CANIZALES TOUTS MONTERREY AS POTENTIAL CS SITE

    Although the next edition of the Caribbean Series is slated to take place next February in the relatively stable Dominican Republic, Septima Entrada writer Tomas Lopez says Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales is touting a Mexican city that has never hosted the event as a possible future site: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

    "It shouldn't be long before Monterrey can have a Serie del Caribe,” Canizales is quoted as saying. “Indeed, there's an agreement between the owners of the teams where there's a rotation to host this tournament.” Canizales added that Monterrey could be an ideal fill-in in case another scheduled country declines to host the event for some reason because the hometown Sultanes are co-owned by the Multimedios media company that can effectively get the word out on short notice. The Sultanes' 21,906-seat Estadio Monterrey is the largest ballpark in Mexico and third-largest in Latin America.

    Canizales alluded to past Caribbean Series that have had to move weeks before the tournament to alternate sites like Panama City and Guadalajara because of politicial and economic miseries occurring in Venezuela, the planned host site. “Let's remember that eventually eventually, our Caribbean brothers in some countries may have some instability and I think Monterrey can be a good 'pinch-hitter' for this event...I believe Monterrey and Multimedios can be tremendous hosts.”

    Mexico is one of four nations included in the CS rotation along with Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela is scheduled to host the Serie del Caribe in 2023 while Mexico, which held the event in Mazatlan last winter, is not slated to come up in the rotation until 2025. Mexicali is seen as the front-runner to serve as host that year.

    Meanwhile, on the playing field, only two games separate the top five teams in the Mex Pac standings after last weekend's games. When the dust settled Sunday night, Navojoa had sole possession of first place with a 15-8 record after the Mayos slipped past Obregon, 3-2, in ten innings. Maikel Serrano's bases-loaded walkoff single to left off reliever Alberto Leyva plated Jorge Sesma with the winning run as Obregon fell to a three-way tie for third with Jalisco and defending champion Culiacan.

    Guasave kept pace with Navojoa and remains a half-game out of first after clobbering Mexicali, 11-2, Sunday at Estadio Aguilas. Yadir Drake crushed a three-run homer for the Algodoneros while Jhoan Urena went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to support starter Jordan Kipper's five shutout inings.

    Jalisco dropped a 5-4 decision Sunday to Los Mochis at home to remain in third a 13-10. Caneros' leadoff hitter Justin Dean and second batter Issac Rodriguez combined for five hits, three RBIs and two runs scored for the winners. Likewise, Culiacan remain tied for third Sunday after losing to Mazatlan, 3-2, at home. The Venados' Ramon Rios stroked a leadoff single, moved to second on a bunt, took third on a Derrick Loop wild pitch and scored the winning run on a Ricky Alvarez sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.

    Navojoa outfielder Tirso Ornelas is the LMP's only .400 hitter and leads the loop with a .417 average, ahead of Jalisco's Christian Villanueva (.394) and Nick Torres of Hermosillo (.370). Torres' six homers are tops, followed by the five apiece from Monterrey's Danny Ortiz and Kyle Martin of Navojoa (who's hit his longballs over just ten games). Guasave's Jesse Castillo leads Maikel Serrano of Navojoa in the RBI race, 21 to 20. Culiacan's Dairon Blanco heads the list in stolen bases with eight, one more than three other baserunners: Jose Cardona (Hermosillo), Sebastian Elizalde (Culiacan) and Roel Santos (Navojoa).

    On the mound, 2018-19 LMP Pitcher of the Year Elian Leyva is making the decision of the Jalisco Charros to release him last winter appear ill-considered. Now pitching for Hermosillo, the Cuban-born righty gave up one single over seven innings in Monterrey Saturday to run his string of shutout entradas at the start of the season to 32. Needless to say, Leyva's 0.00 ERA is best in the Mex Pac (Jalisco's Orlando Lara has allowed one earned run over 27 frames), his 4-0 record matches Navojoa's Carlos de Leon for most wins and his 0.63 WHIP is also first in the LMP. Leyva's 25 strikeouts are third on that list behind two Obregon hurlers, Luis Escobar (30) and Hector Velazquez (27). Jake Sanchez' strong work for Mexicali continues, with the Californian's seven saves leading Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante's five while striking out 17 batters in just ten innings to augment his 0.90 ERA.

    Looking forward, a pair of midweek series loom large when Jalisco visits Obregon and Navojoa opens a three-game series in Hermosillo on Tuesday. Next weekend, Navojoa will host Guasave while Hermosillo will be in Guadalajara for a trio of games against the Charros as all five teams seek to break up the relative logjam at the top.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE STANDINGS: Navojoa 15-8, Guasave 14-8, Culiacan 13-10, Jalisco 13-10, Obregon 13-10, Hermosillo 12-11, Mexicali 10-13, Mazatlan 9-14, Monterrey 9-14, Los Mochis 6-16.

LMB PLANS APRIL 2022 OPENER, NINETY-GAME SEASON

    The Mexican League has announced that its Assembly of Presidents recently approved a 90-game regular season for 2022 running from late April until early August, followed by an extended postseason in which 12 of the Liga's 18 teams will qualify for playoff berths.

    The anouncement came from the LMB office in Mexico City, in which league president Horacio de la Vega stated, “I appreciate the encouragement and collaboration of all the presidents to define the key dates for the 2022 season in order to have adequate planning that will benefit us all: fans, television stations and sponsors.”

    The Mexican League regular season is slated to open Thursday, April 21, at Estadio Nacional, home of the defending champion Tijuana Toros. The Bulls' opponent was not mentioned. The rest of the LMB will swing into action one night later on Friday, April 22. The regular season, which will consist of a total of 810 games, will conclude on Sunday, August 7, with the playoffs to commence shortly thereafter. The Liga's All-Star Weekend will take place between June 17 through 19 in Monclova. There was no All-Star Game last summer.

    The playoffs will be similar to this year's format, in which the top six teams from each division will advance to the first round, with the three series winners moving on to the Division Semifinals along with a fourth “wild card” club that fared the best among the three opening round losers. The LMB will use a single-season format and discard the two-half look it's had in past seasons and that the Mexican Pacific League still employs during the winter.

    While the 90-game slate represents a 36 percent increase over this year's pandemic-shortened, 66-game schedule, it also marks a 25 percent reduction from 2019's 120-calendar and will be the circuit's shortest regular season since before it was officially brought into the National Association (now Minor League Baseball) as a Class AA league in 1955. The shaving of 30 games off the last full season is partly meant to limit financial losses for the vast majority of LMB teams who lose money every time they throw the gates open. The Liga will now play only 22 more regular games than the Mex Pac.

    The Mexican League is a member of Minor League Baseball but operates as an independent league devoid of any formal affiliations with Major League organizations. The Liga's classification was raised from AA to AAA in 1967 but the loop received no classification for 2021.

    There was also a 3-for-1 trade in the Mexican League last month that saw Monclova send infielder Jose Vargas plus pitchers Ryan Verdugo and reliever Andrew Morales to Saltillo for outfielder Juan Perez in what appears to be an Acereros payroll deduction. Vargas hit .302 with 8 homers and 28 RBIs in 46 games for Monclova last summer, Verdugo was 1-0 with a 14.49 ERA in 11 appearances (including two starts) while Morales went 1-2 and 4.81 in 23 relief outings. Perez hit .233 for the Saraperos in 2021, adding 10 homers and 26 ribbies in 65 games.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #5): Navojoa, Sonora

    From Obregon, we’ll continue our virtual Mexican Pacific League road trip with a short 43-mile hop south on Highway 15 to the fifth of ten stops: Navojoa, Sonora, home of the Mayos and one of the LMP's smaller markets with a 2020 population of 164,387.

    The word “navojoa” comes from the Mayo Indian dialect root “navo” (or “prickly pear cactus”) and “jova” (or “house”), therefore meaning “the house of prickly pear cactus.” Even before the Spaniards arrived, the Mayo tribe had possession of the land including the Rio Mayo and the Mayo Valley. Although Spanish explorer Diego de Guzman arrived in the area in 1536 and Jesuit missionaries began settling locally in the 17th Century, Navojoa dates back to 1825, when it was part of the old State of the West formed after the Mexican Independence War starting in 1810.

    Due to its geographical location, Navojoa has been considered from the start as the center of productivity of this region, combining with Ciudad Obregon to form the Mayo Valley, one of Mexico’s most productive agricultural regions. The most important businesses are concentrated in Navojoa, with the main northbound and southbound state highways and railroads coming through the city as well as highways going to Alamos and Yavaros.

    Known as “The Pearl of the Mayo”, Navojoa is a city of contrasts. In spite of its modern features, the city has preserved an array of important historical monuments in the area well worth visiting, among them the Municipal Palace, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, sculpted monuments such as one erected in memory of General Alvaro Obregon, a plaza with obelisks in honor of the Talamante brothers.

    The Navojoa Mayos started in the Mexican Pacific League in the 1959-60 season and (after a two-year absence between 1960 and 1962) are playing their 60th consecutive season of winterball. After winning three titles in the old Pacific Coast League, the Mayos copped their first Mex Pac pennant in 1978-79 under manager Chuck Goggin and won their second (and last) flag in 1999-20 for skipper Lorenzo Bundy. They are now managed by Salon de la Fama member Matias Carrillo, who led Navojoa to the LMP finals against Hermosillo in 2013-14, one of ten times the Mayos have played the postseason bridesmaids. The team has retired two numbers: the 12 of Jose “Chico” Bojorquez and the 25 worn by Hector Heredia and

    “The Tribe” plays their home games at Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echevarria, an 11,500-seat ballpark named after a locally-born Salon de la Fama pitcher. The ballpark opened in time for the 1970-71 season and is owned by the Sonora state government. Navojoa is the only LMP city that hasn't built a new stadium or performed major renovations to its existing facility over the past decade.

TOROS AVOID SWEEP, SERIE DEL REY GOES BACK TO TJ

    After losing the first three games of the 2021 Serie del Rey, things were looking grim late last week for the Tijuana Toros, who had to beat the Yucatan Leones twice in Merida to stay alive and send the series back home to Estadio Nacional, let alone avoid an embarrassing sweep.

    As things turned out, that's exactly what happened and now both teams will be flying to Baja California Norte for Game Six of the Mexican League's championship series on Tuesday night. The following is a wrap of each of the first five games of the series:

GAME 1 (Monday, September 6): Yucatan 7, TIJUANA 3

Yucatan OF Yadir Drake

    The Leones drew first blood by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning to blow open a 3-2 game en route to a four-run win over the Toros in front of 14,297 fans at Tijuana's Estadio Nacional. Sebastian Valle's three-run homer off TJ reliever Brennan Bernardino with two out was the key blow. At that point, Jesus Pirela relieved Bernardino and recorded the third out but the damage was done and the Liones never looked back.

    Valle combined with Walter Ibarra and Humberto Sosa for six hits and six RBIs to lead Yucatan while starter Rhadames Liz allowed two runs on five hits over five innings for the win. Although Bernardino suffered a nightmarish seventh, the loss went to Toros starter Michael Devine, who was charged for three runs on four hits and four walks after exiting with two out in the fifth.

GAME 2 (Tuesday, September 7): Yucatan 7, TIJUANA 1

    The Leones made it 2-for-TJ with another big inning to break a close game open. The Toros took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Junior Lake scored on Gabriel Gutierrez' groundout to second. Tijuana starter Carlos Hernandez tossed four shutout innings before Humberto Sosa, Sebastian Valle and Jose Juan Aguilar led off the fifth with consecutive singles to load the bases. Hernandez walked Jorge Flores on a 3-and-2 count to push Sosa across with the tying run. With two outs, Yadir Drake stepped up and crushed a grand slam to straightaway center, giving the visitors a 5-1 advantage they'd never relinquish.

    After giving up that one first-inning run, Yucatan starter Yoanner Negrin didn't allow another score through seven frames to earn the win. Sosa, Aguilar and Alex Liddi each had two of the Leones' ten hits, but it was Drake's homer that made all the difference in sending 14,989 onlookers at Estadio Nacional home disappointed.

GAME 3 (Thursday, September 9): YUCATAN 2, Tijuana 0

    After going 1-for-7 over the first two games, Luis Juarez broke his relative silence with a two-run homer (his tenth of the postseason) in the first inning and that was all Yucatan starter Jake Thompson and four relievers would need in posting a combined 2-0 shutout as 6,420 aficionados watched in Merida's “sold out” Parque Kukulkan, which was limited to 40 percent capacity due to the pandemic. Yadir Drake had drawn a two-out walk before Juarez stepped up and slammed Joe Van Meter's first pitch over the left field wall.

    Thompson, who had to wait through a pregame rain delay lasting over two hours, scattered five hits over five innings for the win and Josh Lueke earned the save for Yucatan with a 1-2-3 ninth. Van Meter settled down to pitch scoreless ball until two outs in the fifth inning, but that one pitch to Juarez proved to be his undoing. Tijuana's Gabriel Gutierrez was the lone batter with more than one hit, collecting two singles off Thompson.

GAME 4 (Saturday, September 11): Tijuana 6, YUCATAN 2

Tijuana 1B Efren Navarro

    After Thursday's rain delay held up Game 3, Friday's Game 4 was postponed until Saturday by more rain. Yadier Drake singled in one run and scored another on Alex Liddi's sacrifice fly to give Yucatan a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Toros stretched their scoreless streak to 19 innings before Isaac Rodriguez tallied on Junior Lake's sacrifice fly in the top of the third. Tijuana would then score at least one more run in the third, fourth and fifth innings as Efren Navarro belted a two-run homer in the fourth and Gabriel Gutierrez singled in two more in the fifth, putting the game out of reach.

    Teddy Stankiewicz replaced Michael Devine in the third with the Toros trailing 2-1, then pitched 3.1 innings of one-hit ball and was the beneficiary of TJ's mid-game offensive awakening, earning the win. Leones starter Casey Harman dished up Navarro's homer and was tagged for the loss as the visitors outhit Yucatan by a 14-to-5 margin as another “sellout” crowd of 6,420 watched the contest.

GAME 5 (Sunday, September 12): Tijuana 4, YUCATAN 3

    Junior Lake singled and Leandro Castro lofted a homer off Yucatan starter Rhadames Liz over the left field wall to give Tijuana a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Toros scored again in the top of the second when Luis Alfonso Cruz launched Liz' first pitch of the frame for a homer to left. A Cruz throwing error from third base in the bottom of the second allowed Jose Juan Aguilar to score from first with the Leones' first run. The teams traded zeros into the bottom of the fifth, when Yadir Drake sliced a two-out, opposite-field double and later motored home from second on an Alex Liddi single up the middle to narrow the Bulls' lead to 3-2.

    That's where the score stayed until the bottom of the ninth, when Fernando Rodney gave up a double to Alex Liddi that scored Yadir Drake from second and ultimately sent the game into extra innings. The game remained tied until Xavier Carrillo's bloop single in the top of the eleventh plated Gabriel Gutierrez, giving the Toros a 4-3 lead. The Leones had runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the eleventh, but Junior Lake made a diving catch of Luis Juarez' sinking liner to center for one out, then threw to second to double up Walter Ibarra for the last out of the game, which drew another 6,420 onlookers.

    Rodney tossed the final three innings on 47 pitches to earn the win while Yucatan reliever Manuel Chavez, who gave up Carrillo's RBI single was tagged with the loss.

MANNY BARREDA CALLED UP BY ORIOLES FOR MLB DEBUT

RHP Manny Barreda finally reaches MLB

    There's an old adage that life is about the journey than the destination, but pitcher Manny Barreda may be forgiven if he thinks, “Forget that noise...give me the destination!”

    After 15 years of pitching for four Major League Baseball organizations, the 5'11” righthander finally made his big league debut last Wednesday (one month shy of his 33rd birthday) when Barreda entered a game for Baltimore in the eighth inning trailing Kansas City, 5-0, at Camden Yards. Barreda not only retired the Royals in order (striking out the Royals' Michael Taylor looking to end the top of the eighth), he was awarded the win after the Orioles scored NINE runs in the bottom of the eighth and held on to beat Kansas City, 9-8, as a gathering of 4,965 watched the hapless O's bring their record up to an MLB-worst 45-93.

    Not that Barreda minded the sparse attendance nor the lost season his new team was in when he first joined them after his September 7 call-up. For the native of Sahuarita, Arizona, it was the culmination of a long apprenticeship that began in 2007 when he was taken by the Yankees in the 12th round of that year's draft.

    After going 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA in eleven outings (including three starts) for the Yanks' Gulf Coast League team, Barreda spent eight summers in their system before being released in 2014, after which he signed with Milwaukee. He spent two years in the Brewers' minors before signing with Tijuana of the Mexican League in late 2015 as a middle reliever, a role he'd held his entire career except for six starts with Class A Charleston in 2011. Barreda continued as a middleman for the Toros in 2016, going 2-1 with a .350 ERA in 25 outings that summer.

Barreda threw no-hitter for Los Mochis

    Then a funny thing happened in Los Mochis, where he spent the 2016-17 Mexican Pacific League winterball season: The Caneros made Barreda a starter and he was 4-3, leading the LMP with a 2.20 ERA and finishing third with 66 strikeouts. He threw a no-hitter against Hermosillo that season, requiring 138 pitches to subdue the Naranjeros, 2-0. Weeks later, Barreda signed a free agent contract with Atlanta.

    The Braves shipped him back to Tijuana for the 2017 season, and he rewarded the Toros with his second no-hitter in eight months, beating Tabasco, 4-0, that July on 145 pitches. He was eventually brought up to Atlanta's AAA Gwinnett affiliate and rewarded them by turning in a 3-1 record and 1.83 ERA in seven starts, earning the International League's Pitcher of the Week award on September 4. Even with those credentials, Barreda not only didn't get called up to the big leagues, he was sent back to Tijuana for 2018 and 2019.

    After missing the 2020 season due to the pandemic, Barreda had a strong LMP season for pennant-winning Culiacan and earned the Tomateros' lone win at the Caribbean Series in Mazatlan, after which he was signed by Baltimore. The Sahaurita, Arizona native pitched one inning in relief at AA Bowie and was promoted to AAA Norfolk in June, where he was 1-2 with two saves and a 4.19 ERA before last week's call to Baltimore.

    Although he's been rocked a bit in subsequent relief appearances for the Orioles against Kansas City and Toronto (his ERA as of Saturday night was 13.50 and he'd given up homers to the Royals' Hunter Dozier and Teoscar Hernandez of the Blue Jays), Manny Barreda has to be ecstatic to finally be getting his first chance to pitch at the major league level after years of waiting. It's been a long, long journey he hopes is finally over.

FIFTY YEARS SINCE LONE TEAM WON LMB FINALS AFTER 0-3 START

    The Tijuana Toros got off to a rocky start in the this season's Serie del Rey, losing the first three games to Yucatan in an attempt to win the border city's second Mexican League pennant. They aren't the only team to face similar long odds for a comeback, of course, but just one team overcame an 0-3 deficit to capture the flag fifty years ago this week.

    Carlos Meza of Septima Entrada took a look back in time last week to recall when that team roared back with four straight wins to stun the Saltillo Saraperos for the championship. Here's an edited Google translation of his column:

Max Leon was 14-7 for Jalisco in 1971

    Fifty years ago, an unprecedented event occurred in the Mexican Baseball League: For the first and only time in a championship series, a team recovered from a 0-3 deficit to win the title. The protagonist of that story? The Jalisco Charros.

    And there can't be a great story without drama. In that season, the Charros made the playoffs on the last day of the regular season as the Mexico City Diablos Rojos fell in Veracruz, so Jalisco remained with the leadership of the LMB South and would face the leaders of the North, the Saltillo Saraperos.

    But a few days before the Final Series, Charros owner Álvaro Lebrija ran out of patience with pitchers Cecilio Acosta, Enrique Romo and Martín Raygoza and suspended them. "Discipline is more important than the title," they say the owner declared after the decision.

    But Saltillo manager Tomás Herrera's team delivered three almost-fulminating hits: On August 10 and 11, 1971, the Saraperos won games at the Estadio Tecnologico in Guadalajara and on the 13th, they also took a victory in Saltillo.

    Everything was ready for a great party in Coahuila in the fourth game of the series. However, rain canceled the game and the Saltillo board decided to carry out a doubleheader the next day so that local fans could see their club be crowned in Sunday.

    But everything changed. The Charros showed pride and beat Saraperos, 6-3 and 4-2, at Estadio Francisco I. Madero, narrowing the margin to 3-games-to-2 and forcing the Final Series to return to Guadalajara.

    “The God Tlaloc helped them with the rest day and the series returned to Guadalajara,” recalls current Charros Mexican Pacific League co-owner Armando Navarro, who as a fan experienced those finals in a packed Estadio Tecnologico. “They couldn't stop them anymore.”

    In the sixth game, reliever Manuel Lugo had to start the game and although the plan was for him to pitch four innings, he ended up pitching all nine. The Saraperos led, 2-0, on the scoreboard but the Charros rallied with run-scoring singles by Bill Parlier and Clemente Rosas to win the game, 3-2, and equalize the grand finale.

Charros skipper Cananea Reyes showered

    Then on Wednesday, August 18, the decisive game was played. Pablo Torrealba opened for Jalisco and Andrés Ayón for Saltillo, and the latter had a bad night.

    Jalisco scored in the first inning and Torrealba hung up six zeros. At the end of the sixth, Parlier hit a home run to make it 3-0 and sent Tech Stadium boiling. Singles by Francisco Campos and Francisco Menchaca would add two more scores for the five runs the Charros would score that day. The visitors responded with a home run by Jungla Salinas in the ninth inning, but everything was already written with a 5-1 on the board.

    That 1971 Jalisco team (the second and last one to win an LMB pennant) was under the command of young manager Benjamin “Cananea” Reyes. The Guadalajara nine had heroes like pitchers Máximino León, Pablo Torrealba, Ernesto Córdoba and Manuel Lugo as well as players like Jaime Corella, Clemente Rosas, Francisco Campos, Roberto Mendez, Lauro Villalobos and Roberto Castellón.

STATE GOVERNMENT BARS CHARROS FROM BALLPARK

Estadio Charros in 2019

    Much attention over the past few months has been given to whether or not the Mexican League expansion club Guadalajara Mariachis would be allowed to play their home games at Estadio Charros in neighboring Zapopan, a bizarre turn of events has led to the team that owns the facility bearing their name was recently denied entry to the ballpark by the Jalisco state government.

    After front office staff of the Mexican Pacific League's Jalisco Charros were turned away at the entry gates by State officials, the government released a statement that read, “It is not an eviction. Under the Code, administrators of the site and the State Government took possession of the property to supervise and review its infrastructure.”

    After an ownership group led by Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte bought the LMP's Guasave Algodoneros franchise in April 2014, they moved the team into the 8,500-seat Estadio Panamericano, which had been built to host baseball and track & field events during the 2011 Pan American Games. Remodeling was performed that summer to include the expansion of permanent seating to 11,500 spectators in time for the renamed Charros' inaugural 2014-15 season. Another stadium remodel in 2015 increased capacity once again to 13,000 seats while a third renovation in 2017 brought capacity up to its present 16,000 seats in order to accommodate both the 2018 Caribbean Series and the 2019 World Baseball Classic. In all, 705 million pesos (US$35 million) in State money has been invested in the stadium's construction and renovation costs.

Estadio Panamericano in 2011

    While the stadium is named after the Charros, who are in charge of the facility (including maintenance and upkeep), it is owned by the State of Jalisco. The statement from the government also read that “It is important to remember that at this time, it is the off-season of the Mexican Pacific League (LMP), a competition in which the Jalisco Charros participate. Therefore, there is no right to use the stadium at this time.” If the statement is taken at face value, the State is keeping the Charros out while they inspect the ballpark structurally while also announcing that an official record will be drawn up regarding the events that are being carried out there.

    However, one prominent Mexican baseball writer appears skeptical that those are the only factors in the Charros' being barred from the ballpark. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros called the move an “eviction” and that it was related to the ongoing legal dispute between the aforementioned Navarro and Quirarte. The latter was dismissed from the organization last November amid allegations of financial irregularities in his role as team president, and lawyers for both men have since hurled brickbats at each other in dueling press conferences. The dispute appears headed for a courtroom and has hurt the image of both the Charros and the league.

WOMAN DEBUTS IN TOP SINALOA MEN'S SEMIPRO LEAGUE

RHP Rosi del Castillo

    A star pitcher on Mexico's Women's National Baseball Team made her debut Sunday in the Clemente Grijalva League, a fast-paced semipro circuit one month into its 64th season in Sinaloa. Rosi del Castillo started for the VP El Fuerte squad against Ejido Mexico Abarroteros in Los Mochis, going 2.1 innings and allowing two runs on one hit and three walks with one strikeout before exiting the contest with a blister on the middle finger of her pitching hand.

    Del Castillo became part of Mexican baseball history when she tossed five innings of hitless ball in Mexico's 16-0 no-hit win over Nicaragua at the Pan Am Women's Baseball Championship on August 18, 2019 at Aguascalientes' Estadio Alberto Romo Chavez in what was the international debut for both teams. She won awards for Best Starter, Most Wins and Lowest ERA as Mexico went on to qualify for the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, which will hopefully be played later this year in Tijuana.

    Although she's gained some notoriety pitching in the women's game, del Castillo is no stranger to men's baseball. The 23-year-old right-hander from Puebla, who's been clocked at 78 MPH on the radar gun, pitched for the four-time champion Dolores Hidalgo Rookies in a Puebla men's league as a teen and also has spent 2015 and 2016 in the Yucatan-based Meridan League semipro circuit with the Tamanche Azulejos under manager Oswaldo Morejon, a former Mexican League infielder. Although del Castillo has almost only been the only female in any men's league she's played in, she's never been intimidated.

Del Castillo with 2019 awards

    Del Castillo told Linea Directa writer Armando Baldenebro prior to her first LCG start last weekend that she hopes to get support while encouraging other women ballplayers. “Well, I hope they support me a lot,” she said with a laugh, “and for my part I'm going to leave everything on the field. I want to play a good role to all those people who like baseball and, more than anything else, to continue inspiring the girls to practice this sport because we too can play it.”

    She described her pitching style as “passionate, dedicated and very disciplined. I feel that on the mound, I'm very calm. I like to always keep the rhythm of the game in each pitch more than anything and, well, always enjoy being there on top of the mound.”

    As one of Mexico's top semipro loops, the Clemente Grijalva League has eleven teams playing five games every Sunday (with one bye) and features many ex-pros as well as current professional players making unpaid appearances in the league in order to stay sharp for the upcoming Mexican League season. Two Guadalajara Mariachis veterans, Saul Soto and Jesse Castillo, have played this spring, as has longtime LMB third baseman Abel Martinez. Former major league pitcher Luis Ayala won his club's opening game on April 11 by a 5-2 score, with Ayala tossing five innings of four-hit ball and belting a homer en route to driving in all five of his team's runs.

LMP PRESIDENT CANIZALES REVIEWS DIFFICULT 2020-21 SEASON

Mex Pac president Omar Canizales

    Although the Mexican Pacific League and its predecessors have experienced hard times over 76 years as the country's leading winterball circuit, it's hard to imagine any of them being more difficult to navigate than a 2020-21 season that saw empty stands, game postponements and a work stoppage all caused by the Wuhan virus.

    LMP president Omar Canizalez, who just concluded his 12th season at the helm of the 10-team league, was interviewed by Septima Entrada's Carlos Meza Banuelos after the conclusion of the Caribbean Series in Mazatlan. The following is an edited Google translation:

    How did the Mex Pac do in the face of challenges brought on by the pandemic as well as changes in broadcasts of LMP games via SKY Sports of England?

    "I catalog it as extraordinarily positive. When so many leagues in the world could not carry out their tournaments while the scenarios were so uncertain, the fact that the 10 organizations of the league were able to conclude the season is a great achievement as was still receiving an international event like the Caribbean Series. I consider it extraordinarily positive.”

    On November 6, play was suspended in the league schedule for 11 days. Was it the breaking point of the LMP?

    "The uncertain scenarios and lack of knowledge about the virus taught us that, despite the protocol of more than 108 pages, that doing a weekly PCR was not enough. We had to find a test that gave the best results sooner. When we understood that this was happening, we stopped the league and we cut the chain of contagion. The decision to have stopped was the best. It was not on our stage, but it was key to concluding the season successfully.”

    What is the infection report?

    "We are collecting those reports. We have a general one, but there are many missing. In the last report, we had around 2,700 tests at the end of the season but the playoff results are missing."

Sparse attendance in Culiacan

    Was it the hardest year ever at LMP?

    "As far as I can remember, it was the most difficult, definitely. I do not have very distant information about any other situation that has put playing at risk and we have been playing continuously for 76 years. In economic terms, in losses that we ended up having, we expected lower losses. As we were not aware of the virus, we hoped that in October it would have already dropped to give the possibility of filling a quarter of the stadium in all the ballparks, but finally it could not be done in six of the ten ballparks."

    What did the year leave to improve for 2021-2022?

    "It left us many things to learn, such as the opportunity to make costs more efficient; and not necessarily to do everything in person. We understand that in the face of complicated scenarios, if we stick together, we can move forward with whatever challenge we face, strengthening relationship between players and management.

    “With the great effort that was made, plus the possibility of improving the topics of the broadcasts, there are always many things to improve.”

ADRIAN GONZALEZ TO PLAY IN GUADALAJARA IN 2021?

Adrian Gonzalez wants to play in Olympics

     Former MLB All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is reportedly interested in playing for the expansion Guadalajara Mariachis this summer after not appearing in a game since 2018. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros cites sources as saying that “El Titan” has reached a verbal agreement to suit up for the Mexican League team and is training for the upcoming season with hopes of appearing for Mexico in the Tokyo Olympics.

    Gonzales, who was born in San Diego to Mexican parents and grew up on both sides of the border, was the first overall pick of the 2001 MLB draft by the Marlins out of Eastlake High School in suburban Chula Vista and went on to play 15 seasons in the big leagues. He played in five All-Star Games (representing three teams in both leagues), won four Gold Gloves at the initial hassock and reached the playoffs five times after his 2004 debut with the Rangers.

    However, after four strong seasons with the Dodgers between 2013 and 2016, Gonzalez' 2017 campaign was cut short by back problems and he landed with the Mets as a free agent in 2018, when he hit .237 with six homers in 54 games before being released on June 11 of that year. He hasn't played in a game since. Gonzalez' career MLB totals include a .287 batting average with 2,050 hits, 317 homers and 1,202 RBIs.

    Although he is not a Mexican by birth certificate, Gonzalez (who turns 39 on May 8) has represented the county in every World Baseball Classic since its 2006 inception while playing in a number of Caribbean Series with the Mexican Pacific League champions. Although Gonzalez has never played in the Mexican League, he played winterball for Mazatlan alongside brother Edgar in the LMP for several seasons.

    His past flirtation with returning to the Mex Pac as a member of the Jalisco Charros and his preference for the Mariachis as an LMB landing spot are both logical, given that wife Betsy is a Guadalajara native. Earlier news stories stating that Gonzalez was a partner in the LMB's other expansion team, the Veracruz Aguilas, have been denied, since playing for the Mariachis would create an obvious conflict of interest.

El Titan as prep star

    Guadalajara team president Rafael Tejeda has said he'd be happy to have the ex-MLB star on his roster. The club has not yet named a manager for the upcoming season, although Charros skipper Benji Gil's name has been floated in several media outlets, and Gonzalez has been mentioned as a possible player-manager. The LMB office frowns on such arrangements, however, and forced respected veteran Saul Soto to step down as manager in Aguascalientes to concentrate on his playing duties in recent years.

    Even if/when Gonzalez suits up for the Mariachis this year, his pathway to a berth on Mexico's Olympic roster will be a harder one to follow. Verdes Grande manager Juan Castro, who coached under Dave Roberts in Los Angeles when Gonzalez was a Dodgers player, has publicly stated that he already has several good options for first basemen (arguably Mexico's deepest position), including the likes of Efren Navarro, Matt Clark, Japhet Amador and Jesse Castillo. Castro stressed that Gonzalez' two-plus years away from the diamond and the LMB's late start may make it tougher for him to regain his timing at the plate in time for the Olympics, which begin in late July, two months after the Liga season opens.

    On the other hand, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a baseball lover who handpicked Edgar Gonzalez to oversee the PROBEIS organization, directly intervened to keep four Mexican League teams from shutting down in 2019, forced the Mexican Pacific League to expand into Guasave and Monterrey that year and was behind the LMB's addition of both Veracruz and Guadalajara this season. As long as AMLO occupies the national palace in Mexico City, baseball and politics south of the border will never be far apart.

FOUR LMB TEAMS TO PLAY “BATTLE OF LEGENDS” IN PUEBLA

Pericos to host preseason tourney

    In a virtual press conference from Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City, the Mexican League's Puebla Pericos, Veracruz Aguilas, Oaxaca Guerreros and Mexico City Diablos Rojos announced a "Battle of Legends" preseason tournament scheduled take place from May 11-16 at Estadio Hermanos Serdán in Puebla. The event will consist of six doubleheaders among the LMB South rivals, although there will be no championship game. All contests will be broadcast live on social media for all four teams.

    The Battle of Legends will be carried out following sanitary measures prescribed by authorities in accordance with Mexico's “traffic light” system of dealing with the ongoing pandemic. The Mexico Daily News website on Saturday showed Puebla as one of eight states with “Orange Light” status, which means that limited activities with small or no public gatherings allowed. Conversely, Sonora joined Campeche and Chiapas as the three states with Green Light designations.

    Representatives of all four teams commented during the press conference. Pericos Sports VP Alfonso López said, “We're very proud of the work we've done. Hosting this tournament means that we've been doing things well in sports and administrative matters and we'll continue with the commitment to offer the fans the show they deserve.”

    Veracruz Sports Director Jesús “Chino” Valdez (who holds a similar role with the LMP's Mazatlan Venados) stated that “Without a doubt it will be a great test and very important for what we are doing in Veracruz...we hope to meet expectations and experience a competitive, joyful tournament and celebrate the return of the Mexican League.”

Estadio Hermanos Serdan, Puebla

    Mexico City GM Jorge Del Valle said, “The objective is to see these four great teams of our baseball heading towards the 2021 season. We are immensely grateful to all participants for making this a reality. You can be sure that the Diablos are going to take ourselves very seriously in this tournament.”

    And former second baseman Jaime Brena, Sports Manager of Oaxaca, said that, “We are very happy about participating in this tournament. It'll give us the opportunity to know which players we'll have in the regular season so we will take it as seriously as possible. We will bring a roster made up of 50 players.”

2021 BATTLE OF LEGENDS SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 11: Oaxaca vs. Puebla, Veracruz vs. Mexico City
Wednesday, May 12: Mexico City vs. Veracruz, Puebla vs. Oaxaca
Thursday, May 13: Oaxaca vs. Puebla, Veracruz vs. Mexico City
Friday, May 14: Oaxaca vs. Veracruz, Mexico City vs. Puebla
Saturday, May 15: Puebla vs. Mexico City, Veracruz vs. Oaxaca
Sunday, May 16: Mexico City vs. Puebla, Oaxaca vs. Veracruz
GAME TIMES: First game 10:00AM, Second game 2:00PM

SEPTIMA ENTRADA REPORT: YEAR OF BASEBALL DURING PANDEMIC

    Ever since Mexico's first known positive case of the Wuhan virus was announced on February 27, 2020, the nation has been deeply affected by the subsequent pandemic, as have most of the world's countries. Baseball has been no exception, as Septima Entrada writer Irving Furlong details in this translated report noting the one-year mark of the virus:

Mexican Baseball League (LMB)

    The number of infections began to grow at the beginning of March, the same days that the teams of the Mexican League were starting the preseason, with some others beginning with their preparation games for the 2020 campaign.

    On March 14, the LMB office communicated its decision to postpone the start of the 2020 season to early May. As time passed and when conditions did not improve, league management decided to suspend the start of the campaign again until further notice. After several weeks of uncertainty, the Mexican League canceled its 2020 season on June 1.

    Now, the sights of the Mexican League are set on holding the 2021 season, with or without fans, and scheduled to start on May 20 with a schedule of 66 games per team.

Mexican Pacific League (LMP)

    Just a week after the summer league announced the cancellation of its season, the Mexican Pacific League confirmed its launch for the 2020-21 season, an edition that would be carried out "under the best possible conditions." Days before starting the regular season, the president of the circuit, Omar Canizales, announced a strategic alliance for five years with the gasoline company ARCO, thus transforming the name of the circuit to Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico.

    Three cities in Sonora and Mexicali received the green light to open stadiums with limited attendance, yet the decision was reversed after the first weekend. Sinaloa was the only state that remained with its four stadiums open, and thus began the LMP's journey to determine a champion for the 2020-21 season.

    After just two weeks, different teams began experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks inside their locker rooms. Before conditions got even more complicated, the LMP decided to suspend the season for 11 days. The recess allowed all the organizations to finish the season with the coronation of the Culiacan Tomateros as the two-time champions of the league.

2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlan

    The winter leagues made every effort to start their tournaments and crown their respective champions except for Panama, which decided to put together a squad with players from the rosters of the participating teams. After fighting several adversities, the Caribbean Series 2021 could be held in Mazatlán, a tournament in which the Dominican Republic won the championship for the second consecutive season, making the Cibaenas Águilas the first undefeated championship team with a 7-0 record.

Suspension of the 2020 Olympic Games

    After a historic qualification to the Tokyo Olympics in November 2019 by achieving third place after beating the United States for the second time during the Premier12, a tournament that brings together the twelve best baseball teams in the world, the appointment of the Mexican Baseball Team with the Olympic dream had to be postponed with the suspension of the tournament.

    A few months after Tokyo rescheduled the largest multi-sport event of the planet for 2021, the Mexican squad was surrounded by uncertainty as its general manager and manager both decried of lack of resources to put together the roster to send the national team to the Olympics for the first time.

    Despite that, Adrián González, the best Mexican hitter in MLB history, has said that he will seek a place on some LMB team while looking to get in shape to represent Mexico in the Olympics. Juan Castro, manager of the Mexican team, responded to the message by warning that four months before the trip to Japan, it is difficult to consider a player who has been out of professional activity for two years.

Mexico won 2018 WBSC U-23 World Cup

WBSC World Cups in Mexico

    The World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) was scheduled to hold five baseball world championships in Mexico during 2020, with the Women's Baseball World Cup and the U23 Baseball World Cup being the most important events of the world calendar.

    In the first, Mexico's women's team had qualified for the first time in history while in the men's tournament, Mexico is the defending champion after winning the title in Barranquilla, Colombia in 2018, the country's first world championship in the WBSC.

    Regarding the Baseball5 world championships, the WBSC did not even announce the dates on which they would be played. The U15 World Cup and the Women's World Cup were postponed to March 2021, but the two tournaments to be played in Tijuana were postponed indefinitely and the Confederation is still reviewing a final decision on rescheduling.

    The U23 World Cup, also delayed for a year, is expected to be held in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora as announced in November 2021.

TIGRES FOR SALE? PEREYRA SAYS YES, TEAM SAYS NO

Tigres owner Fernando Valenzuela

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cancun's Estadio Beto Avila

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

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

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

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

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

FOUR SINALOAN LMP TEAMS ALLOWED 40% CAPACITY AT GAMES

Gov. Ordaz at bat in Ahome ballpark

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

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

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

Guasave's Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon

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

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

RAMOS, PAREDES SEEK MEX PAC RETURN THIS WINTER

Naranjeros first baseman Roberto Ramos

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

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

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

Isaac Paredes hitting for Obregon

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

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

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

PEGUERO TO REJOIN NARANJEROS THIS SEASON

Francisco Peguero, Yadier Hernandez, Mike Kickham

The Hermosillo Naranjeros last Friday announced their three allowable foreign-born players for the upcoming Mexican Pacific League season, including a Dominican outfielder who's become one of the top hitters in both leagues south of the border in recent seasons.

Francisco Peguero will be back for a third winter with the Orangemen after coming to terms with the team. Last season, Peguero hit .337 with seven homers in 33 games for Hermosillo but it was his initial 2018-19 LMP campaign that raised the most eyebrows among observers. That year, he hit .352 to edge teammate Jasson Atondo by one point on the final day of the season for the Mex Pac batting title. Peguero also finished fourth in the circuit with 44 RBIs and tied for tenth with six homers over 54 games.

The former San Francisco Giants gardener has had a greater impact during the summer in the Mexican League. Peguero debuted with Quintana Roo in 2015 and hit .294 with 16 homers for the Tigres. After a postseason trade to Monclova, he batted .311 with 15 homers for the Steelers in 2016. That was enough to earn a 2017 contract with the Toyama GRN Thunderbirds of the independent Baseball Challenge League in Japan, where he set a season record with 114 hits. Peguero then spent part of 2018 with the NPB Chiba Lotte Marines' farm team (hitting .277 with nine homers in 50 games) before returning to Monclova in time for the LMB's Fall season, and that's when he really hit his stride.

During that truncated 56-game season, Peguero batted .368 with 13 homers and 60 ribbies and was named the Liga's Most Valuable Player for his efforts. The 6'0" right-hander followed that up with another terrific season for the Acereros in 2019, belting 31 homers, driving in 106 runs and hitting .380 as Monclova went on to win their first pennant in 46 years of existence. He's expected to help anchor the middle of the Hermosillo batting order for manager Juan Navarrete.

Also joining the 32-year-old Peguero with the Naranjeros this year will be Cuban outfielder Yadiel Hernandez and American pitcher Mike Kickham, both of whom also played in Hermosillo in 2019-20. Hernandez debuted at 21 with his hometown Matanzas team in 2009-10 and hit .328 during the Cuban National Series that winter. He spent six seasons with the Cocodrilos, batting .324 with 53 homers over 514 games before defecting to the U.S. while playing against college teams in North Carolina in April 2015.

Francisco Peguero batting for the SF Giants

The Washington Nationals signed Hernandez for $200,000 a year later and he's since spent three summers in their farm system, batting an aggregate .301 and crashing 63 homers despite his 5'9" frame. Hernandez had a banner year with Fresno in the AAA Pacific Coast League last year with a .323 average, 33 homers and 90 RBIs and was a Nats non-roster Spring Training invitee this year. The 32-year-old hit .336 for the Naranjeros last winter, finishing second to Los Mochis' Isaac Rodriguez for the batting title, while his .462 on-base percentage (thanks to an LMP-best 50 walks) was tops in the Mex Pac. As with Peguero, the lefty-batting Hernandez will likely be a middle-of-the-order batter for the Orangemen this winter.

Kickham was a teammate with Peguero when both played for San Francisco in September 2013 (each spent parts of two seasons with the Giants) after signing as sixth-round draft pick out of Missouri State University in 2010. The 6'4" lefty spent five years in the Giants system before the Chicago Cubs picked him up on waivers after the 2014 season. That began a baseball odyssey during which the Cubs traded the 31-year-old to the Mariners a month after acquiring him. Kickham ended up pitching for four different organizations (Mariners, Rangers, Marlins and the Giants once more), plus a 2016 stint with Kansas City of the independent American Association. He was a 2017 Southern League midseason All-Star pitching for the Marlins' AA Jacksonville farm club.

In 2019, Kickham went 5-5 with a 4.27 ERA splitting time between the starting rotation and the bullpen for the Marlins' AAA affiliate in New Orleans, and was a non-roster invitee at the Boston Red Sox training camp this year before the Wuhan virus halted the baseball baseball season in its tracks. He made his first appearance in Mexican baseball last winter for Hermosillo and was outstanding, going 4-2 with a 1.97 ERA in seven starts, and will likely be in manager Navarrete's rotation this winter.

LMB WOULD HAVE OPENED TO EMPTY BALLPARKS IN 2020

Mexico's pandemic "traffic light" system

According to a story on the SeptimaEntrada.com website, the Mexican League would have started their delayed 2020 season playing in empty ballparks if they'd moved forward with their tentative plans for a shortened schedule. Instead, conditions brought on by a pandemic that has spread across Mexico caused LMB president Horacio de la Vega and the loop's team owners to cancel the season instead.

In hindsight, that turned out to be a wise decision. Septima Entrada writer Irving Furlong reports that when the abandoned August 7 opening day arrived, all 16 Liga teams were located within 14 states that had "red" or "orange" designations under Mexico's so-called Traffic Light system determining what type of activities will be allowed while the pandemic remains a problem. According to the system, a red traffic light means a maximum level of restrictions is applied, allowing only activities deemed essential and no public gatherings, while an orange traffic light indicates a high level of restrictions with some easing from red standards.

Given that sporting events at which fans would be allowed to attend will only be allowed in yellow-light (medium security) or green-light states (low security), along with longterm uncertainty in virus management, the LMB announced their better-safe-then-sorry decision to call off the 2020 season on July 1 with an eye on readying for a 2021 schedule.

According to Furlong, among LMB North franchises, only Tijuana and Aguascalientes were in orange-light states on August 7 while the remaining six teams operate in red-light states, including three in Nuevo Leon: Monterrey, Monclova and Union Laguna. Things were a little better in the LMB South, where Puebla, Tabasco and Yucatan were the only three teams in red-light states. In all, nine Mexican League teams were in red-light states while the remaining seven clubs were in orange-light settings.

Mexican Ministry of Health undersecretary Hugo Lopez Gatell said that as long as red or orange traffic light restrictions were in effect, professional sporting events could only take place behind closed doors. De la Vega said in an interview that it was not feasible to play without an audience in the stands, since around 60-70 percent of the income of LMB clubs comes from the box office and the general sales inside stadiums.

In addition, Furlong says de la Vega told Septima Entrada prior to the decision to cancel the season that teams not receiving governmental authorization to open their gates to fans for games might have chosen to sit out the season regardless of what was decided on a leaguewide level, making the LMB a short circuit (so to speak) this summer. Ultimately, all 16 team owners reportedly agreed that conditions made calling off the schedule the only prudent choice they could make.

PEREYRA: OLIVER PEREZ HAS ADJUSTED, SURVIVED

On July 26, Oliver Perez pitched in relief late in a game for the Cleveland Indians against Kansas City. The trip from the Tribe bullpen was his first in 2020, marking the eighteenth season he's appeared in a Major League Baseball game. That makes him the longest-serving Mexican player in big league history, breaking the record of 17 seasons he'd shared with Fernando Valenzuela, Juan Gabriel Castro and the late Aurelio Rodriguez.

Proceso.com.mx writer Beatriz Pereyra interviewed Perez after the historic event and talked about how the Culiacan native has had to adjust his approach to pitching and life to still be pitching in the majors long after his 2002 debut with San Diego. We repeat the translated column in its entirety here:

October 3, 2010. Last game of the season. The New York Mets face the Washington Nationals at home, both in the basement of the NL East. Mexican Óliver Pérez comes in to pitch the 14th inning of a game tied at one run apiece.

It's been 27 days since the left-hander has left the bullpen. Since May he has not been in the starting rotation. Not even as a reliever did the Mets use him. All season he has swallowed the boos of New York fans who deride his disastrous performances.

After striking out the first batter, Perez, the first player from Culiacan to reach the major leagues, gives up one hit. Unable to throw strikes, he walks two. Full house. Another base on balls. The winning run scores. Thirty pitches, of which only 11 were strikes. Óliver Pérez leaves the field of play under a rain of complaints. Final score: Washington 2, Mets 1.

At the end of the season, the Mets fired manager Jerry Manuel and general manager Omar Minaya, the one responsible for giving a three-year, $36 million contract to Oliver Perez, the left-handed pitcher who was completing his fifth season with the team (ninth in the majors) and who, after he signed for that amount, the saints turned their backs on.

The team also released the Mexican. The Mets board didn't mind paying him the $12 million they still owed him as long as he left. There would be no 2011 for Óliver Pérez in New York, where the press berated him periodically and reporters hounded him every day like wasps with stinging stings.

"It was very painful,” says Oliver. “Even if you are making millions, they come and tell you: 'We don't want you here anymore, get off the team!' It's very ugly. You feel like the smallest being on Earth; you want to hide because you think that everyone looks at you with hatred. I could have said: 'I'm staying, I have a contract,' but I'm not a conformist. I put up with that season and at the end, I continued preparing.”

July 26, 2020. Third game of an atypical season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Cleveland Indians host the Kansas City Royals in a duel of teams from the American League Central Division. The Mexican Óliver Pérez enters to pitch in the seventh inning of the game that the locals are winning 8-2. The southpaw is part of the relief corps, which in baseball is known as a "situational pitcher." He won a contract for this year because in 2019 he exceeded 55 appearances by participating in 67 games.

After teammate Carlos Carrasco allows a double, manager Terry Francona sends Pérez to restore order. He strikes out two opponents and the third rolls out to first base. Fifteen pitches, nine were strikes. Óliver Pérez leaves the field and his teammates congratulate him in the dugout. Final score: Cleveland 9, Kansas City 2.

With this performance Pérez became the first Mexican player to reach 18 seasons in the Major Leagues. A pale shadow remains of that tall player who made his debut with the San Diego Padres on June 16, 2002 at 20 years and 305 days. He is no longer that 97 mph fastball shooter who can strike out 239 opponents in one season.

Effort and perseverance

The 671 games in which Pérez has participated –195 as a starter and 476 as a reliever– and the 1,441 innings he has thrown have helped him to learn that skill is better than strength, that in baseball not everything is joy, that you learn to get up after you fall, that sacrifices have rewards, and that if you have to go down to the Minor Leagues there, you have to start over again.

“It's an honor to have played all this time,” Perez remarks. “What I've been through has not been easy. I've wondered in recent months how important this record is. All the Mexicans who have stepped into the Major Leagues must be an example for the new generations, to show who we are and telling children that everything is achieved with effort and dedication, even if there are stumbling blocks. "

This year, Pérez should be celebrating the start of his 19th season in the majors, but the setback he suffered left him out during 2011. That year he spent with Harrisburg, the Washington Nationals' AA farm team where he trained alongside of boys between the ages of 18 and 20 who looked at him from the bottom up because he was a major league player.

There, among kids, Pérez rebuilt himself with the help of Rafael “El Paisa” Arroyo, the Mets bullpen catcher whom he first befriended and now both call each other brothers. With his experience managing pitchers although he never played in the major leagues, Arroyo (a Los Angeles-born Mexican-American) took on Oliver's problems.

Arroyo witnessed how, with the Mets, Pérez's fastball lost speed, topping out at 89 MPH. He believes Perez misplaced security and trust. It didn't matter that Oliver arrived early, trained hard and was always ready to get on the mound. Fortune abandoned him. Together, they began to train with barbells and gym equipment, ate better and discussed in long conversations why they could not correct their course.

“I had tendinitis in his right knee in the leg I land on after every pitch,” says Perez. “One must land with the tip of the foot forward and mine fell horizontally. At the moment of turning the foot, the knee twisted. Imagine that for 100 pitches, over who knows how many games? One day it had to give. They were three very difficult years (from 2008 to 2010). That happened to me by not saying that I wasn't well and insisting on playing.”

For this reason it altered his pitching mechanics. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get out of the pothole. The Mets asked Perez to go to the minor leagues to try to compose himself. The player, thinking that to qualify for a pension he must accumulate 10 years of service in the Major Leagues, exercised his right of refusal.

His agent, Scott Boras, famous for landing clients multi-year contracts in exchange for millions of dollars, advised him not to agree to leave the roster of 25.

After the Mets released him, he went along with Arroyo, first to Phoenix and then to Culiacán. In the midst of family support, he tried to get ahead. Before the start of the 2010-11 season of the Mexican Pacific League, he trained to be fit and play with the Tomateros, but he was booed there too. He still couldn't find the strike zone and opponents were hitting him.

“I had to start from scratch. I had no team and that's when Washington caught me in 2011 to go to the minors. I felt the taste of the game again. I was with young kids and I also felt like a kid at 29 years old. That motivated me. They called me a leader and copied how I trained. I had a good season and that helped make Seattle notice me in 2012."

Great support

In his eagerness to help Oliver, Rafael Arroyo searched for videos of when he played for San Diego. He wanted to understand why his fastball had lost speed. He found that to compensate for the pain in his knee, the Culichi stooped down and that changed the angle of his arm and took away his strength. It took a lot to correct it. Barbell training, jogging on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix and shedding a few pounds also helped.

“Oliver gained strength and confidence, increased the speed of his fastball and started the rumor that he was in shape and ready to return,” says Arroyo. “Seattle gave him the opportunity to be a reliever and he did great because having to face fewer batters using fewer pitches, he could throw more than 97 MPH.”

In June 2012, just 10 years after his major league debut, Pérez returned to San Diego with the Seattle Mariners to face the team that opened the doors for him for the first time.

“It was watching the game go round. Everything was perfect. His family was there. Confidence is very important in this game and when you're not pitching regularly, you start to doubt. You have no control of the ball. You are not well physically, mentally nor emotionally but when you adjust, everything works,” explains the ex-catcher, now a physical trainer for other Mexican major leaguers such as Luis Cessa and Julio Urías.

Two seasons with Seattle led to one-and-a-half with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a few months with the Houston Astros and two more with the Washington Nationals, where he became a left-hander specializing in dominating left-handed hitters. The idea came from pitching coach Spin Williams, with whom Pérez worked in his early major league days with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Back then, Williams recommended that the Nationals sign him for the Minors in 2011.

The advice couldn't have been better. “You have a very good arm. You throw really well against lefties,” advised Williams, “so go to the bullpen and learn how to dominate lefties.” Perez eventually pitched for Washington in the 2016 and 2017 campaigns.

Statistics show that starting in 2012, when the average speed of his fastball was 94 miles per hour (with peaks of up to 97), Pérez began to challenge left-handed hitters by putting the ball in the center of the plate and not on the inside corner like he used to.

His rate of home runs allowed for every nine innings has also decreased, which is paradoxical because the trend in the major leagues has been for pitchers to give up more and more home runs. Pérez also stopped regularly using his sinker, a weapon with which lefties dominate right-handed hitters.

As of 2018, when he arrived with with the Cleveland Indians, it was clear how Oliver Pérez began to throw the slider more and depend less on his four-seam fastball. By becoming a left-handed specialist, he discovered that that power is what dominates lefties. He recognized that he could prolong his career by making these changes.

“You have to study everything you can face,” says Perez. “Right now we have all the statistics. The teams give you everything and you have to take advantage of it because that helps when you go up the hill. It makes sense: They told me that the percentage of being hit by the slider is lower than if I throw fastballs. That's why I took it. All of us, pitchers and hitters, have a lot of information and we have to study the situations that I face.

The Fastball Pitcher

In 2012, Pérez began throwing his fastball at the highest vertical launch point of his career. To put it in simpler terms: he stopped bending over – his knee injury gone now - and straightened his back. Those mechanics were used until 2017. That year, he lowered the angle of his left arm to make things uncomfortable while facing lefties.

Beyond the advanced statistics, his own experience leads him to make other types of adjustments that he invents.

Pérez fervently believes that both his fastball and the slider can be varied if, for example, before throwing home he pauses, shorter or longer, depending on who he is facing or, on the contrary, if he throws fast he sometimes lifts his leg up or down. He says he's reading hitters and wants to break their rhythm.

One day, in a game in Culiacán, he had to face a player who hit foul balls 13 times. Annoyed at being unable to get him out with a 94 MPH fastball, Perez lifted his right leg and suspended it in the air for three seconds and struck the hitter out. He improvised on that occurrence to see if that way he could dominate his rival.

“I want them to not get into the rhythm if they are waiting for the fastball,” explains Perez. “I take away their strength and I break their timing. I always think about how to decrease the possibility of giving up solid contact. Little by little I was inventing it. Sometimes a hitter gives you 10 fouls and you have to improvise those things.”

Perez only needs to play and win in a World Series to go debt-free to baseball. He has spent every fall of his career watching these games on television. He doesn't want to retire without the delight of having a championship ring, hopping on the field while colored paper rains down on him and dousing himself with champagne in the dressing room.

“Something I would like is to be the oldest player in the major leagues,” Perez says. “When I came up in 2002, I was the youngest in the entire league. I want to be there when a player born in 2002 makes his debut.”

Ahead of Pérez, who turned 39 on August 15, the player with the most campaigns in the Major Leagues in 2020 is the Dominican Albert Pujols. At 40, Pujols is completing his 20th season. The Los Angeles Angels' first baseman made his debut in April 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Perez admits that every season is a little tougher than the one before:

“We go year by year. I try to take better care of myself and eat healthier because if I have extra weight, my knees, ankles, and back hurt. Now I think about reaching season 20. Who knows if in 2021 I will have a contract? There is no other Mexican in any sport who has been active for so many years although when I wake up, everything hurts."