LMP PLAYOFFS OPEN; FIRST REINFORCEMENT DRAFT HELD

  The 2021-22 Mexican Pacific League playoffs began on Christmas Day. All eight teams battled it out in four first-round series openers, with the visiting team coming away victorious in three of them.

In a series that may capture the most attention among observers, defending champion Culiacan (who were the eighth and lowest postseason seed this winter) won at top-seed Navojoa, 8-5, on Saturday. The Tomateros knocked out Mayos starter Octavio Acosta with four runs in the top of the second inning and never looked back.  Culiacan was holding a 5-3 lead when they scored three more times in the eighth, including a two-run single by Jose Guadalupe Chavez with the bases loaded. 

Asael Sanchez rapped a two-run homer for Navojoa in the bottom of the frame to make it a two-run game, but that would end the scoring for both teams. Manny Barreda got the win for Culiacan despite a less-than-sterling five innings of work (three runs on four hits and five walks) while Acosta was tagged for the loss as over 10,000 were in the stands at Navojoa’s Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria, the largest gathering among the four openers.

Elsewhere, Monterrey pulled out a road win at Hermosillo, 5-4, in eleven innings to open their set on Saturday night. With the score knotted at 4-4 after ten frames, Anthony Giansanti opened the top of the eleventh for the Sultanes by getting on base after an error by Naranjeros shortstop and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Andres Martin, setting the stage for a Miguel Torrero single to put the visitors ahead by a run. Nathanael Santiago, who tossed a scoreless tenth for Monterrey, came out and pitched an unblemished eleventh to seal the win.

The Obregon Yaquis traveled to Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon for their series opener at Guasave and came away with a 3-1 win on Christmas. The Yaquis drew first blood in the top of the third when Ian Miller scored on Alonzo Harris’ sacrifice fly and Victor Mendoza later singled in reinforcement Isaac Rodriguez with the second run of the entrada. The Algodoneros closed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Yadir Drake singled in Jhoan Urena but Obregon scored the final run of the night for both teams two frames later when Michael Wing and Juan Carlos Gamboa hit back-to-back doubles off Gusave starter Jordan Kipper, who lasted one more batter before being pulled. Kipper took the loss while Obregon starter Jake Thompson earned the win with five innings of four-hit, one-run pitching.

Jalisco became the only home team to win their series opener after outlasting visiting Mexicali, 10-9, in 12 innings at Guadalajara. The Charros had built a 7-2 lead (aided by a trio of solo homers from Christian Villanueva, Japhet Amador and Agustin Murrillo in the bottom of the fourth) before the Aguilas plated one run in the top of the eighth and four more in the top of the ninth as Luis Jimenez stroked a two-run double and later scored on a Aneuty Tavarez double to even the score at 7-7. Both teams scored twice in the tenth but the night’s heroics belonged to Charros shortstop Missael Rivera, who led off the 12th with a double and advanced to third before coming in with the game-winner on Villanueva’s sacrifice fly to right to end a game that featured a combined 28 hits and 11 walks.  

Fifteen minutes after the final regular season game concluded, the eight playoff teams held a so-called reinforcement draft of players from Mazatlan and Los Mochis, the two clubs that didn’t advance. With the first pick, Obregon chose Los Mochis second baseman Isaac Rodriguez. Guasave followed by plucking another second sacker, Mazatlan’s Ramon Rios, while Hermosillo took Venados infielder Isaac Paredes with the third pick. In all, 16 Los Mochis and Mazatlan players were selected over two rounds, nine of them pitchers.

A similar draft will be held prior to the semifinals and finals. The eventual champions will be able to load up on more reinforcements before heading the the Caribbean Series in Santo Domingo with a roster that bears little resemblance to their regular season lineup. A similar process is carried out in other winter leagues, making the Serie del Caribe more a tournament of all-star teams than league champions.

PADRES SIGN MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE MVP CARRILLO

After being named Most Valuable Player of the Mexican Winter League this season, Yucatan Lions outfield prospect Oliver Carrillo, has been signed by the San Diego Padres.   

A 5’11” 210-pounder, Carrillo caught the attention of the San Diego organization after leading the LIM in several offensive departments playing for a team of players from the Yucatan, Veracruz and Durango LMB organizations. He came very close to obtaining the Triple Crown by being champion with 8 home runs and 46 RBIs, plus a .586 on-base percentage and an .806 slugging percentage,  finishing second in batting percentage at .441.

Nicknamed “Chanito,” Carrillo was one of the young players to make their debut this year in the Mexican League with the Leones, playing one inning in right field and going 0-for-1 in his lone plate appearance as a pinch-hitter for Luis Juarez during a June 6 game against Quintana Roo. 

The veteran Juarez took the youngster under his wing and has said “It’s a pleasure and a pride that young people like him get to have these kinds of opportunities and it is a case of perseverance of someone who did not give up. Many times they told him no and he did not get tired. He gave himself to baseball as he should and received a very large reward.”.

Carrillo’s training began after he was signed by Yucatán at the Academia de Beisbol del Pacífico. "The process has always been strong. I lasted three years at the Pacific Baseball Academy, then they sent me to the Monterrey Academy to continue with my training and thank God the results were good," said the right-handed batter who’ll turn 20 on January 19.

During his stay as a Leones recruit, Carrillo has also shone in different national and international tournaments, being the champion and best hitter in the International Series of Prospects organized by PROBEIS and managed by Yucatan’s incoming sports manager, Santos Hernandez.

The native of Rosario, Sinaloa, signed in the presence of Padres scout Emmanuel Rangel and was accompanied by Leones co-owner Erick Arellano, who commented that he feels proud and excited by the signing of the Sinaloan player, since he had to look at the process within the academy. "Several organizations had been following him,” said Arrellano, “but what really motivated this team (the Padres) was the season he had in the Winter League. He is a healthy boy and while I am happy with all the signatures, this one has a special feeling." 

Through their Pacific Baseball Academy in Mazatlan, the Leones have managed to place a total of 38 players with Major League Baseball organizations in six years.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Miguel “Pilo” Gaspar, C

A defensive genius, Pilo Gaspar was recognized internationally as one of the best receivers in Mexican baseball and a consistent batter who could get a hit off any pitcher at the most opportune moment.

  

In 1949, he began playing professionally in the old Pacific Coast League with Guaymas and was the Rookie of the Year that winter.  The 6’1” 178-pound Gaspar went on to play minor league ball for eight seasons in the United States, including three years in the Orioles farm system and one with the Dodgers. The earliest part of his summer career was spent with Laredo, where he hit 44 homers between 1950 and 1951 (including four in one April 1951 game against Texas City.  Ironically, he only whacked 29 more roundtrippers over the final 26 years of his pro career.

 

Gaspar played 11 games in 1951 for Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican League but did not come home to play for good until 1958, when he played 81 games for both the Tecolotes and Yucatan and hit .282 with five homers.  He eventually settled in behind the plate for Veracruz in 1959, and played 11 seasons for the Aguilas, topping the .300 mark four times (including a career-best .330 in 1961).  Pilo was in his 40’s when he moved on to Union Laguna for two years beginning in 1970, hitting .292 and .269. 

After a .250 campaign with Tampico in 1972, Gaspar went on to play two more years with Chihuahua before hanging up his catcher’s mitt following the 1974 season at the (reported) age of 45.  He singled and doubled in two pinch-hit opportunities for Chihuahua in 1976, and went 2-for-9 in five more games in 1977, even attempting to steal a base (he got caught) before stepping down for good. 

Over his long professional career, Pilo played in 2,604 games, totaling 2,419 hits, 346 doubles and 1,062 RBIs and hitting .288. In the Mexican Pacific League, Gaspar spent several winters with Guaymas, Navojoa and Hermosillo, connecting for 503 hits and an average of .262. Gaspar, who managed Mexican League teams in Veracruz, Chihuahua and Quatzocoalcos, was elected to the Salon de la Fama in 1994.

Gaspar was mentioned in Bill Heward’s 1974 gem of a book, “Some Are Called Clowns,” a diary of Heward’s 1973 season with the barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns.  The book touched on Mexican baseball in one chapter, including this passage quoting one of Heward’s teammates who spent time south of the border: “Our catcher was a guy named Pelo (sic) Gaspar, out of Sonora, Mexico. Some say he’s 42. Other guys who’re in the know say he’s 50. What a baseball head!  I never saw him blow a popup.  Pelo had a fabulous arm.  I never saw a guy steal on him. Pelo’s right index finger was broken and bent sideways about 45 degrees. The players who didn’t know him would thumb their noses and say, ‘Aw, crooked finger.’ But when he threw out two or three of them they forgot about his finger.”

3.5 GAMES SEPARATE TOP NINE LMP TEAMS

   As the Mexican Pacific League’s regular season heads into its final month, the second half standings are very tight, with only three-and-a-half games of daylight between the top two teams and the ninth-place squad and only one club apparently out of contention for a postseason berth in January.

Navojoa and Mexicali have both won six of their last ten games to remain tied for the lead with 12-8 records, one game ahead of 11-9 Hermosillo and Mazatlan while 10-9 Monterrey sits in fifth place. Obregon and Guasave are tied for sixth at 10-10, two games out of the top slot, defending champion Culiacan is three games back in eighth at 9-11 while Jalisco is a half-game behind the Tomateros at 8-11. The only team that looks to be out of the running is Los Mochis, who are following up their last-place finish in the first half (finishing five games out of ninth at 9-23) with a 6-14 ledger for the second half.

Navojoa is firing on all cylinders under manager Matias Carrillo, with five batters hitting .302 or above and a solid, if not invincible, pitching staff featuring a five-man rotation with an aggregate 21-12 season record and a respectable 3.65 ERA plus one of the Mex Pac’s top closers in Carlos Bustamante. The Mayos, who have the LMP’s top overall record at 32-20, swept a three-game midweek series in Los Mochis before splitting two games at home against Obregon. 

Mexicali is likewise doing well in winning 12 of their first 20 games under new manager Gil Velazquez, who replaced Bronswell Patrick in the dugout after the Aguilas came in ninth in the first half with a 14-18 record. The Eagles dropped two of three tilts in their midweek series at Hermosillo before taking two weekenders over Guasave at home in El Nido. Despite their strong second half showing, Mexicali is last in the LMP with a .232 team batting average so Alex Liddi and his .215 average with seven RBIs over 29 games was placed on the Reserve List and former MLB first baseman Ryon Healy was brought in. Healy hit .257 with seven homers over 67 games  for Hanwha in the Korea Baseball Organization this summer after belting 69 longballs in five major league seasons. So far, he’s hit .389 in his first five games for the Aguilas.

Hermosillo is a game off the pace in third under another new manager, former Mexican National Team helmsman Juan Gabriel Castro. Castro, who was fired as leader of the Verdes Grande shortly before the Olympics after leveling criticisms about funding and leadership against CONADE (Mexico’s national sports commission) and director Ana Guevara, a former Olympic track athlete and an ally of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He was replaced by current Culiacan manager Benji Gil, who took the team to an 0-3 record in Tokyo.  

While Monterrey is a competitive 10-9 under second-year manager Gerardo Alvarez, who now has the aforementioned Bronswell Patrick on his staff as bench coach, the Sultanes made more news off the field last week by announcing that Roberto Kelly would be back as manager of their Mexican League team. Kelly, who went 143-89 in 2018 and 2019 (winning the LMB’s Fall 2019 pennant along the way), chose not to return to Mexico last season due to pandemic concerns and a stated desire to work with a son who had aspirations of entering pro ball. Homar Rojas began the 2021 season as Monterrey’s manager but was fired eight games into the season after the Sultanes had lost their first five games en route to a 2-6 start and replaced by Sergio Gastelum, who went 26-25 over the rest of the schedule before losing to Guadalajara in the first round of the playoffs. 

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Second Half Standings

Mexicali 12-8 (4.0), Navojoa 12-8 (10.0), Hermosillo 11-9 (5.5), Mazatlan 11-9 (4.5), Monterrey 10-9 (5.0), Guasave 10-10 (9.0), Obregon 10-10 (7.0), Culiacan 9-11 (6.0), Jalisco 8-11 (8.0), Los Mochis 6-14 (3.5). First Half playoff points are in parentheses

OFFENSIVE LEADERS

Batting: Tirso Ornelas, NAV (.369); Victor Mendoza, OBR (.368); Yadir Drake, GUA (.331) 

Home Runs: Kyle Martin, NAV (15); Felix Perez, JAL (10); two players tied with 8 each

Runs Batted In: Felix Perez, JAL (39); Kyle Martin, NAV (37); Joey Meneses, CUL (36)

Stolen Bases: Dairon Blanco, CUL (21); Alonzo Harris, OBR (15); Ramon Rios, MAZ (14)

PITCHING LEADERS

Wins: Raul Carrillo, NAV (6); nine pitchers tied with 5 each

Earned Run Average: Elian Leyva, HER (1.17); Arturo Lopez, OBR (2.08); Hector Velazquez, OBR (2.42)

Strikeouts: Octavio Acosta, NAV (49); three pitchers tied with 47 each

Saves: Jake Sanchez, MXI (19); Fernando Salas, HER (12); Carlos Bustamante (NAV (11)

MONCLOVA, PUEBLA CLASH FOR LIM CROWN

The rebooted Mexican Winter League is holding its Prince Series (Serie del Principe) after the Monclova Acereros and Puebla Pericos won the North and South division playoffs, respectively, last week. Game One of the best-of-five set was slated for Sunday afternoon at Puebla’s Estadio Hermanos Serdan.

The two four-team divisions played intramural schedules with no crossover games. Monclova finished first in the LIM North with a 16-7 record, four games ahead of 11-10 Monterrey, who nudged out 12-12 Union Laguna for second place. Saltillo came in a distant fourth at 6-16. The Acereros are managed by former New York Mets dugout boss Mickey Callaway, who was suspended by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred through the 2022 season earlier this year after an investigation into Callaway regarding sexual harassment. 

Acereros owner Gerardo Benavides saw no problem bringing in the former pitcher, who played in South Korea and Taiwan (including the 2009 CPBL champion Uni-President Lions) after pitching for three MLB teams between 1999 and 2004, and was rewarded when Callaway led Monclova to a three-game sweep over Monterrey in the LIM North Finals. 

The Steelers won Game 3 last Thursday with a 9-0 blowout as the winners scored four first-inning runs and never looked back. Ethan Lopez had three hits for Monclova while another four Acereros had two safeties each, including LMB veterans Rodolfo Amador and Ricky Rodriguez. Obregon native Jasiel Ocosta aided the mound cause with four shutout innings on three hits. Another Mexican League vet, pitcher Carlos Teller, took the loss for the Sultanes after allowing five runs on nine hits.

Puebla defeated Veracruz-Yucatan, four games to one, to win the LIM South playoff title after finishing the regular season in first at 18-13, one game ahead of the 17-12 mark of Veracruz-Yucatan (who played their home games in Xalapa and also had players from Durango on the roster). Mexico City finished third in the South at 15-15 while Oaxaca, with Guerreros regular season skipper Erick Rodriguez at the helm) was dead last at 9-20. 

In their series-clinching win last Monday night, the Pericos outlasted Veracruz-Yucatan, 12-11, in Xalapa. Puebla went up 1-0 in the top of the first but Oliver Carrillo knotted the game up for the home side with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame. 

The Parakeets exploded for five runs in the third, including a tiebreaking two-run single by Armando Aguilar and a two-run double from Miguel Gamboa to make it a 6-1 contest. Puebla’s lead eventually reached 12-5 before Veracruz-Yucatan scored five times in the bottom of the seventh and a Carrillo solo homer in the eighth made it a one-run game before Pericos closer Cristian Alvarado shut the door on the series in the ninth.

Carrillo, a Yucatan prospect, was named the LIM’s Most Valuable Player after leading the South with eight homers and 46 RBIs while finishing second to Mexico City’s Pedro Castellano in batting with a .441 average. Castellano topped the division with a .448 average and 47 hits. A 19-year-old outfielder who played two games for the Leones last summer, Carrillo has spent time at the team’s academy in Mazatlan and also played in various national and international tournaments.  He was also named the LIM South MVP while Monclova’s Roberto Castro won similar honors for the LIM North.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #10): Guadalajara, Jalisco

The final jump on our virtual road trip to all ten Mexican Pacific League cities is also the longest. From Mazatlan, Sinaloa, we’ll drive 300 miles for about six-and-a-half hours south on Highway 15 through the state of Nayarit into Jalisco, curving inland until reaching Guadalajara, home of both the LMP’s Jalisco Charros and the Guadalajara Mariachis of the Mexican League.

Guadalajara has a metropolitan population of 5.3 million, making it Mexico’s third-largest metro area. It’s a far cry from the city’s humble beginnings in 1542, when conquistador Cristobal de Onate founded it as part of what was then called New Spain. By the 18th century, Guadalajara had already become Mexico’s second-largest city. During the Mexican War of Independence in the early 1800’s, Miguel Hidalgo established a revolutionary government there and Guadalajara later flourished between 1876 and 1911 under the three different presidencies of Porfirio Diaz, whose harsh methods created hardships among the people but also built the country’s economy and infrastructure.

Present-day Guadalajara is an international business and cultural center. It’s home to Mexico’s largest U.S. expat population, drawn by its relatively temperate climate, low cost of living and lively cultural scene. It’s home to numerous landmarks, including Guadalajara Cathedral, the Teatro Degollado, the Templo Expiatorio, the Hospicio Cabañas, and the San Juan de Dios Market (the largest indoor market in Latin America). Guadalajara hosts the most important film festival in Mexico as well as the International Book Fair, the largest such event in the Western Hemisphere. Two of the country’s most highly-rated colleges, the University of Guadalajara (founded in 1792) and the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, are here.

Professional baseball made its debut in Guadalajara when the Jalisco Charros played in the Mexican League in 1949 and lasted three seasons. After the Charros folded following the 1951 season, the Guadalajara Blue Sox entered the old Pacific Coast League in 1952-53 and also lasted three years. The city later fielded LMB teams on three different occasions between the 1960’s and 1990’s, winning two titles, but baseball never really built a local following until the Mexican Pacific League’s Guasave Algodoneros were bought and moved to Guadalajara in 2014. Named the Jalisco Charros, the franchise has become one of the Mex Pac’s most valuable. The Mariachis LMB team was formed last winter and played its first season in 2021, finishing first in the North Division, but crowds for the Liga side failed to approach their winterball counterparts.

Both teams play at 16,500-seat Estadio Charros, also known as Estadio Panamericano because it was built for track and field events at the 2012 Pan American Games. Although the design of the facility makes for less-than-desirable sightlines for baseball, even after a number of renovations over the past decade, Estadio Charros has hosted the Caribbean Series, World Baseball Classic and WBSC Premier12 tournament while the Charros have been among the top-drawing LMP teams since their arrival.