (breaking Mexico’s record string of scoreless at 30) and a Sierra sacrifice fly in the eighth brought Robinson Cano from third to make it a 2-0 contest. Urrutia and Cano combined for five hits, four of them doubles.

The Dominicans then fell in the Serie del Caribe title game, a surprising 4-1 loss to Colombia, a country which had failed to win a single game in their two previous appearances at the tournament. Perhaps in anticipation of a Dominican championship, journalists named six players from the host country as part of a 12-man Dream Team before the final game while including just two Colombians. One Mexico player, leftfielder Felix Perez, was named to the team. Perez hit .263 with one homer and one RBI over six games. 

CARIBBEAN SERIES FIRST ROUND STANDINGS:Dominican Republic 4-1, Colombia 3-2, Venezuela 3-2, MEXICO 3-2, Puerto Rico 1-4, Panama 1-4.
SEMIFINALS: Colombia 8, Venezuela 1; Dominican Republic 2, MEXICO 1.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Colombia 4, Dominican Republic 1

FOUR MEXICAN LEAGUE TEAMS NAME MANAGERS

With the 2022 Caribbean Series in the history books, attention south of the border has shifted to the Mexican League’s upcoming season, which will get underway on April 22 this year. The later start means later openings of spring training for the LMB’s 18 teams but most have been busy signing players and, in the case of four franchises, naming new managers. Quintana Roo, Guadalajara, Veracruz and Monclova have all announced new skippers since the first of the year.

In Cancun, the Quintana Roo Tigres are bringing in Luis Antonio “Tony” Rodriguez as dugout boss, replacing Oscar Robles (who took over when Adan Munoz was fired early during the 2021 campaign despite a winning record. A 51-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez was signed by the Red Sox as an infielder in 1991 and played 27 games for Boston in 1996, batting .239 with one homer. He ended up playing seven years in the Bosox system and one as a Mariners minor leaguer before spending eight years with Nashua and Bridgeport in the independent Atlantic League, plus short stints in Taiwan and Puerto Rico.

After retiring as a player in 2005, Rodriguez has been an assistant GM with Puerto Rico’s Santurce Cangrejeros as well as a third base coach in Nicaragua for the Chinandega Tigres over the past three winters. Remarks made during his introductory press conference suggest that fans in Cancun might see their share of smallball this summer. “I am a person who likes to play the game as it should be,” he said. “I was a baseball player and I played the basic game: touch, sacrifice, move the runners, move the base and that is what will be seen in the team this year.” Rodriguez, who has never managed a professional team, will wear number 13 this season.

Meanwhile, the Guadalajara Mariachis have hired a familiar face to replace Benji Gil, who resigned as manager to take a coaching job with the Los Angeles Angels. Sergio Gastelum, a former All-Star second baseman over a 22-year playing career who has had success as a manager, will take over the second-year team. Gastelum was a .316 batter and won multiple pennants as a player over 1,675 games before retiring. His first job as a manager was with Oaxaca in 2018, when he took the chronic underdog Guerreros to the Serie del Rey in the Fall season before losing to Monterrey. After another winning season in Oaxaca in 2019, team owner Alfredo Harp Helu hired him to manage the Mexico City Diablos Rojos (who Harp also owns). That’s when things got weird.

     Gastelum led the Diablos in their 2020 training camp until the Mexican League canceled the season in reaction to the Wuhan virus. Then the Diablos did some shuffling that resulted in Miguel Ojeda being bumped from the front office to manager and Gastelum being bumped from the ranks of the employed without ever managing a regular season game in Mexico City. He did manage in Monterrey in 2021 after Homar Rojas was fired 15 games into the season. The Sultanes had a 26-25 record and made the playoffs but Gastelum was sent packing after Roberto Kelly (who’d managed the Fall 2018 champs) agreed to return to Monterrey. Gastelum also managed Obregon in the Mexican Pacific League and won Manager of the Year twice, but was let go after the Yaquis lost their opening round playoff series last month. 

Another second-year Liga team, the Veracruz Aguilas, have picked Emmanuel Valdez as their new helmsman, replacing Leo Rodriguez III. A 43-year-old Tijuana native nicknamed “El Peque” (“The Little One”), the 6’3” 230-pound Valdez spent 19 LMB seasons as a catcher-first baseman for five teams. He was a steady hitter in the .280 range who hit 224 homers, including a career-high 25 longballs for Saltillo in 2013. Valdez also played eight winters in the Mexican Pacific League between 2005 and 2013, batting .241 with 43 homers in 302 regular season games for Mexicali and Culiacan.

Like Rodriguez in Quintana Roo, Valdez has never managed a team but he brings impressive credentials as a former player to Jalisco. He was a regular on LMB pennant-winning teams for both the Tigres and Campeche and was a silver medalist for Mexico at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico. Valdez was part of a select group of Mexicans certified by MLB to train coaches around the world, he’s been an instructor in the national ProBeis program and most recently served as a catching coach with Guasave in the MexPac.

Finally, Mickey Callaway has been elevated to manager of the Monclova Acereros’ Mexican League squad after leading the Steelers to the Mexican Winter League championship last year. Callaway was a 1996 Tampa Bay draft pick out of the University of Mississippi and made his MLB debut with the Rays three years later. He eventually spent all or part of five seasons pitching in the Majors, three years in South Korea and one year in Taiwan, where he was a member of the 2009 Taiwan Series champion Uni-President Lions.

After retiring following the Taiwan Series, Callaway became a pitching coach in the Indians system and served manager Terry Francona in that role for Cleveland between 2013 and 2017, including the Tribe’s American League title season of 2016. Callaway then managed the New York Mets in 2018-19 (leading them to a 163-161 record over two years) and was hired to be the Los Angeles Angels pitching coach for 2020 before an investigation into sexual harassment allegations led to his suspension by MLB through the upcoming seasons and his firing by the Angels.

MITRE FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING 1-YEAR-OLD GIRL

(Warning: This is not a story for the faint of heart)

Sergio Mitre, who pitched in parts of eight major league seasons and won a World Series ring with the 2009 New York Yankees, likely will spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s infant daughter.

Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post reports that Mitre was convicted in Saltillo (where he last pitched for the Mexican League Saraperos in 2019) and sentenced to 50 years in prison for the July 2020 sexual assault and killing. An autopsy showed the 22-month-old, who is identified only as Ines by authorities, had been sexually assaulted before her death, according to the report, as the result of hypovolemic shock, in which severe blood loss prevents the heart from pumping enough blood through the body. 

Prosecutors said Mitre punched Ines in her lower back after an argument between him and the girl’s mother. The girl’s mother rushed her to Saltillo Children’s Hospital after she began vomiting and fainting, and she was later declared dead.

Mitre was born in Los Angeles and raised in Tijuana. He was drafted in 2001 out of San Diego City College and debuted with the Cubs in 2003. He had stints with the Marlins, Brewers and Yankees, with whom he pitched from July through September of their title-winning 2009 club. The now 40-year-old posted a 6.79 ERA in 51 ⅔ innings that season and was left off the postseason roster.

Mitre last pitched in MLB with the Yankees in 2011 after compiling a career 13-30 record with a 5.21 ERA over 143 games, 64 of them starts, between 2003 and 2011. He then pitched for teams south of the border, including stints with Leon, Tijuana, Dos Laredos and Saltillo in the Mexican League (going 17-8 with a 5.10 ERA in three seasons) as well as Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League, where he went 9-10 and 3.38 over three winters. 

The 6’3” right-hander, who had a 12-5 record in 2019 for the Tecos and Saraperos, was on the Saltillo roster during the suspended 2020 LMB campaign at the time charges were filed and he was taken to jail. Mitre had been arrested the previous season on domestic violence charges at a Quality Inn in Saltillo and while he was suspended “indefinitely,” the team quietly reinstated him prior to the 2020 season and even included him in promotions for the campaign, which was eventually canceled.

     Mitre, who earned an estimated $5.2 million as a Major League pitcher according to Spotrac, was ordered by the Saltillo court to pay $66,429 in restitution damages related to the sexual assault and murder case. He is far from the first recent Mexican League player or manager to have run afoul of the law on domestic violence or sexual assault charges, as we will learn next week in a translated column by Beatriz Pereyra for Mexico City’s Proceso magazine.

CULIACAN SWEEPS MAYOS; LMP SEMI MATCHUPS SET

Usually when a top-seeded team draws the lowest seed in the playoffs, the former is confident that they have a good chance of advancing to the next round. However, as the Navojoa Mayos learned last week, drawing the two-time defending champion Culiacan Tomateros was anything but a ticket to the Mexican Pacific League semifinals.

Coming off a regular season in which they finished with the most points among the ten LMP clubs, the Mayos were swept in four straight games by the Tomateros. After Culiacan won the first game of the quarterfinal set, 8-5, on Christmas day, manager Benji Gil’s troops took a Game Two win at Navojoa last Sunday, 6-4, in a contest that lasted 12 innings. Jose Guadalupe Chavez opened the top of the 12th with a single, moved to second on a Randy Romero sacrifice and then scored the eventual game-winner on Ramiro Pena’s single. Culiacan reliever Carlos Baldonado, who singled in Pena with the Tomateros’ sixth run during a rare plate appearance, then held the Mayos scoreless in the bottom of the frame for the win.

The series then shifted to Culiacan, where the Tomateros won twice to close out the series. Last Tuesday’s game resulted in Gil’s 50th postseason victory as manager as Culiacan pulled out a 5-3 triumph, thanks in part to a four-run seventh during which a Joey Meneses single plated the go-ahead run. The brooms were brought out last Wednesday as the Tomateros completed the sweep with a 9-6 win. Former Orioles utilityman Stevie Wilkerson swatted two homers, one of them a walkoff three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to break a 6-6 tie and end both game and series.

The Tomateros will be joined by Guasave and Jalisco in the semifinals. The Algdoneros followed a 3-1 series opener loss at home to Obregon on Christmas by defeating the Yaquis in four straight to move to the next round. Yadir Drake’s three-run double in the bottom of the sixth was the difference-maker in the Cottoneer’s 5-2 win over the visitors last Sunday to knot the series at a game apiece. The two combatants shifted to Obregon, where Guasave shocked the Yaquis with three straight road wins.

Last Tuesday’s Game Three saw seven Guasave pitchers combine for a 6-0 shutout over Obregon as Jesse Castillo contributed a two-run double while Esteban Quiroz capped the scoring with a solo homer in the ninth. One night later, the Algodoneros took a 3-1 victory behind starting pitcher Luis Miranda’s six shutout innings as Drake poked a two-run single during a three-run fourth for the winners. Guasave closed out the Yaquis in Game Five last Thursday, 5-4, in ten innings. Alan Lopez opened the tenth with a single, advanced to second on a Miguel Guzman sacrifice and scored on Marco Jaime’s single off Yaquis reliever Carlos Machorro.

Jalisco nailed down one of the other two semifinal berths with a 4-games-to-2 win over Mexicali. After outlasting the Aguilas, 10-9, in a 12-inning Game One win on Christmas, the Charros took a 6-3 win over the visitors last Sunday in Guadalajara after Felix Perez’ two-run single keyed a four-run rally in the seventh to erase a 2-0 deficit. The series then shifted to Mexicali with the Charros up 2-games-to-0.

Last Tuesday’s Game Three ended with a 7-3 Mexicali win at El Nido as Yeison Acensio singled in Daniel Castro in the bottom of the first to give the Aguilas a lead they’d never relinquish. The Eagles tied the series one night later with a 4-3 triumph in eleven innings as Reynaldo Rodriguez’ RBI single ended Game Four in walkoff fashion. Jalisco won, 6-2, last Thursday as Charros starter Javier Solano allowed two runs in seven innings against his former teammates and Missael Rivera stroked a two-run double. The set returned to Estadio Charros for Game Six and Jalisco emerged victorious, 5-0, to end the series. Starter Brennan Bernardino blanked Mexicali over seven entradas while Juan Jose Aguilar tripled, homered and scored twice.

Jalisco moves on to face Monterrey, who was extended seven games in their quarterfinal series before shutting out Hermosillo, 5-0, Sunday night at Estadio Sonora. Michael Devine got the win with seven scoreless innings and Fernando Perez crushed a two-run homer in the fifth for the Sultanes. Monterrey won the series opener, 5-4, on Christmas in Hermosillo but the Naranjeros bounced back for a 10-4 win last Sunday behind a 17-hit attack that included a two-run homer by number nine batter Cesar Salazar in the fifth. The series then shifted to Estadio Monterrey, where the Naranjeros took the series lead with a 3-2 Game Three win last Tuesday as Rusney Castillo’s sacrifice fly brought Nick Torres in from third with the eventual game-winner in the top of the eighth.

The Sultanes then won the next two games in Monterrey to regain the series lead. A 6-3 Game Four win last Wednesday featured a four-run outburst in the seventh during which Aldo Flores doubled in Ricardo Serrano with the tying run before scoring the go-ahead run on Roberto Valenzuela’s single. In Thursday’s Game Five, Monterrey won a 6-5 thriller when Carlos Figueroa scored from third on a Perez walkoff single in the bottom of the 12th. Hermosillo roared back Saturday with a 9-2 home win as vet Luis Alfonso Cruz crashed a two-run homer and added an RBI single to aid Orangemen starter Ryan Verdugo (2 runs, 7 innings) and send the series to Sunday’s seventh and deciding game.

The Mex Pac semifinals will begin Tuesday night when Culiacan visits Guasave for Game One of their series while Jalisco will host Monterrey in Guadalajara in their Final Four opener. 

MEXICAN LEAGUE RELEASES 2022 SCHEDULE

The Mexican League has released its 2022 season schedule. The LMB office announced that their next campaign will open on Thursday, April 21 in Tijuana when the defending champion Toros host the Mexico City Diablos Rojos. All 18 Liga teams will be in action one night later. Here’s a link to the entire Mexican League schedule for 2022: https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/milb/c1q8gubhaqm7q07pu1ns.pdf

As speculated, each LMB team will play 90 regular season games this year, the shortest full-season schedule the league has had since 1954, when the loop’s six clubs played 80 games each before joining the National Association one year later. The Mexican League is no longer considered part of the Minor League Baseball system. In all, a total of 810 regular season contests are scheduled between April 21 and August 7, with Mondays continuing a longtime tradition as travel days (although a press release from the league office states that Monday games will be played in 2022).

The four-tiered LMB postseason will open Tuesday, August 9 with the top six finishers from each division qualifying for a berth. Once again, the three first-round series winners per division will be joined in their Division Semifinals by a “lucky loser” team that won the most games in their opening-round defeat, a format used in the Mexican Pacific League for years prior to the LMP’s playoff expansion from six to eight teams in 2019-20. The Serie del Rey (or King Series) between respective division champions will be held between September 9 and 17 to cap the five-week postseason. All playoff series will follow a best-of-7 format.

The Mexican League All-Star Weekend, which was canceled in 2021, will return on June 17-19 in Monclova.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Ronnie Camacho, 1B

 

Ronaldo Camacho Duran was born October 26, 1935 in Empalme, Sonora. Although he was only 5'9" and 170 pounds at the height of his career, Camacho was nicknamed "The Rock" for both his reliable batting and glove work. He was one of the top power hitters in the Mexican League during the 1960's, winning titles twice each in homers, runs scored and RBIs between 1962 and 1969.

 

Camacho began his career as a 17-year-old second baseman in 1953, signing with the St. Louis Cardinals and landing in Fresno. He spent parts of four seasons in the Cards' system, batting .276 with 16 homers and 77 RBIs for Fresno of the Class C California League in 1954 and a year later was a member of a Fresno team which finished 104-43 and was #79 among the All-Time Top 100 teams in minor league history, according to a 2001 ranking commissioned by Minor League Baseball.

 

Camacho returned to Mexico for good in 1956 with Nuevo Laredo. After four seasons on the border, Camacho and the Tecolotes moved to Puebla in 1960, where he would shift to first base and spend most of the next ten years. In 1963, the Pericos won their first Mexican League pennant as Camacho led the loop with 39 homers and 108 RBIs after he led the LMB with 25 roundtrippers in 1962. After leading the Liga with 116 RBIs in 1969, "The Rock" moved to Yucatan for 1970 to begin a tour that saw him bounce around the circuit before retiring after spending the 1975 season with Aguascalientes.

 

In 20 LMB seasons, Camacho hit .272 with 317 homers and 1,273 RBIs.  He batted .300 four times, topped 20 roundtrippers nine times and cleared 100 RBIs four times, with career highs of 39 bombs and 116 ribbies.  He stands sixth on the Liga's all-time home run list and 8th in RBIs even though he retired 20 years ago.  Camacho managed six LMB teams between 1971 and 1979.

 

The right-handed hitting Camacho also played 13 seasons of winter ball in what is now known as Mexican Pacific League, hitting .256 with 139 homers playing for Guaymas and his hometown of Empalme.  He was the first Triple Crown winner of the league in 1958-59 and he set a still-standing record of 27 homers over 81 games in 1963-64. As a manager, he won LMP titles with Guaymas in 1966-67 and Mazatlan in 1973-74.

 

Ronnie "The Rock" Camacho was elected as a member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. He turned 86 on October 26 last year.

SOLANO TRADED, SILVA RETIRING; 1ST HALF END NEARS

    Career changes involving two of the Mexican Pacific League's most notable pitchers over the past decade were in the news last week. Longtime Mexicali starter Javier Solano was sent to Guadalajara after the Aguilas announced a four-player trade with the Jalisco Charros while Mazatlan hurler Walter Silva announced his pending retirement as a player to focus on serving at the Venados pitching coach at a press conference.

    Solano, a 31-year-old righty who's in his 14th winter of LMP action, has pitched 177 games over the seasons (107 as a starter) and has a Mex Pac career record of 48-36 with a 3.44 ERA. The San Luis Colorado native nicknamed “El Terrorista” was the loop's Pitcher of the Year in 2015-16, the ERA champion in 2019-20 and won a Gold Glove last winter. Solano, who made his LMP debut in 2008-09 with Hermosillo, was off to a rough start for Mexicali this season with an 0-4 record and 8.37 ERA in five starts after going 2-6 and 7.12 for Quintana Roo in the Mexican League over the summer.

    The former Dodgers farmhand was sent to the Charros along with fellow right-hander Felipe Arredondo in exchange for pitchers Fredy Quintero and Jesus Cruz. Arredondo is a middleman who has yet to pitch this winter but was 2-0 and 2.75 for the Charros last season before coming to the border city in the offseason. In return, the Aguilas get a veteran reliever in Quintero who was 1-0 and 4.76 for Jalisco this season while Cruz (5-2 and 4.76 in four years for the Charros) is another reliever who pitched one MLB game for St. Louis in 2020.

    Meanwhile, Silva is calling it a career after 20 years on the mound. After signing with Monterrey in 2002 at the relatively advanced age of 25, the Mazatlan product pitched for the LMB Sultanes and his hometown Venados (along with a one-year stint in Taiwan) before inking a free agent deal with San Diego in 2009. The 6'1 righty pitched six times that year for the Padres (0-2, 8.76) as a teammate of brothers Edgar and Adrian Gonzalez, with whom he'd previously played winterball in Mazatlan.

    After returning to Mexico for good, Silva spent ten more years in the Liga (five with Monterrey) and compiled a lifetime record of 97-86 over 16 seasons with a 4.56 ERA. He pitched another ten winters for Mazatlan and two more in Guasave. He was picked up as an emergency pitcher for Panama in the Caribbean Series last February and appeared in two games out of the bullpen. Now 44, Silva will make his first start this season (and last of his career) for the Venados against Jalisco at home on Wednesday night before becoming a full-time pitching coach under Mazatlan manager Eddie Diaz. His number 39 will be retired.

    Surprising Navojoa has created some breathing room at the top of the Mex Pac standings with a 19-10 record, three games ahead of 16-12 Guasave. With three games remaining in the first half, the Mayos are within grasp of clinching first place and the 10 points that come with it. For their part, Nipping the Algodoneros' heels are Jalisco, Obregon and defending champion Culiacan , all with 16-13 ledgers. At the bottom of the standings, hapless Los Mochis (8-20) has clinched last place and 3.5 points.

    Christian Villanueva of Jalisco holds the batting lead over Navojoa's Tirso Ornelas by a slim .386 to .383 margin. Yoelkis Guibert of Culiacan is third at .354. Navojoa's Kyle Martin has taken the home run lead with seven longballs after just 16 games, one more than Mayos teammate Maikel Serrano and Nick Torres of Hermosillo. Guasave's Jesse Castillo are tied for the lead in runs batted in with 25 each and Luis Alfonso Cruz of Hermosillo) is third with 23 ribbies. Culiacan's Dairon Blanco is tops with 12 stolen bases while teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Los Mochis' Isaac Rodriguez tied for second with 10 swipes.

    Elian Leyva of Hermosillo finally allowed an earned run during his sixth start Friday when Jalisco's Felix Perez singled in Julian Ornelas during the fourth inning of a 5-1 Naranjeros win, but Leyva's 0.24 ERA over 37 innings still leads all LMP starters. Jalisco's Orlando Lara is right behind at 1.13 and Hector Velazquez of Obregon is third with a 1.64 mark. Navojoa's Carlos De Leon has won all five starts for a 5-0 record to lead in wins, one more than Leyva and Lara. Luis Escobar of Obregon has an LMP-best 34 strikeouts in 35.1 innings, ahead of Obregon's Arturo Lopez (32) and new Jalisco starter Javier Solano (28) on the K table. Mexicali's Jake Sanchez continues to top the saves category with nine in 12 outings as Fernando Salas of Hermosillo trails with eight and Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante is third with seven salvados.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Standings: Navojoa 19-10, Guasave 16-12, Jalisco 16-13, Culiacan 16-13, Obregon 16-13, Hermosillo 15-14, Mazatlan 13-16, Monterrey 13-16, Mexicali 12-17, Los Mochis 8-20.

TWELVE CUBAN PLAYERS DEFECT AFTER U-23 WORLD CUP

    The final day of last month's WBSC Under-23 Baseball World Cup in Sonora saw the Cuba drop the Bronze medal game to Colombia, 5-3, in Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora. However, the Cubans suffered a greater loss with longer-lasting implications off the field after 12 young players had defected to Mexico by the time the tournament ended.

    Officials with the National Sports Agency in Havana referred to the largest group defection of Cuban athletes in years as “vile abandonments” involving players of “weak morals and ethics.” The remaining players and coaches returned to Cuba on Monday, October 4, two days after the loss to Colombia, during which 11 of 24 rostered players appeared.

    According to the Periodico Cubano website, the 12 players (all members of Cuban National Series teams) who remained behind in Sonora were LHP Dariel Fernandez (Pinar del Rio), LHP Leinel Zayas (Isla de Juventus), RHP Bryan Chi (Industriales), RHP Luis Dany Morales (Sancti Spiritus), RHP Uber Luis Medina (Santiago de Cuba), C Loidel Rodriguez (Sancti Spiritus), IF Miguel Antonio Gonzalez (Granma), IF Dismany Palacios (Sancti Spiritus), IF Yandy Yanes (Camaguey), OF Geisel Cepeda (Sancti Spiritus), OF Loidel Chapelli, Jr. (Camaguey), and OF Reinaldo Lazaga (Pinar del Rio).

    Gonzalez (.385), Yanez (.333) and Chapelli (.320) were Cuba's top three hitters in World Cup competition Chi went 1-2 with a 4.45 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 11 innings and Zayas struck out both batters faced in his lone appearance. While 11 of the 12 are technically free agents (Cepeda is under contract with Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific League), all will first have to establish residency in Mexico or another country before being allowed to negotiate with any non-Cuban baseball organization.

    Cuban ballplayers have been defecting from the island nation for years since failed pitcher Fidel Castro took over in 1959 and subsequently ruled that baseball would henceforth be an “amateur” sport. Current Tampa Bay infielder Randy Arozarena defected to Mexico in 2016 after two seasons with Pinar del Rio and spent a year playing in the Mexican League for Tijuana and with Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific League (leading the loop in homers) after signing with St. Louis for $1.25 million. Arozarena still resides in Merida, Yucatan and has stated his desires for Mexican citizenship and a spot on the Mexican National Team. Several Cubans have made Mexico their permanent baseball home, including Ronnier Mustelier, Henry Urrutia, Daniel Carbonell and Elian Leyva.

    A 2018 deal between Cuban authorities and Major League Baseball allowing some players to sign directly with MLB organizations was canceled by then-president Donald Trump, signaling a return to the flotilla method of players leaving the island under the coak of secrecy hoping for higher pay and a better life elsewhere.

    A December 13, 2013 story in England's Guardian newspaper said Cuban star Yuliesky Gurriel (28 at the time and now playing for Houston) had just been given a “huge” standard salary raise to 13,000 Cuban pesos per month, or about US$414 at the time, to play for Sancti Spiritus of the National Series. In 2016, Gurriel signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract with the Astros five months after first defecting from Cuba during the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic and then establishing residency in Haiti.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #6): Los Mochis, Sinaloa

    Driving from Navojoa, Sonora 98 miles southbound on Highway 15 for about two hours, our virtual Mexican Pacific League Road Trip takes us into the state of Sinaloa and Los Mochis, our sixth stop and a city with 300,000 metropolitan residents founded in 1893 by Pennsylvanian Benjamin Johnson.

    While it's a wealthy city in a fertile agricultural area, Los Mochis (like most LMP sites) is not geared towards tourism. It's a hub of sorts, connected by ferry to La Paz, Baja California Sur; a busy airport with flights to and from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson; and the western terminus of the legendary Copper Canyon railroad, Mexico’s last major passenger railway featuring one of the most spectacular views in North American train travel.

    Los Mochis sits on the Rio Fuerte, which irrigates an extensive valley region whose main crops are vegetables (e.g., beans and corn) and sugar cane and for which the city is the commercial and financial center, and is 15 miles east of the Gulf of California port of Topolobampo, famous for its shrimp and fishing activity. Among the native animals is the yellow crocodile, which can grow as large as 38.8 feet and weigh over a ton.

    Visitors to town should check out Parque Sinaloa, which contains the most complete collection of palm trees in Mexico, including rare species imported from around the world, and is a great setting for a stroll in the cool of the evening. Parque Sinaloa is set in the old “Colonia Americana” section of Los Mochis, a former residential district for North Americans easily identified by its USA-style architecture featuring brick houses with front porches and yards on all four sides, giving a unique character to Los Mochis rarely seen in Mexico.

    Los Mochis can trace its baseball history to 1947 and the Pericos of the old Pacific coast League, a predecessor to the present-day Mexican Pacific League. The team was renamed Caneros, or “Cane Growers,” in subsequent seasons and after a couple of stops and starts, re-entered winterball for good in 1962. While the Caneros are rarely prime contenders for a title, Mochis has won three LMP pennants: in 1968-69 with manager Ben Valenzuela, 1983-84 under Vinicio Garcia and in 2002-03 for Chico Rodriguez. In two Caribbean Series, the Caneros have gone 4-8.

    The Caneros play home games at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada, which opened in 1947 as Estadio Mochis with a capacity of 4,700 fans. The ballpark has undergone three renovations over the years: One in 1962 included expansion of seating to 6,000 and the addition of lights for night games; another in 1982 after Hurricane Paul devastated the facility nearly doubled the capacity to 11,000 and included a new lighting system; and finally a major 285 million peso upgrade completed in 2018 that raised capacity to 12,000 seats. The ballpark (which was renamed in 1972) has hosted six LMP All-Star Games, ten Mex Pac championship series and the 2015 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup.

OBREGON, NAVOJOA TIED AT TOP OF LMP STANDINGS

    At the halfway point of the Mexican Pacific League's first half schedule, two teams share the lead in the LMP standings with identical 11-6 records. The Obregon Yaquis and Navojoa Mayos find themselves in the driver's seat with three weeks remaining in the opening stanza of the 2021-22 season.

    Obregon did their part in breaking a three-way deadlock at the top Sunday by clobbering Mexicali, 8-2, in the border city. Jonathan Aranda broke a 1-1 tie with a solo homer off Aguilas starter Javier Solano in the top of the second inning, but it was a Reynaldo Rodriguez grand slam off Solano in the third that for all intent and purposes put the game away for the Yaquis. Obregon starter Hector Velazquez got the win with six solid innings, allowing one run on two hits with five strikeouts. Solano was tagged with the loss after giving up eight runs on five hits and four walks over four innings.

    Navojoa did Sunday's heavy lifting by topping Jalisco, 4-2, at home in Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria after both teams entered the game with 10-6 records. The contest was knotted up at two runs apiece until Mayos third baseman Samar Leyva launched a solo homer over the left-center field wall off Charros starter Alex Delgado in the bottom of the fourth. Navojoa added an insurance run when Omar Renteria led off the seventh with a doubled up the middle off reliever Fernando Cruz, moved to third on an Omar Meza sacrifice bunt down the third base line and scored on Jorge Flores' single to right. Navojoa starter Raul Carrillo allowed two runs in 5.2 innings and five relievers surrendered one hit the rest of the way as the Mayos completed a three-game weekend sweep.

    At the other end of the spectrum, the Los Mochis Caneros have won just four of their first 16 games to bring up the rear after a disastrous 2020-21 campaign in which they went an aggregate 19-39 over two halves, worst in the LMP under manager Victor Bojorquez. Robinson Cancel is the Los Mochis helmsman this winter but thus far nothing much has changed, although the Caneros did salvage a series in Monterrey Sunday with a 2-1 win over the Sultanes behind a solo homer by Josuan Hernandez and 6.2 innings of one-run pitching by starter Carlos Viera.

    Heading into Sunday's games, Jalisco's Christian Villanueva was batting an even .400 to lead all LMP batters. Tirso Ornelas of Navojoa is second at .390 while Hermosillo's Nick Torres' .386 is good enough for third. Torres also tops the tables with five homers, one more than the four roundtrippers of Danny Ortiz (Monterrey), Missael Rivera (Jalisco) and Maikel Serrano (Navojoa). Serrano is first in RBIs with 17, ahead of Ortiz' 14 and the 13 of Torrez. Culiacan has three of the top five base stealers in the Mex Pac: Dairon Blanco leads the list with six swipes, one more than the five of teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Mazatlan's Ramon Rios and two more than Tomateros infielder Ramiro Pena and Venados outfielder Randy Romero.

    Among pitchers, Navojoa's Carlos De Leon has been a major reason for the Mayos' strong burst out the gate by winning his first three starts, making him the only LMP pitcher with a trio of wins at this stage of the season. Thirteen other pitchers have two wins, with two starters (Jalisco's Orlando Lara and Elian Leyva of Hermosillo) tied for the lead with 0.00 ERAs to augment their respective 2-0 records. Obregon's Luis Escobar has 24 strikeouts in 22.1 innings to lead the loop while Hermosillo veteran Juan Pablo Oramas is second with 20 whiffs over 23 frames. Jake Sanchez of Mexicali has four saves (plus a win) in seven outings for the most in that category, with Jalisco's Roberto Osuna and Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa tied for second with three salvados apiece. Sanchez has 14 strikeouts in seven innings with a 1.29 ERA.

    Off the LMP playing field, the expected sale of the Jalisco Charros has been finalized. The team, which has been marred by internecine front office squabbling for at least the past year, was sold by prime combatants Salvador Quirarte and Armando Navarro (who brought the team to Guadalajara from Guasave in 2014) to a group led by Jose Luis Gonzalez, his son Inigo and brother Juan Carlos, who also own the Mexican League Guadalajara Mariachis. Navarro was present at the press conference announcing the sale and said, “I wish the new owners every success and I thank all the fans.” The State of Jalisco is allowing the Charros to make fifty percent of Estadio Panamericano's 16,500 seats available for home games.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP: Obregon, Sonora

    We’ll continue our virtual journey to all ten Mexican Pacific League franchise sites by driving south from Hermosillo on Highway 15 for three-and-a-half hours (155 miles) through former LMP city Guaymas to Ciudad Obregon, Sonora’s second largest city behind Hermosillo with a metropolitan population of 375,000 and home of the seven-time league champion Yaquis.

    While the city itself is less than 100 years old, the area it sits in had long been settled by the Yaqui Indian nation, after whom the baseball team was named. Originally known as Cajeme when it was given municipal status in 1927, the city was renamed in 1937 after Revolution hero General Alvaro Obregon, a Navojoa native who later became president of Mexico and initiated modern agricultural techniques to the Yaqui Valley that made the region one of the most prosperous in the country. In fact, the area is called “Mexico’s Grain Provider” thanks to wheat growing standards partly established by American Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Norman Bourlaug.

    Present-day Obregon is the agribusiness center of a region whose countryside is liberally dotted with grain elevators, storage silos and cotton mills. While it is a working city and not tourism-oriented, there are some points of interest for visitors to take in. Laguna Nainari just west of town is a popular lagoon with restaurants, picnic areas and boats for water-skiing, while the nearby San Jose Beach features a spa. South of Laguna Nainari is the Parque Ostimuri, a tree-lined park geared towards young people (and the young at heart) with an amusement park, several refreshment stands and a zoo with animals ranging from deer and boars to turtles and gila monsters.

    The Museo del Yaquis celebrates the history of the valley and is doing its part to keep the culture of the Yaqui people alive. Moreover, the Mexican government designated the Yaquis as the first recognized tribe in the country, allowing them to continue their traditions overseen by a tribal government. There are four institutes of higher education in Obregon while the local airport receives flight from 13 Mexican and four U.S. cities.

    Professional baseball in Obregon debuted in 1947 as a member of the old Pacific Coast League. The Yaquis have won seven MexPac pennants (including three in a row under manager Eddie Diaz between 2010-11 and 2012-13) since 1965-66, winning Caribbean Series championships in 2011 and 2013. Past Obregon players whose numbers have been retired include Vinny Castilla, Roberto Vizcarra, Carlos Valencia and brothers Vicente and Enrique Romo.

.    The Yaquis play their home games in the state of the art Estadio Yaquis, a 16,500-seat facility on the outskirts of town that opened in time for the 2016-17 season. Estadio Yaquis co-hosted games for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup last month. Considered one of Mexico's finest ballparks, it's had a cool reception among local fans due to high ticket prices and a less-centralized location than Estadio Tomas Oroz Gaytan, which served the team for 36 years and (like Hermosillo's Estadio Hector Espino) has been purchased by the federal government to serve as a baseball academy.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Nelson Barrera, 3B/1B/DH

    One of the most beloved and admired figures in Mexican baseball history, Nelson Barrera Romellon was a mainstay at third base in the LMB for 26 seasons. Nicknamed El Almirante (“The Admiral”) by fans, Barrera was born October 17, 1957 in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche and grew up to be a six foot,180-pounder. Surprisingly, given his career power totals, Barrera was not considered a home run hitter for the first few years of his Liga career. In fact, he hit just 48 roundtrippers over his first seven campaigns between 1977 and 1983.

    Barrera posted his first big season as a 26-year-old in 1984 with Mexico City, cracking 23 homers while hitting .354 and driving in 101 runs. That led to an invitation to spring training by the Chicago White Sox in 1985. After batting just .176 with two homers for Class AAA Buffalo, Barrera was sent back to the Diablos Rojos and never played outside Mexico again.

    He went on a three-year tear between 1986 and 1988 for Mexico City, belting 110 homers and driving in 383 runs while posting batting averages of .350, .349 and .372. Although he never approached those kinds of numbers the rest of his career, The Admiral remained one of the most respected and feared batters in Mexico through the rest of the 20th century.

    Barrera retired with 455 career homers, two more than all-time great Hector Espino’s 453. His 1,928 career RBIs is also the Liga’s all-time best, as are his 972 extra-base hits and six 100-plus RBI seasons. He finished with 2,938 career hits (second behind Jesus Sommers) and a lifetime batting average of .298. Along with Sommers, he had 19 seasons of 100 or more hits. Barrera hit three homers in a seven-inning game, and once had a streak of seven bombs over a five-game stretch.

    He was a fairly marginal batter in the winter Pacific League, hitting .254 over 15 seasons with Culiacan and Mexicali although he was the LMP’s MVP for the Tomateros in 1984-85 with 15 homers and 68 RBIs. Barrera made his hits count in the winter, however, and stands sixth in career homers with 131 and 9^th in RBIs with 479. His eight career grand slam homers are a MexPac record. He played in five Caribbean Series between 1983 and 1988, winning a title with Mexicali in 1986 in Venezuela.

    Barrera was respected as a manager, too, leading the Oaxaca Guerreros to the LMB crown in 1998 while turning in 15/110/.321 numbers as a player. He was managing the Campeche Piratas in his home state when he died tragically in 2002 after he was electrocuted by a live hanging wire while doing repairs on the roof of his home following a severe windstorm. The ballpark in Campeche was renamed in his honor.

FERNANDO RODNEY TO PITCH FOR TIJUANA IN 2021

Rodney: "I shot an arrow in the air..."

    One of Major League Baseball's most prominent relief pitchers of the past two decades will be shooting his virtual arrows south of the border in 2021. Fernando Rodney has signed a one-year contract to pitch for the Tijuana Toros this summer.

    Rodney is coming to the Mexican League of the heels of 17 seasons in MLB, although he didn't pitch during the 2020 season. His 2019 campaign (an 0-5 record with two saves and a 5.66 ERA for Oakland and Washington) was nothing to write home about, although the Nats did win the World Series that fall, but the 5'11” right-hander had 25 saves and a 3.09 ERA in 43 outings for Minnesota in 2018 before a trade that August sent him to the A's, who used him as a setup man for Blake Treinan.

    Rodney made his major league debut for Detroit on May 4, 2002, tossing the final 1.1 innings of a 3-2 loss at Minnesota. He pitched for the Tigers through the 2009 season, when he was elevated to the closer role by manager Jim Leyland after bouncing between MLB and Class AAA the previous seven years. While his 2-5 record and 4.40 ERA were unimpressive, he posted 37 saves in 72 outings and finally had a foothold in the big leagues at age 31. However, his odyssey was just beginning.

    Since signing as a free agent with the Angels for $11 million over two years, Rodney pitched for ten MLB teams between 2010 and 2019. He appeared in three All-Star Games (2012, 2014 and 2016), led the American League in saves with 48 for Seattle in 2014 and averaged 25 saves per season during the decade while appearing in the postseason five times, so there were definitely successes along the way.

Fernando Rodney with 2019 champ Nats

    However, Rodney and the strike zone have not always seen eye-to-eye (a career 4.5 walks per 9 innings) and breaths in the stands were often held because a Rodney appearance was like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: Fans never knew what they were gonna get. His saves were accompanied by his pantomime archer's motion sending an imaginary arrow skyward, along with thousands of sighs of relief from home crowds.

    Drama and walks aside, Rodney's overall body of work in 951 games as a major league pitcher has been generally positive. He compiled an unimpressive career record of 48-71, but his 327 saves rank 17^th all-time among MLB hurlers, his 3.80 earned-run average was creditable and he averaged just under one strikeout per inning (8.8 K's per 9). He won't be landing in Cooperstown, but the Dominican has been of of baseball's most effective and entertaining relief pitchers over the past decade. And now he's taking his talents south of the border.

    The Toros open training camp in Tijuana on April 20 while their regular season begins May 21 at Parque La Junta in Nuevo Laredo against the Dos Laredos Tecolotes.

VIRUS “TRAFFIC LIGHTS” TO BE USED FOR UPCOMING LMB SEASON

 

   With the Mexican League season a little more than 10 weeks aways, both league and team officials are keeping close tabs on the federal government's virtual Wuhan Virus-related “traffic light” system to plan game presentations for the 2021 schedule. At this point, only one of the Liga's 18 teams could be considered in the clear to proceed full speed ahead for their home schedule.

    According to Miguel Boada Najera of the Septima Entrada website, neither the LMB nor any of its teams have announced whether fans will be allowed in their respective ballparks (or what percentage of seats may be occupied) after the season opens May 20. The silence is understandable, given the fluid nature of the pandemic, but the unsettled situation is making it nearly impossible for teams to make plans moving forward. Instead, each club is having to create several different scenarios to address whatever limitations they'll have to deal with during the season.

    The “traffic light” system is based on four stages: A Red light means that only essential activities will be allowed in states or cities with that designation, meaning there will be no baseball played. An Orange light will allow limited non-essential activities, meaning that baseball games might be played but behind closed doors with no fans in ballparks. A Yellow light allows all activities to resume with limited public participation, so a set percentage of seats would be allowed to be occupied in stadiums during games. Finally, a Green light lifts all restrictions on activities and numbers allowed to watch live games, although some precautionary measures would remain in place.

    The good news for the Mexican League is that as of March 1, none of its teams are in a Red Light zone, meaning all scheduled games could take place if the season were to start today. The bad news is that only one franchise, the Campeche Piratas, are operating in a Green light zone and able to play at home in front of full capacity at Estadio Nelson Barrera, one of the Liga's smallest facilities with 6,000 seats.

A past large crowd in Campeche

    That means the other 17 LMB franchises are within Yellow or Orange light zones. The eleven Yellow light zone teams are Aguascalientes, Dos Laredos, Durango, Guadalajara, Leon, Monclova, Quintana Roo, Saltillo, Tijuana, Union Laguna and Veracruz. The six Orange light zone franchises facing tighter restrictions at home are Mexico City, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tabasco and Yucatan. However, all those franchises are operating in conditions apart from each other and each will have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

    Despite the overall uncertainty, the Mexican League has to be somewhat heartened over the possibility of all of its 18 teams playing their full 66-game regular season schedules even if no (or limited numbers of) fans are allowed in the stands, which the LMB says will not prevent games from taking place this year.

    In 2020, the LMB said that paying fans were necessary for many, if not most, of their teams to operate without drowning in seas of red ink. While statements from the league office in Mexico City can often be taken with a grain of salt, it's hard to dispute that one. Most Mexican League franchises are unprofitable and without any large-scale sponsorships or media contracts, attendance at home games is critical because such teams generate the vast majority of their revenue from in-park ticket, concessions and merchandise sales. Whether it's opening the gates and not making enough money for expenses or keeping the gates closed and not making any money at all, neither option is an attractive one.

MEX PAC ANNNOUNCES 2020-21 SEASON GOLD GLOVE WINNERS

Mexicali pitcher Javier Solano

    The Mexican Pacific League office in Guadalajara has announced the nine winners of its Gold Glove Awards for the recently-concluded 2020-21 season. Three of the players played for Hermosillo while two others toiled for two-time champions Culiacan. Mexicali, Obregon, Guasave and Monterrey each placed one member among the LMP's leading leather men.

Pitcher: JAVIER SOLANO (Mexicali)

    To look at him, few would expect veteran Javier Solano to be a top fielder. Although he's been one of the Mex Pac's most effective pitchers for years, Solano bears a physical resemblence to former Detroit Tigers hurler Mickey Lolich or Salon de la Fama member George Brunet (neither of whom were considered svelte).

    Still, Solano helped himself by handling all 23 chances that came his way over 12 starts last winter for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. Three other pitchers were flawless as well, but Solano got the nod by leading the quartet with 86 innings pitched.

Catcher: ALEXIS WILSON (Culiacan)

    The Los Mochis native spent six years in the St. Louis organization and was invited to the Cardinals training camp last spring, but was never a starter before his release from Class A Peoria last May. When the 24-year-old Wilson took over for injured vet Ali Solis last winter, there were questions as to whether he was up to the task.

    Although Wilson only hit .231 for Culiacan in 46 games, he turned in a .997 fielding percentage with one error in 352 chances behind the plate while reportedly earning interest from MLB organizations, so at least some questions were answered.

First Base: EFREN NAVARRO (Culiacan)

    A former MLBer who appeared with the Angels, Tigers and Cubs between 2011 and 2018 (as well as NPB's Hanshin Tigers) after some solid minor league seasons in which he was a PCL All-Star in 2013, Navarro gave the champion Tomateros a .246 average with 13 doubles and six homers last winter.

    He gave Culiacan solid defense at first base over 50 games as well, with just two errors in 426 chances for a .996 fielding percentage. Navarro also won a PCL Gold Glove in 2011 while playing for Salt Lake.

Second Base: CARLOS SEPULVEDA (Obregon)

    Sepulveda is a former Cubs farmhand who was signed by the Dodgers and assigned to AA Tulsa heading into spring training this year. The Monclova native has not been a strong hitter north of the border but hit .305 with 13 doubles and 12 steals for Obregon last winter.

    However, it was his glovework that garnered him the most attention in the Mex Pac. Sepulveda committed only one error in 231 chances over 51 games for the Yaquis for a .996 fielding percentage, turning 35 double plays along the way, after eight miscues with a .964 percentage in 2019-20.

Third Base: EMMANUEL AVILA (Guasave)

    Avila spent his first four years of pro ball in the White Sox farm system before debuting with his hometown Los Mochis Caneros in 2009-10. He's since been an infield mainstay in both the LMP and LMB, where he topped the .300 mark every year between 2013 and 2019 and played in four All-Star Games during that span.

    Avila hit .279 last season for Guasave, his fourth Mex Pac stop. In the field, the 32-year-old led all LMP third sackers with a .964 fielding average, handling 134 of 139 chances cleanly. He's also a proficient shortstop and played second base early in his career.

Hermosillo shortstop Jasson Atondo

Shortstop: JASSON ATONDO (Hermosillo)

    Ever since debuting at 19 with Campeche of the Mexican League in 2015, Atondo has been a guy who can be plugged in at second, third or shortstop and give his team a good performance. After playing sporadically for Hermosillo over three winters, he hit .351 and was the LMP's Rookie of the Year in 2018-19, then batted .331 for the Piratas in 2019.

    Playing 52 games at shortstop for the Naranjeros in 2020-21, Atondo had four errors in 228 chances for a .982 fielding percentage to augment his .268 batting average.

Left Field: NORBERTO OBESO (Hermosillo)

    Obeso was an outfielder in the Blue Jays system for five years (and a 2015 All-Star pick with Toronto's Dominican Summer League affiliate), but elected free agency earlier this winter. He became a starter for his hometown Orangemen in 2018-19 and had his best winterball season yet last season, batting .329 with 10 doubles under manager Juan Navarrete.

    Able to play both corner outfield slots, Obeso had a .994 fielding percentage in 81 chances over 44 games in left field for the Naranjeros.

Center Field: JOSÉ CARDONA (Hermosillo)

    Cardona turned a lot of heads for his play in the Caribbean Series with Culiacan last month, but he'd been playing well all season before the Tomateros picked him up as a reinforcement. The speedy ex-Rangers minor leaguer hit .279 for Hermosillo and stole 16 bases in 17 attempts during the regular season.

    He was just as good in center field, with just one bobble in 154 chances over 52 games for a .994 fielding percentage. Possessed with a good arm, Cardona added five assists and took part in three double plays. He'll play for Leon in the LMB this summer.

Right Field: PAULO ORLANDO (Monterrey)

    One of five Brazilians to appear in MLB, the member of the 2015 World Champion Royals is better known for his hitting (.302 with 24 doubles for Kansas City in 2016) and backed that up with a .308 average and eight homers this winter, including a .323 mark for the Sultanes after coming over in a trade with Obregon.

    Orlando, a former soccer player who began playing baseball at 12, turned in a solid season on defense as well. He played 50 games in right field and went 120-for-121 on total chances to finish with a .992 fielding percentage. He'll play for Dos Laredos this summer.