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| Obregon's Alonzo Harris is 20-for-22 in steals |
Despite a 16-10 loss at home to Culiacan last Thursday in the final game of an abbreviated first half, the Obregon Yaquis were able to capitalize on their hot start to finish first in the Mexican Pacific League's opening stanza with a 21-8 record, four-and-a-half games ahead of 15-11 Hermosillo and good enough to capture ten playoff points. The Yaquis were just 4-5 after the LMP's unscheduled eleven-day layoff due to the Wuhan virus, but their 17-3 mark before play was halted provided enough padding to make for a soft landing from their fall back to earth. Obregon then opened the second half with a pair of losses to Guasave in Estadio Yaquis, so the road appears to be harder traveling for Sergio Gastelum's squad through the end of the regular season.
Puro
Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros provided his readers an analysis
of the Mex Pac's first round for each team, of which we present a
lightly edited version here:
OBREGÓN
YAQUIS (21-8, 10.0 POINTS): They only lost two of their ten
series, one against Hermosillo and the other against Mexicali. OF
Alonzo Harris was the offensive spark plug with a .337 average (ninth
in the LMP) and 20 stolen bases in 22 attempts, leading the circuit.
Sebastián Valle arrived to bring order to the pitching staff as
their catcher (LMP leaders in ERA at 3.97), even when they traded
their best starter, Octavio Acosta.
HERMOSILLO
NARANJEROS (15-11, 9.0 POINTS): Unimpressive like last year, the
multi-champions did enough to take over the runner-up and 9 points.
Special mention of OF Norberto Obeso (LMP batting sub-leader at
.371), OF Yadiel Hernandez (.341) and 3B Luis Alfonso Cruz (4HR, 19
RBI) as well as starting pitcher Juan Pablo Oramas (4-2 and 3.38) and
closer Fernando Salas (7 saves, 0.93 ERA).
MONTERREY
SULTANES (14-12, 8.0 POINTS): With 2B-OF Alejo López as the only
one in the league's top ten batting (sixth at .348), the Sultanes
surprised in the first half. Dustin Peterson contributed 6 homers and
21 RBIs in his first 23 games while in pitching, Édgar González
stands out with a 3-2 record and 4.32 of ERA, ninth in the Mex Pac.
CULIACAN
TOMATEROS (15-13, 7.0 POINTS): If it weren't for OF Sebastián
Elizalde, they could've possibly finished in the bottom three.
Elizalde has 9 homers and 32 RBIs, leading the LMP in both
departments, although he slumped in recent games. 3B Joey Meneses is
hitting .275 with 4 HR and 15 RBIs. Without OF Rico Noel and C Alí
Solís, Culiacan's goal was one of the first four positions and they
succeeded.
GUASAVE
ALGODONEROS (14-13, 6.0 POINTS): They closed the first half with
seven wins in their last eight games to reach 6 points. Cuban P
Yoenis Yera (3-0, 2.37) arrived to reinforce the starting rotation.
Closer Gene Encina has 8 saves while on offense, OF Yadir Drake
(.343/6HR/20RBI) and SS Arisbel Arruebarruena (.373/7HR/12RBI) stand
out, despite the latter missing 14 games.
JALISCO
CHARROS(15-14, 5.5 POINTS): They have again had serious problems
with their pitching, not only releasing Cuban P Elián Leyva (a
former Triple Crown winner) but allowing 25 runs in their last three
games against Navojoa. 1B Henry Urrutia has stood out for the
defending champions with .355/5HR/21RBI numbers while DH Japhet
Amador has turned in .342/6/28 numbers over 29 games.
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| Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros |
MAZATLÁN
VENADOS (14-14, 5.0 POINTS): The arrival of Pablo Ortega at the
helm rescued them from falling into the basement. The Venados closed
with seven consecutive wins and are going to improve a lot in the
second half with the arrival of P Mitch Lively and other players.
Detroit Tigers IF Isaac Paredes has responded with a .390 average,
one home run and 12 RBIs in 12 games.
MEXICALI
AGUILAS(13-16, 4.5 POINTS): After starting 0-8, the team closed
with a 13-8 mark under the command of Bronswell Patrick. 1B Balbino
Fuenmayor (.273) went home to Venezuela and it's striking that none
of Patrick's players hit .300. Even Cuban OF Rusney Castillo has been
a disappointment with a .212 average no homers and one RBI in 9
games. P Eduardo Vera is the LMP sub-leader with a 2.64 ERA.
NAVOJOA
MAYOS (10-19, 4.0 POINTS): The Mayos have had a season full of
ups and downs. The highlight was their 4-for-1 trade with the Yaquis,
although Tirso Ornelas will miss the rest of the season with injury.
Individually, C Omar Renteria leads the LMP batting race at .397 and
P Felix Dubrount was 3-2 with a 2.32 ERA before (like Fuenmayor)
returning to play in his native Venezuela, where the season is just
now getting underway.
LOS
MOCHIS CANEROS (9-20, 3.5 POINTS): Their pitching has been a
disaster and they continue to suffer from the absence of OF Jonathan
Jones, 2B Ramón Urías and, of course, Cuban starter Yoanys Quiala,
who last winter fought for the Triple Crown of Pitching. SS Isaac
Rodriguez is batting .366 while OF Leander Castro has 8 HR. The
panorama in Los Mochis is very difficult, but the postseason is not
impossible.
MANSUR
SAYS TECOS ARE "VERY HAPPY" PLAYING IN LAREDO
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| Will Tecos remain at Laredo Ballpark? |
A
Mexican baseball website reports rumors the Dos Laredos Tecolotes may
be seeking greener pastures, although owner Jose Antonio Mansur gave
assurances that the Tecos' current dispute with the City of Laredo,
Texas will not result in the Mexican League team moving out of the
border region.
Beisbol
Puro says the dispute between the Tecos and City of Laredo
centers on control over concessions at Laredo Ballpark, a facility
completed in 2012 with naming rights paid for by a local shipping
company.* Presently, the Tecos operate concessions at Laredo Ballpark
for eight months a year while another company is allowed to organize
events and handle concessions over the remaining four months. Mansur
wants a year-round concessions contract, something the City has yet
to agree to.
The
standoff has led to speculation that Mansur might move the team
(which arrived from Veracruz following the 2017 LMB season) out of
both Laredo and Nuevo Laredo altogether. “We
have some differences in the way in which the renewal of the
concession contract for the stadium in Laredo, Texas is being
considered,” Mansur told Beisbol
Puro in a phone interview,
“but that is something that we hope can be resolved. We are very
happy and very comfortable playing both in Laredo and in Nuevo
Laredo, Tamaulipas.”
The
Tecos split their home schedule between the two cities that are
separated by the Rio Grande, with games south of the border played at
aging Parque la Junta, a 6,000-seater built in 1947 that has housed
five LMB pennant-winners since, including a powerhouse Tecolotes
squad that played in six Serie del Reys between 1985 and 1993,
winning two titles. The current Tecos franchise initially played their Mexican home games at 12,000-seat
Estadio Nuevo Laredo in 2018.
Despite being a newer (opened in 2008)
better facility than Parque la Junta and was one of three LMB
ballparks with artificial turf at the time, Estadio Nuevo Laredo sits
outside Nuevo Laredo in an area considered unsafe by many fans,
leading to poor attendance. The Tecos moved their Mexican home games
to the older ballpark in 2019 but while crowds did increase, it is
not considered an optimal Mexican League venue moving ahead.
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| Dos Laredos owner Jose Antonio Mansur |
Laredo
Ballpark, which was built for $18 million, has 3,940 permanents seats
and can accommodate up to 6,000 spectators for baseball when picnic
areas and grass berms are factored in. While it's one of the smallest
ballparks in the LMB, it's also one of the more modern ones and
affords the Tecos the unique status of being the world's only pro baseball team that considers two nations “home.” Mansur says that
while he would prefer to keep things where they are, he's prepared
play all home games in Mexico, if not necessarily in Nuevo Laredo.
“We're
not leaving here,” he told Beisbol Puro. “What could happen if we
don't reach an agreement is that we don't play in Laredo, Texas but
our home would continue to be Nuevo Laredo.” He added that farming
some games to other cities might be considered. "It
really would be an extreme case, but we could look to play some games
in Reynosa, or even play in McAllen, Texas to continue with the idea
of being a two-country team, but for now those are only options that
we have as a possibility.”
*Like all media outlets, Baseball
Mexico is not obligated to recognize naming rights deals that
generate no revenue for BBM.
LOOKING
FORWARD: MENESES, BANUELOS, VILLANUEVA
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| Joey Meneses with Red Sox |
With
the 2020 baseball season in the rear-view mirror and winterball in
full swing, three veteran Mexican players are weighing their options
for the 2021 campaign. While one of them has been invited to a Major
League Baseball training camp and another appears likely to be
returning to Taiwan, one former MLBer among the trio finds himself at
loose ends.
Culiacan
infielder Joey Meneses, who is playing third base for the first time
this winter to allow Tomateros manager Benji Gil to put Efren Navarro
and his .303 average at first base while slugger Japhet Amador is the
designated hitter. Meneses has struggled at times on defense, but
he's hit .292 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 30 games.
The
Boston Red Sox, who invited the 2018 International League MVP to
their training camp last spring, have announced they'll bring the
6'3” 220-pounder back for another look-see as a free agent in
February. The 28-year-old Culiacan native struggled with Japan's Orix
Buffaloes in 2019, batting just .206 with four homers in 29 games before being suspended by NPB after testing positive for steroids,
but the BoSox were intrigued by his breakout performance with the
Phillies' AAA affiliate in Lehigh Valley two years and want to see
whether his right-handed power can translate to success with Fenway
Park's Green Monster.
Left-handed
pitcher Manny Banuelos has already endured a sometimes-bizarre 2019
during which he began the year pitching for Culiacan in the Mexican
Pacific League playoffs in January, followed by a start in February
as a reinforcement for Jalisco at the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico
and a stint in Arizona as a free agent hurler in the Seattle Mariners
spring camp in March before the Wuhan virus shut down baseball north
of the border that month. Ranked as high as 13th among all prospects
by MLB.com as a Yankees farmhand in 2011, Banuelos was subsequently
released by Seattle but eventually signed with the Fubon Guardians of
the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
Once he
reached Taiwan and cleared quarantine, Banuelos pitched well for the
Guardians, going 6-3 with a 2.60 ERA in nine starts and striking out
62 batters in 52 innings for a team that went 54-69 for the year.
It's almost a given that the 29-year-old Durango product will be
offered a contract by the Taipei-based team for the 2021 season.
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| Fubon Guardians lefty Manny Banuelos |
The
player looking over his options (and perhaps licking his wounds after
two tough seasons in Japan) is former San Diego third baseman
Christian Villanueva. The 29-year-old from Guadalajara made his MLB
debut in September, batting .344 with four homers in 12 games for the
Padres. He had a hot start for San Diego in 2018, earning National
League Rookie of the Month honors in April after hitting .321 with
eight roundtrippers in 23 games. Villanueva hit less than .200 over
the next three months before rebounding with a .356 average in 12
August games before suffering a season-ending injury.
Despite
finishing with 20 homers to augment his .236 season average, his
contract was sold the following offseason to the NPB Yomiuri Giants.
Villanueva struggled with injuries both years, hitting .223 with
eight homers for the Giants in 2019 while spending time on their farm
team before being let go. He was picked up by the Nippon Ham Fighters
for 2020 but moving from the Central to Pacific League had no effect
as he hit just .220 with four longballs for the Fighters, spent time
with THEIR farm team and was released on November 18. Villanueva
began playing for the hometown Jalisco Charros last week, homering in
one of his first five games, but he's essentially playing for a
spring training invitation at this point. His Mexican League rights
were acquired by the Monterrey Sultanes from Yucatan late last year.
