Hermosillo wins LMP first half title; Vizcarra, Sojo both fired

Roberto Vizcarra in happier times with Mexicali

The Hermosillo Naranjeros have won the Mexican Pacific League’s first-half championship, picking up eight playoff qualification points in the process, after beating last-place Obregon twice in a three-game weekend home series. Managed by longtime Mexican baseball figure Lorenzo Bundy (a Philadelphia native), the Orangemen were in a three-way tie at the top of the LMP standings with Culiacan and Mazatlan after going 20-15 in the half, but got the nod for first based on their record against the Tomateros and Venados, respectively.  

Culiacan was awarded second (7 points) while Mazatlan takes third (6 points).  In one of the tightest races in recent LMP seasons, Jalisco finished one game out of first at 19-16 to place fourth while 18-17 Navojoa finished two games back in fifth place.  The final first half standings and points are posted below this story.  Playoff seedings in the MexPac are based on points accrued over the two halves of the schedule.

Meanwhile, Mexicali has fired the man who led them to the pennant last winter.  Manager Roberto Vizcarra was cut loose Sunday after the Aguilas finished a disappointing sixth in the first half with a record of 16-19.  It’s the second time Vizcarra has felt the axe in 2017 after he was fired by the Mexican League’s Quintana Roo Tigres, a team he led to the 2014 pennant, late in the regular season.  Vizcarra will be replaced in Mexicali by Pedro Mere, skipper of current Mexican League champion Tijuana who’d been managing the Moroleon Toros Bravos in the Mexican Winter League with players assigned from both the Toros and Leon.

The Los Mochis Caneros didn’t wait until the end of the first half to fire manager Luis Sojo, who was let go last Thursday.  The former Yankees utilityman, who was a member of five World Series champions (including the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays), had the Caneros at 13-18 when he was canned.  Sojo managed a Yankees team to the Rookie Gulf Coast League title last summer.  He was replaced in Mochis by another former longtime Liga infielder Ramon Orantes, who led Union Laguna to a 60-49 record in his first stint as a manager this year but missed the LMB North playoffs.  Like Mere, Orantes was managing in the LIM with the Maravatio Leones, an affiliate of both Laguna and Yucatan.  The Caneros are 1-3 under Orantes and were swept by Mazatlan over a three-game weekend home series.

The LMP All-Star Game is slated for Monday night at Mochis’ Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada. The All-Star contest, which will be preceded by a Legends Softball Game and Home Run Derby, was revived last winter after an absence of 19 years when the North defeated the South, 4-3, on a walkoff single by Obregon’s Olmo Rosario in the bottom of the ninth in front of 15,145 fans at Nuevo Estadio Yaquis in Obregon.  Attendance won’t approach that figure this time, as Emilio Ibarra Almada holds just 11,000.  Ironically, the two managers who’d been slated to head the All-Star teams were Vizcarra and Sojo, whose teams met in last winter’s finals.  

LMP FINAL FIRST HALF STANDINGS

Hermosillo 20-15 (8.0), Culiacan 20-15 (7.0), Mazatlan (20-15) 6.0, Jalisco 19-16 (5.0), Navojoa 18-17 (4.5), Mexicali 16-19 (4.0), Los Mochis 14-21 (3.5), Obregon 13-22 (3.0).

LMP HITTING LEADERS

Batting-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) .382,  Hits-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) 52, Runs-Randy Arozarena (NAV) and Jeremias Pineda (MAZ) 29, Homers-Jovan Rosa (NAV) 8, RBIs-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 32, Stolen Bases-Jeremias Pineda (MAZ) 22.

LMP PITCHING LEADERS

Wins-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 5, Earned Run Average-Edgar Gonzalez (CUL) 1.80, Strikeouts-Cesar Vargas (HM) 35, Saves-Austin House (HMO) 11, Holds-Edgar Gomez (MXI) 10, WHIP-Edgar Gonzalez (CUL) 1.09.

Forged passport, prospect sale kickback, Rookiegate on LMB plate

Ex-Pirates farmhand Luis Heredia

It’s been anything but a quiet offseason for the Mexican League even when you don’t factor in the franchise move from Veracruz to Nuevo Laredo or the creation of two 57-game seasons with playoffs between late March and early October 2018.

The LMB has fined the Yucatan Leones 5 million pesos (about US$263,000) for registering Cuban outfielder Ronnier Mustelier with a fake passport.  That discussion at the LMB’s recent Assembly of Presidents meeting was led by a claim from Tabasco Olmecas president Jose Luis Dagdug that Campeche had done something similar with another Cuban outfielder, former international star Alfredo DeSpaigne, who is now playing in Japan.  The topic swung to Mustelier’s passport, which the Mexico City Attorney General’s office investigated and found to be falsified.  

Mustelier was brought into Yucatan as one of six allowed foreigners in 2017 and hit .318 with one homer in 48 games for the LMB South regular season champs but went 4-for-27 in the playoffs as the Leones lost to Puebla in the Division Championship Series.  The 33-year-old Mustelier, who won’t face an LMB suspension in 2018, was released by Yucatan in early October.  He’s hitting .337 with 16 RBIs and 14 runs scored in 28 games for Culiacan in the MexPac.

Then there’s the matter of Luis Heredia’s 2012 signing with Pittsburgh for a reported $2.7 million.  That transaction appears to have been the final straw for the Pirates, who fired Latin America scouting director Rene Gayo after it was determined that he received a kickback in the signing of Heredia, who was 16 at the time.  

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports Gayo was compensated by a Mexican League team for delivering Heredia to the Pirates.  Since Veracruz held his rights in Mexico, all signs seem to point at owner Jose Antonio Mansur, who moved the team to Nuevo Laredo last month although there are questions as to whether his is the franchise’s legal owner.  Heredia was released by the Pirates after never rising above AA ball and is expected to pitch for Mazatlan this winter.  Venados GM Jesus Valdez has been the Bucs’ top scout in Mexico for years and was instrumental in landing Heredia.

Finally, the LMB has made a statement regarding their investigation into the transfer of five prospects from Quintana Roo to Mexico City last winter just before the Tigres were sold to former Cy Young winner Fernando Valenzuela and his wife Linda Burgos.  Two of those teenaged prospects were subsequently sold by the Diablos Rojos to the Texas Rangers for over $2.5 million last summer.  The common thread appears to be current Diablos GM Francisco “Pollo” Minjarez, who was an assistant GM in Quintana Roo when the deal allegedly occurred, then moved to the nation’s capital and the Diablos after the sale.  

The Liga says they are working on the restructuring of their player transfer protocols but added nothing about the transaction in question between the Tigres and Diablos, which means the Valenzuelas, who took a financial beating in Cancun this summer, will be calling Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred’s office in New York soon, if they haven’t already.

Dodgers, Padres to play May 2018 series in Monterrey

Estadio Monterrey

There WAS some good news for the Mexican League last week, when it was officially announced that the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers will meet the San Diego Padres for a three-game series in Monterrey early next season.  The set will take place May 4 through 6 at Estadio Monterrey, Mexico’s largest ballpark with a capacity of 27,000.

This will mark the third time the Padres have hosted MLB games in Monterrey.  San Diego played a set against the New York Mets in August 1996 and then battled the Colorado Rockies in their April 4, 1999 season opener.  The last time MLB teams ventured south of the border was in March 2016, when the Padres and Houston Astros played two games at Mexico City’s Estadio Fray Nano.  This will be the first-ever Dodgers regular season foray into Mexico.

The upcoming Dodgers-Padres series had originally planned for Mexico City’s new 13,000-seat ballpark, but the facility was already behind schedule even before September’s devastating earthquakes exacerbated some pre-existing structural problems.  Citing uncertainty over whether Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu will be ready by May, both Major League Baseball and the Monterrey Sultanes announced the series would be moved to the northern city, as had been speculated for weeks.  The Sultanes, who led Minor League Baseball in attendance this year, are already linking tickets to the series with season ticket sales for the 2018 Mexican League season.

Besides stars like Clayton Kershaw,  Dodgers players who might make the trip are first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, pitcher Julio Urias and outfielder Alex Verdugo.  Gonzalez was thought to be joining the Jalisco Charros for the second half of the Mexican Pacific League season, but the LA front office may want him to rest after an injury-plagued 2017.  The Padres lineup is expected to include Guadalajara-born third baseman Christian Villanueva, who hit .344 with four homers in 12 games for San Diego in a September call-up.  Villanueva was BBM’s Winter MVP in 2015-16 after a .322/9/38 LMP season for Obregon.

EX-MLBer NYJER MORGAN SIGNS WITH PERICOS

From its 1531 founding by Spaniards through centuries as the scene of some of Mexico's most important historic moments (including the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which Mexican forced defeated French invaders in an event celebrated today as Cinco de Mayo), Puebla is known as a dignified, cultured and relatively quiet colonial city of 2.5 million residents.

Enter Nyjer Morgan.

The volatile ex-Major Leaguer has signed a deal to play for the Puebla Pericos in 2016.  Morgan had an abbreviated stay last summer with the Korea Baseball Organization's Hanwha Eagles, for whom he batted .273 in ten games.  The 2014 season was also a relatively inactive one for the San Francisco-born outfielder, who batted .341 over 15 games for the Cleveland Indians but posted just .200 in as many games for the Tribe's AAA Columbus affiliate.  He spent the entire 2013 campaign in Japan, where he hit .294 with 11 homers for the Pacific League's Yokohama BayStars.

It's been a tough few seasons for the 34-year-old, who attended high school in Canada before being picked by Pittsburgh out of Walla Walla (WA) Community College in the 33rd round of the 2002 draft.  Morgan toiled five seasons in the Pirates system before hitting .299 for Pittsburgh in a late-season call-up in 2007. He split the following year between AAA and MLB, but 2009 was his breakout year.  Despite a June trade that sent him to Washington, Morgan hit .307 for the year (.351 for the Nats) to finish tenth in the National League while his 42 stolen bases ranked second in the senior circuit. His performance dipped in 2010, however, and he was dealt again prior to the 2011 campaign, this time to Milwaukee.  As with Washington, Morgan got off to a strong start with the Brewers, batting .304 his first season, but his average fell to .239 in 2012 and he was granted free agency following the season after he refused to be assigned to the Brewers' AAA Nashville affiliate, leading to his journey to Japan.

Along the way, Morgan built a reputation both as a centerfielder whose speed allowed him to cover a lot of ground while being a threat on the basepaths and as a temperamental player capable of sometimes-entertaining outbursts in the middle of a game.  He once threw his glove and walked away after he thought he'd deflected a fly ball from Baltimore's Adam Jones over the fence for a home run when, in fact, he'd knocked the ball back onto the playing field and Jones ended up cruising around the bags for an inside-the-park home run.  Morgan also once threw a ball at a fan in Philadelphia, received a suspension after precipitating a brawl by charging the mound after two beanballs innings after slamming into a Marlins catcher
and separating his shoulder, and he was criticized after shouting two obscenities picked up by TV microphones after the Brewers won the 2011 NL Division Series.

A career .282 hitter who appeared in seven MLB seasons, Morgan was also a very talented hockey player as a teen, reaching the Major Junior Regina Pats before settling on baseball as a career choice.  He had a Twitter following of over 80,000 during his big league days, where he gave himself the nickname of "Tony Plush" as a sort of alter-ego.

Regardless of how Nyjer Morgan performs on the field in Mexico this summer, Pueblans in the stands at Estadio Hermanos Serdan will not be bored.

LIGA LIFTS BLACKLIST OF MLB/MiLB VETERANS

The VICE Sports website reports that a longstanding gentlemen's agreement among Mexican League teams barring native-born Major or Minor league veterans who did not originally sign with them as prospects has been called off.

A story by writer David Mark Simpson quotes a November 13 World Baseball article in which Veracruz Rojos Aguilas owner Jose Antonio Mansur as saying the unwritten agreement is being eliminated, allowing players who've been playing ball north of the border to return home and play summer ball in their home country. The VICE Sports story names such players as Amadeo Zazueta ( above ) as one of the potential beneficiaries of the lifting of the blacklist, which seemed unwarranted in Zazueta's case.  

A Culiacan native, Zazueta tried out for a number of Mexican League teams as a teen before signing a free agent contract with Houston in 2003. After three years in the Astros system, Zazueta has since shuttled back and forth between independent leagues and stints in the Atlanta , San Diego and Toronto systems. He spent last summer batting .260 in 117 games as a middle infielder with the Atlantic League's Sugar Land Skeeters. No such rule exists in the Mexican Pacific League, where Zazueta is currently with Jalisco for his seventh season of winterball.

One of the unique aspects of Mexican baseball is that, unlike elsewhere, Liga teams will typically sign contracts with homegrown prospects before they're old enough to sign free-agent contracts with MLB organizations or other foreign teams. It can be a business bonanza for LMB franchises. When Veracruz sold the rights to 16-year-old pitching prospect Luis Heredia of Mazatlan to the Pittsburgh Pirates for $2.6 million in 2011, $1.8 million of that went to the Rojos Aguilas. Simpson adds that several sources claim that some Mexican League teams garner more revenue from player sales than ticket sales.

The flip side is that MLB organizations have for years bypassed Mexican prospects in favor of those from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela because they can sign multiple players for the same cost a single Mexican teen would cost.

However, not every LMB majordomo has signed off on allowing prodigal sons to come home. Mexico City Diablos Rojos president Roberto Mansur (yes, he's related to Jose Antonio ... the Mansur family has been well-represented in Mexican baseball for decades) says he will continue to employ only Mexican players who first signed with Liga teams as teens. According to Solo Beisbol , Mansur told a Mexico City newspaper that he will continue to promote players from the Red Devils Academy and winter farm teams rather than sign expats returning from the States without first signing with a Mexican team.

Thanks to BBM reader Callum Hughson for the story tip. Email BaseballMexico@live.com if you have an interesting story on Mexican baseball. It only SEEMS like I see everything.   -Bruce

HEREDIA STRUGGLES THROUGH TOUGH YEAR FOR PIRATES GCL TEAM

Heralded pitching prospect Luis Heredia found the going tough in his first season of pro ball in the Pittsburgh Pirates system.

The 6’6” 17-year-old righthander struggled his way to one win in eleven starts for the Pirates’ Gulf Coast League rookie team in 2011, going 1-2 with a 4.75 ERA in 30.1 innings. He had a fair strikeout total of 23 (a rate of 6.8 whiffs per nine innings), but his early control problems never completely went away. Heredia dished up 19 walks and hit four batsmen, also a rate of 6.8 per nine frames for free passes.

The campaign ended on an upswing for the Mazatlan native, however. Heredia pitched scoreless ball over nine innings in three appearances (two starts) between August 8 and 19 before getting racked up for three runs on four hits in three entradas against the Phillies in his last start of the season on August 25.

Heredia's lone win against the Tigers on September 8 began his scoreless stretch, but even that was somewhat flawed. While Heredia did toss three shutout innings with two strikeouts, he gave up two hits and two walks in his only relief outing in ten appearances for the Pirates under manager Tom Prince.

Given his $3 million bonus and mid-90’s fastball, Heredia remains one of Pittsburgh’s top prospects and should develop once the Pirates let him throw more than just heaters as he matures.

HEREDIA STRUGGLING TO FIND PLATE FOR CGL PIRATES

Pitching prodigy Luis Heredia is finding common ground with young hurlers everywhere throughout baseball history: No matter how hard you throw, you need to throw strikes.

Heredia absorbed his first loss in four starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Gulf Coast League rookie team on July 8, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Phillies. The 16-year-old righty only lasted 2.1 innings, letting in two runs on as many hits with five walks and only one strikeout.

The Mazatlan native has found home plate elusive thus far, with the 6’6” Heredia issuing nine bases on balls in nine frames to go with his six strikeouts. After giving up three free passes in 2.2 innings for his first pro outing against the Blue Jays on June 21, Heredia settled down in his next two starts and allowed just one walk with five whiffs over four stanzas before his control problems returned during last Friday’s loss in his first decision of the year.

While his propensity for walks is probably a concern (but not a major crisis, since Heredia IS a 16-year-old away from home for the first time in a foreign country) and his 4.00 ERA won’t knock anyone dead, one thing that probably has Pirates brass pleased is that while opponents are getting on base, they’re not knocking him out of the box. Heredia, whose fastball can reach the mid-90’s, has only allowed a .115 batting average among batters he’s faced and has given up just three hits over nine innings.

Imagine how effective he might be once he starts throwing strikes.

HEREDIA MAKES PRO DEBUT FOR PIRATES GCL TEAM

Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Luis Heredia made his long-awaited pro baseball debut Tuesday, tossing 2.2 innings for the Pirates’ Gulf Coast League squad in a 10-7 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The 16-year-old Heredia, who signed a contract with Pittsburgh last August for a reported $2.6 million, did not have the greatest of starts, allowing two runs on one hit while walking three Jays batters without a strikeout.

Heredia fared reasonably well over the first two innings, holding Toronto hitless as the Jays’ Angel Gomez reached base on an error by Pirates shortstop Alen Hanson in the first and Seth Connor got on board with a walk in the second frame.

Things got tougher for Heredia in the third, however. After retiring the first two batters to make it eight outs recorded among the first ten hitters faced, the 6’6” righty from Mazatlan hit Gomez with a pitch. Then, with Dickie Thon, Jr. batting, Gomez stole second and third before Thon was walked. Heredia then issued a free pass to Kevin Patterson to load the bases for Toronto, setting the table for Santiago Nessy’s two-run line-drive single to center. At that point, Pittsburgh skipper Tom Prince replaced Heredia with former Texas Tech hurler Robert Kilcrease.

Still, the Pirates had to be pleased that although Heredia’s control left something to be desired, he only allowed the one Nessy single. Heredia chose to sign with Pittsburgh after reportedly receiving interest from ten MLB organizations. Ironically, Toronto was said to have offered Heredia even more than the Pirates, but the youngster’s long-term friendship with Pirates scout Jesus “Chino” Valdez was enough the seal the deal for the Buccos.

HEREDIA NAMED PIRATES’ FIFTH-BEST PROPECT BY BASEBALL AMERICA

For a 16-year-old kid who has yet to throw a pitch in a pro baseball game, Luis Heredia is already being held in high esteem in some quarters. Baseball America’s 2011 Prospect Handbook has named the Mazatlan prodigy as the fifth-best prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system.

The 6’6” Heredia (who was signed by the Pirates for a $2.6 million bonus last August shortly after his 16th birthday) “doesn’t have one singularly superb trait,” the Handbook says, “aside from doing so much so well with such size at his age.” Also noted was that “His frame, coordination and delivery are highly advanced, and he has excelled against older competition all his life.”

Heredia was the subject of spirited bidding among more than a dozen Major League organizations, but his longtime relationship with former Mazatlan Venados general manager Jesus “Chino” Valdez (who is Pittsburgh’s lead scout in Mexico) meant the other teams had little chance of signing him. As is customary south of the border, Heredia’s rights were held by the Mexican League’s Veracruz Aguilas, who kept 75 percent of the bonus.

Heredia is one of three teenage pitchers among the Pirates’ top five prospects, according to Baseball America, along with top-rated Jameson Taillon and third-ranked Stetson Allie.

TEEN PROSPECT HEREDIA WON’T PITCH FOR VENADOS THIS WINTER

According to Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballasteros, Pittsburgh Pirates 16-year-old pitching prospect Luis “El Mariachi” Heredia will not be suiting up for his hometown Mazatlan Venados this winter because of the poor relationship between the team and its former general manager, Jesus “Chino” Valdez.

Valdez, who was replaced as Venados GM in the offseason by ex-pitcher Andres Cruz less than a year after being named the Mexican Pacific League’s GM of the Year, is the Pirates’ scouting supervisor in Mexico and a close friend of Heredia, who signed with Pittsburgh for $3 million in August. Ballasteros quotes Rene Gayo, the Pirates’ head scout in Latin America, as saying that if Valdez had continued as Mazatlan’s GM, Heredia would already be in a Deer uniform.

Heredia has been pitching for Pittsburgh’s instructional team in Florida and will be heading to the Pirates’ Dominican Republic complex for further work. Pirates director of player development Kyle Stark told MLB.com, “Heredia, as a young 16-year-old, has fit in, which says something for someone so young.”

PIRATES SIGNEE HEREDIA ADAPTING TO U.S. CULTURE

Mexican pitching phenom Luis Heredia has moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates training facility in Bradenton, Florida and is working on becoming acclimated to life in the United States. The 6‘4” right-hander from Mazatlan with a 92 MPH fastball signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Bucs on his 16th birthday in August after being courted by a number of major league organizations. His rights were purchased from the Mexican League’s Veracruz Rojos Aguilas.

“I am working very much on the physical aspects,” Heredia says. “The truth is that they have treated and received me very well.” Heredia has spent time with fellow Pittsburgh pitching prospects Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie while attending weekday English classes at Pirate City, saying, “I attend English classes Monday through Friday and have learned very much.”

Heredia is one of 46 pitchers on Pittsburgh’s Florida Instructional League roster this fall.

PITTSBURGH ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO PRIZED 16-YEAR-OLD PITCHER

The bidding war for a highly-sought teenaged pitcher from Mazatlan appears to be over. The Pittsburgh Pirates announced August 19 that they have reached an agreement to acquire the rights to 6’4” right-hander Luis Heredia from the Veracruz Rojos Aguilas of the Mexican League for a reported $2.6 million (three-quarters of which will go to the Aguilas).

Ten major league organizations were said to be interested in Heredia, who had to wait until his 16th birthday on August 19 before MLB teams could begin negotiating with him in earnest, but Pittsburgh apparently had the inside track from the beginning. Pittsburgh's Mexican scout, Jesus “Chino” Valdez (former GM of the Mexican Pacific League Mazatlan Venados) has known Heredia since the pitcher was 5 years old and is said to be a father figure.

Heredia reportedly possesses four pitches, including a 95 MPH fastball. Once the deal is finalized, the Pirates will send him to their main training complex in Bradenton, Florida.