LEANDRO CASTRO NAMED MEXICAN LEAGUE MVP

    Tijuana Toros outfielder Leandro Castro received 65% of the votes en route to winning the Mexican League's 2021 Most Valuable Player award last week. The 32-year-old Dominican easily beat out Henry Urrutia (Saltillo), Niko Vasquez (Guadalajara), Leo Heras (Guadalajara) and Alex Liddi (Yucatan) for top honors.

    Castro missed only one of the Toros' 65 regular season games and led the LMB with 93 hits and 72 runs batted in, finished second with 159 total bases, third with 36 extra-base hits and a .646 slugging percentage, sixth in batting (.378), tenth with a .433 on-base percentage and twelfth with 14 homers.

    Castro has a .311 Mexican League career batting average and has cranked it up a notch since coming to Tijuana from Saltillo in 2019. He batted .361 that summer, which was his Liga best before this year's .378 after the 2020 campaign was called off due to the pandemic.

    The 5'11” 175-pounder has an overall .288 average with 202 homers and 231 stolen bases over 1,612 games after 15 years of summer and winter action. Castro signed with Philadelphia in 2007 as an 18-year-old free agent and spent that summer with the Phillies' Dominican Summer League team, batting .278 with six homers in 59 games. 

    He went on to play eight seasons in the Phils' system, reaching AAA Lehigh Valley in 2013 and 2014, where he hit a combined .257 with 14 homers, 27 steals and 105 RBIs over two years with the IronPigs. Castro played independent ball in the Canadian-American Association and American Association in 2015 and 2016 before signing with Leon of the LMB for the 2017 season.

    Castro bounced between the Bravos, Dos Laredos and Saltillo before coming to Tijuana in the middle of a 2019 season during which he hit .361 with 27 homers for the Saraperos and Toros in 111 total games. He's currently in his sixth winterball season in the Mexican Pacific League, where he played five seasons with Los Mochis before being sent to Obregon last year and traded to Mexicali prior the current schedule (the Aguilas returned him to the Yaquis after three weeks). Castro was consistently a top batter for the Caneros but after 30 games in 2021-22, he was only hitting .193 with one homer and seven RBIs before being placed on the reserve list last week.

    In other Mexican League awards for 2021, Guadalajara's Benji Gil was named Manager of the Year, Mariachis hurler Masaru Nakamura was voted Pitcher of the Year, Fernando Rodney of Tijuana topped balloting for Reliever of the Year, Veracruz outfielder Yasiel Puig won the new Defensive Player of the Year award, Jesse Castillo of Guadalajara was named Comeback Player of the Year and Oaxaca catcher Juan Carlos Camacho won Rookie of the Year honors.

HERMOSILLO WINS 6 OF 9, TAKES LMP SECOND HALF LEAD

    After a tepid first half in which they went 16-16 to finish seventh in the Mexican Pacific League standings, the Hermosillo Naranjeros are off to a fast start in the second half of the regular season schedule. The Orangemen have won six of the their first nine games to take the lead in the LMP standings, one game ahead of five teams who share identical 5-4 records: Mexicali, Monterrey, Mazatlan, Obregon and first-half champion Navojoa.

    The Naranjeros are led by manager Juan Navarrete, a Salon de la Fama second baseman who defied the odds to reach a second season under impatient Hermosillo owners who've gone through dugout bosses like Elizabeth Taylor went through spouses in search of the team's first pennant since 2013-14. 

    Navarrete has enjoyed having one of the Mex Pac's best pitching staffs this season, including starters Elian Leyva, Wilmer Rios, Ryan Verdugo and Juan Pablo Oramas along with closer Fernando Salas and middleman Heriberto Ruelas. Hermosillo is allowing a league-low 3.60 runs per nine innings (compared to an LMP average of 4.30 R/9 average). Leyva, Rios and Oramas have combined for 12 of Hermosillo's 22 wins on the season.

    Offensively, the Naranjeros have been a middle of the pack team (.266 average with 26 homers and 4.46 runs per game), but they've had some batters who've stood out. Outfielder Nick Torres is sixth in the circuit with a .329 average and is tied for second with seven homers, veteran third baseman Luis Alfonso Cruz is tenth in the batting race at .312 and is tied for sixth in RBIs with 28 and centerfielder Jose Cardona leads the LMP with 34 runs scored amid a well-rounded season during which he's hitting .291 with five homers and nine steals. At this point of the campaign, Navarrete has Hermosillo looking good enough at the plate and on the mound to be a factor in the postseason if they play to their capabilities.

    Leaguewide, Navojoa's Tirso Ornelas (.386) has a clear lead over teammate Samar Leyva (.353) and Yadir Drake of Guasave (.351) in the batting derby. Another Mayos batter, Kyle Martin, isn't hitting homers at the same pace he started out at, but he socked a longball on Sunday to raise his season total to 10 over 29 games, three ahead of four other LMP batsmen. One of those four, Jalisco's Julian Ornelas, leads with 34 RBIs while four competitors are tied for second at 31 ribbies apiece. Dairon Blanco of Culiacan has reached 20 stolen bases after playing 29 games, eight more than Tomateros teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Ramon Rios of Mazatlan.

    Hermosillo's Leyva won his fifth game to tie Carlos De Leon of Hermosillo for the wins lead while ten other hurlers are tied for third with four wins each. Leyva's 1.17 ERA is tops for pitchers, ahead of moundmate Rios at 2.08 and Obregon's Arturo Lopez (2.11). There's a three-way deadlock for the strikeouts lead at 40 apiece between Obregon's Lopez and Luis Escobar along with Octavio Acosta of Navojoa. Mexicali's poor first half didn't appear to affect closer Jake Sanchez, whose 15 saves leads the LMP to augment his 1.93 ERA while Hermosillo's Salas is second with 11 and Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa has 10.

    Attendance is up across the Mex Pac after a disastrous pandemic-fueled season in 2020-21. While the numbers aren't at their usual pre-Covid levels, a total of 1,155,655 fans have clicked the turnstiles through 205 games thus far for an average of 5,637 per opening. That would be enough to lead every minor league north of the border in 2021 but is well below the typical 9-10,000 average in previous LMP seasons. 

    Hermosillo leads the ten-team loop with 187,323 fans over 22 home games for an average of 8,515 per game while Culiacan is right behind at 175,456 over 22 openings, or 7,975 per game. Guasave ranks last at 44,044 in attendance for a 2,318 average while Mazatlan (usually one of the better draws in the Mex Pac) has only had 54,375 visitors at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, an average of 2,862.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #8): Culiacan, Sinaloa

    This week, we pay a visit to Culiacan, the eighth Mexican Pacific League site on our virtual ten-city road trip. Culiacan is a two-hour drive lasting just over 100 miles south from Guasave (our last stop) on Highway 15 and is set a few miles inland from the Gulf of California. While Mazatlan is better-known among North Americans, Culiacan is a thriving city and the state capital of Sinaloa. The name “Culican” is an old native word which means “place where they adore the God Coltzin.”

    A municipality of just over a million residents, Culiacan was a small village when Spanish conquistador Nuno Beltran de Guzman founded the villa of San Miguel de Culiacan on September 29, 1531. From the end of the sixteenth century and throughout much of the 1700’s, San Miguel de Culiacan served as an important staging area for the Spanish conquest of the Mexican West. However, independence from Spain was eventually won for Mexico in the early 1820’s, and Culiacan was granted the status of “city” in 1823. At that time, Sinaloa’s state capital was in Mazatlan, but was eventually shifted to Culiacan in 1873.

    As with most of the Mex Pac cities, Culiacan is an agricultural center, surrounded by some of the most arable land in Mexico of which the major crop is tomatoes. While Culiacan has a reputation as a tough town, it is also, in fact, a thriving and busy place with a fine State university in the city center, a lovely 19th Century cathedral sitting three blocks away from the ubiquitous Mexican mercado, there are beaches on the Gulf a few miles away in Atlata and El Tambor, and Ernesto Millan Escalante Park features gardens, pools, an open-air Hellenic theater and the longest water slide in northern Mexico. The Centro Cultural Genaro Estrada contains two theaters, several museums and a café, and is a centerpiece for the arts.

    Something else worth a try is catching an LMP game at Estadio Tomateros, which cost an estimated 305 million pesos (about US$20.8 million during construction) before opening in time for the 2015-16 season. At 20,000 seats, Estadio Tomateros is one of the largest ballparks in minor league baseball and rates among the best in Mexico. Culiacan has been a baseball hotbed for decades and the Tomateros are annually among the leaders in Mex Pac attendance, drawing 16,000 per game during pre-pandemic seasons. Unlike most baseball stadiums in Mexico, Estadio Tomateros is not owned by the government by by the team itself.

    The Tomateros have given their fans a lot to cheer about over the years, with 13 Mex Pac pennants since their 1965 formation: Six of those under manager Francisco “Paquin” Estrada, who also brought home two Caribbean Series titles, while ex-MLB infielder Benji Gil has managed the Guindas to four more titles since 2014-15, including the last two. Players who've wintered in Culiacan include Salome Barojas, Esteban Loaiza, Aurelio Lopez, Oliver Perez and Vicente Romo (all Major League Baseball pitchers).

AGS, LAGUNA WIN LAST NORTH SLOTS; PLAYOFFS OPEN

   After Aguascalientes and Union Laguna emerged from a four-way dogfight for the final two playoff berths in the Mexican League's North Division while Puebla and Quintana Roo pulled away from Leon for the last two slots in the LMB South last week, the 2021 postseason got underway over the weekend.

    With six teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs this year and Guadalajara (46-17) and Mexico City (41-23) winning their divisions in commanding fashion, most of the drama was reserved for the lower seedings in the LMB North. Aguascalientes won seven of their last ten games to finish in fifth place at 30-31, a half-game game ahead of 31-33 Union Laguna. Monterrey had been in eighth most of the season prior to a late charge that made it close before closing in seventh with a 30-33 mark, a half-game behind the Algodoneros to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Dos Laredos had been in the hunt before losing six of their last ten to drop below the Sultans into eighth at 30-36.

    Things weren't as tight in the LMB South, where Leon had a puncher's chance to reach the playoffs entering the final three games of the regular season. The Bravos had to win all three of their games while Puebla had to lose all three of theirs to force a one-game play-in. Leon's 8-1 home loss to Aguascalientes and a Puebla doubleheader sweep of Oaxaca last Wednesday served to knock the Bravos (29-37) out of contention. In fact, the Pericos won all three of their games over the Guerreros to finish at 33-33, leapfrogging in to fifth place ahead of 32-33 Quintana Roo (who lost all three to Veracruz to end the regular season).

    With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the playoffs got underway Saturday with six games. In the LMB North, Guadalajara thumped Laguna, 13-4, as Adrian Gonzalez socked a two-run homer and scored three times for the Mariachis. Aguascalientes surprised Tijuana, 6-1, at El Nido behind Henry Rodriguez' two homers and seven innings of one-run pitching by Rieleros' starter Erick Leal. Monclova held on to take a 5-4 victory in Saltillo as Addison Russell's two-run homer and RBI double helped overcome a shaky Bartolo Colon start (5IP/3R/9H/2E).

Yucatan Leones vet slugger Luis Juarez

    In Saturday's LMB South first round games, visiting Quintana Roo walloped Mexico City, 12-2, as all nine Tigres batters had at least one hit, including Alex Robles' two-run double during QRoo's 10-run second inning. Yucatan's uncharacteristic power display (five homers, two by Luis Juarez) keyed a 15-2 swamping of Veracruz in Merida. Puebla's Miguel Guzman scored from third on an eighth-inning Derrick Loop wild pitch to give the Pericos an eventual 2-1 win over Tabasco.

    Sunday's action saw five of the six series tied up at one game each as the previous night's losers came back with wins. Guadalajara topped Laguna again, 7-3, as Christian Ibarra and Johnny Davis belted sixth-inning homers off Cottoneers starter Rafael Pineda. Venerable slugger Luis Alfonso Cruz had three hits (including a homer and double) and scored three runs as Tijuana bounced back with an 8-4 win over Aguascalientes. Saltillo knotted things with Monclova with a 4-2 win with Henry Urrutia's two-run bomb in the eighth breaking a 2-all tie. Yasiel Puig's two-run homer capped a four-run first as Veracruz went on to cop an 8-3 win in Puebla. Mexico City rebounded with a 7-5 triumph over Quintana Roo, thanks in part to Julian Leon's two-run roundtripper. Juan Pablo Oramas tossed six innings of one-run ball as Tabasco beat Puebla, 3-1, to level their set.

    Monday will be a travel day for all series with six Game Threes scheduled for Tuesday night at ballparks for the lower seeds.

HERAS (.401) TAKES BAT TITLE; 8-0 NAKAMURA COPS WINS CROWN

2021 LMB batting champion Leo Heras

   Baja California product Leo Heras finished 2021with a .401 average to become the 16th native son to be awarded a Mexican League batting championship. The Guadalajara outfielder went 63-for-157 to become the first Mexican to cop a batting title since Tijuana's Isaac Rodriguez in the Spring 2018 season. Heras played 46 of the Mariachis' 65 games, or 70.8 percent. Mariachis teammate Niko Vasquez, a Californian played 59 games and finished second at .387 while Cuban Henry Urrutia of Saltillo came in third at .385 over 56 contests.

    Saltillo slugger Rainel Rosario won his second home run title by crashing 20 to edge out Leon's Xavier Batista's 19. Rosario, a Dominican who led the LMB in 2017 with 26 HRs, becomes the second Sarapero batsman to win more than one homer crown (Andres Mora did it three times). Rosario also led the league with 41 extra-base hits and 174 total bases.

    Another Dominican, Leandro Castro, finished with 72 runs batted in over 64 contests for Tijuana to lead in that category. Batista and Mexico City's massive Japhet Amador tied for second with 57 RBIs, well behind Castro (who had a great season in batting .378 for the Toros while leading the loop with 93 hits, including 20 doubles and 14 homers.

    Quintana Roo's Reynaldo Rodriguez stole 21 bases to finish first in that category, just beating out the 20 of Tabasco outfielder Herlis Rodriguez. A first baseman from Colombia, Rodriguez beat his previous personal best of 14 swipes to become the first Tigres player to lead the Liga in steals since Luis Polonia's 48 in 1997.

    Other LMB batting leaders included Guadalajara's Beau Amaral with 65 runs, Veracruz' Jesus Valdez stroked 30 doubles, Durango outfielder Tito Polo legged out 7 triples, Mexico City's Jon Singleton had a .503 on-base percentage and 1.196 OPS over 46 games and Puebla rookie David Olmedo-Barrera's .694 slugging percentage ranked first.

Tijuana's Fernando Rodney won saves title

    Japanese import Masaru Nakamura capped a great Mexican League debut by finishing with an 8-0 record over nine starts, good enough to lead the LMB in both wins and won-lost percentage. Nakamura also finished fourth with a 3.25 ERA, striking out 46 batters on 52.2 innings of work after compiling a 15-17 ledger over all or part of nine NPB seasons.

    Tabasco starter Luis Escobar joins fellow Cartagena product Reynaldo Rodriguez of the Tigres in leading the LMB in an individual category. Escobar's 2.54 mark makes him the fifth Olmecas hurler to win an ERA title, joining former Red Sox pitcher Mike Nagy (1978) and becoming the first Tabasco player to do so since Jean Jesus Alvarez in 1999.

    Two pitchers tied for the strikeouts championship with 69 apiece, with Dos Laredos' Jackson Stephens and Puebla's Jose Valdez sharing the award. Stephens (a former Cincinnati Reds starter) got his K's in 65 innings while walking just 16 while Valdez needed 72 innings, walking 32 opponents in the process.

    Former MLB All-Star Fernando Rodney capped a successful first year in Mexico by winning the saves title, securing 16 salvados in 19 chances. Rodney won all three of his decisions and had a 1.80 ERA in 28 appearances. Tabasco' Fernando Salas finally allowed his first earned run in 21 outings to finish with an 0.42 ERA, going 12-for-12 in saves.

    Other LMB pitching leaders included Yucatan's Jake Thompson with a 1.07 WHIP, fellow Leones hurler Radhames Liz had two complete games, Veracruz' Dylan Unsworth and and Aguilas moundmate David Reyes tossed the year's only two shutouts (Unsworth's was a no-hitter), Rafael Pineda of Laguna was tops with 77 innings pitched, Monterrey middleman Norman Elenes led with 38 games pitched and Derrick Loop of Tabasco had 12 holds.

BRAVERMAN: MANY RESPONSIBLE FOR OLYMPIC COLLAPSE

Out 27 columnist David Braverman

    While many Mexican baseball fans have been vocal with their outrage and disgust over their country's 0-for-3 performance at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, it appears that few journalists and broadcasters have joined the chorus. Not so with syndicated columnist David Braverman, whose “Out 27” is one of the most widely read commentaries in Mexico.
 
   Braverman's column last Friday outlined what he believes were the causes of Mexico's collapse during their first foray into Olympic baseball. In this edited Google Translate version of that column, titled “Ostrich of Baseball,” he shares his observations:

    With the great Olympic failure of the Mexican baseball team still fresh in the minds of the fans and the protagonists back with their different teams in the LMB and other leagues, a very small sector of the Mexican baseball press continues to question what the hell happened but even more so, what the main responsible parties will face.

    Give opinions, point out, criticize, always with arguments: that is the true work of the journalist who boasts of being one. The rest is the least and Mexican baseball is full of characters who call themselves journalists or reporters, but whose criteria do not go beyond "looking good" with whom they agree. The same thing happens with narrators and commentators. I deeply respect their admirable work and there are very good ones, but their work will never be journalistic and much less critical when they put on the shirt of the team for which they work. They are part of the promotion and, I repeat, very respectable.

    The poor results in Tokyo were simply the chronicle of a death foretold. Removing those who achieved the Olympic qualification, paying attention to tantrums and stubbornness of those who feel like owners of the bats and balls because they were major leaguers or simply allowing that ridiculous occurrence of publishing a photo of several selectees with the uniform of their winter team are clear samples that it was never understood that they were going to an Olympic Games and the importance of what that represented.

    Of course, everyone involved is to blame. The players disappointed Mexico and only a couple responded on the diamond. The majority created a fiasco ending as the worst offense of the tournament and one of the two worst pitching staffs. In baseball, the statistics don't lie. Managers and coaches never studied their rivals and thought they were going to face poor teams like the Oaxaca Guerreros or the Durango Generales. They were very wrong.

    But for that failure to occur on the field of play there were those who orchestrated it and not just now, but long ago. It was during the management of Javier Salinas, the worst president that the Mexican League has had in its history, when the FEMEBE that Enrique Mayorga inherited after the death of Lieutenant Alonso Pérez handed him the management of the Mexican team.

    Salinas, an illiterate baseball player but a good seller of mirrors, stuck his nose in until he reached the president of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation, Riccardo Fraccari, with that unsuccessful attempt by the hesitant called Baseball 5 and other “business”. From then on, there were characters in the LMB who played the tambourine of the relationship with Fraccari at their convenience as well as the management of the team. You can not forget that "Chabelo Tour" of 2019 for two games in Japan and Salinas taking his entire entourage for a walk, of course, in exchange for loyalty.

    The subject had been inherited since his arrival by the current president of the summer circuit, Horacio de la Vega, a chess expert with total ignorance of baseball and a former Olympian who knows the strict doping controls in the event that brings together more than 200 countries every four years. It was precisely the doping that presented problems in assembling the team, especially if we take into account that currently in the LMB the controls are hesitant and the positive tests are paid with financial fines, not with punishments to the player. So imagine the result of the mixture that gives us a total ignorance of baseball with the risk that the players will test positive for Olympic doping.

    With the endorsement of the inoperative baseball federation and the hidden but direct supervision of Edgar González's PROBEIS, the LMB (through its president and sports director Gabriel Medina) removed the manager who had obtained the Olympic berth, Juan Gabriel Castro, to bring in Benjamín Gil and from there form the team fulfilling the whims such as Adrián González, who clearly agreed to play in Mariachis with the condition of going to the Olympic Games. The result? Tremendous disappointment.

    Those responsible for the worst failure of Mexican baseball internationally have names and from my point of view, they have been clearly named in this column, which ends with the following questions:

    Why do some of the members of the Mexican team find it so hard to call failure to failure?

    Finishing in last place being a country with professional baseball all year...isn't that failure?

    Who orders and who executes decisions for the Mexican baseball team?

    Will LMB, FEMEBE and PROBEIS sleep soundly?

    Will those responsible stand up and resign?

    Knowing Mexican baseball for decades and its current reality, the answer to the last question is a resounding NO. It will be the fable of The Ostrich of Baseball.

LMB PRESEASON CAMPS, GAMES UNDERWAY

Bartolo Colon in San Antonio

    With the Mexican League's delayed season openers set for later this month, all 18 teams have opened their training camps in recent weeks and several preseason games have been played, including a pair of contests north of the border in San Antonio, Texas.

    The defending champion Monclova Acereros closed out a two-game series with a 10-0 shutout of the Dos Laredos Tecolotes at Nelson Wolff Stadium last Friday. Former Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon got the start for the Acereros, tossing four innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts. A year after having to work his family's taco stand in California to make ends meet, Henry Omana was one of a number of relievers to come in from the Tecos' bullpen after starter Richelson Pena (a Rangers farmhand for nine summers) allowed three runs over two innings.

    Monclova won the first game in San Antonio last Thursday, 4-3, but had to work a lot harder to do it. Dos Laredos took a opening 2-0 lead in the top of the third on a two-run single by Balbino Fuenmayor, but the Steelers pulled to within a run in the bottom of the sixth via back-to-back doubles by Francisco Espinosa and Danny Espinosa. After the Tecos tacked on a run in the top of the seventh to take a 3-1 advantage, the champions knotted the score thanks to two-baggers from Nah Perio and Jacob Barfield. The final run of the night came in the bottom on the eighth when Monclova's Niko Pacheco scored from third on a Jorge Gonzalez wild pitch.

    In related news, a joint press conference between the Tecolotes and City of Laredo officials was held last month in which both parties expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming season with games being played at both Laredo Ballpark and Parque La Junta in neighboring Nuevo Laredo. There had been speculation that the Tecos would play some home games in other border cities after tense negotiations with the City of Laredo centered on control of concessions, which team owner Jose Antonio Mansur wanted year-round instead of only during baseball season, but an agreement has obviously been arrived upon.

    While Colon took the mound for Monclova last weekend, a number of other former big leaguers are rounding into shape for the 2021 schedule. In Guadalajara, Adrian Gonzalez has been working out with fellow members of the expansion Mariachis and belted a couple of homers during a batting practice session last week. Eyes are on Gonzalez' back, where pains greatly contributed to his exit from Major League Baseball after a stint with the Mets in 2018. El Titan appeared to be swinging pain-free during training camp and at this point, Mariachis manager Benji Gil still plans to alternate Gonzalez and Jesse Castillo between first base and designated hitter following the apparent retirement of a third veteran, Saul Soto.

Javier Robles is Tigres batting coach

    Meanwhile, to the east, ex-Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been training with the LMB's other first-year club, the Veracruz Aguilas. According the the Septima Entrada website, Aguilas sports manager Jesus “Chino” Valdez says “the arrival of the Cuban outfielder has caused a positive impact within the Aguilas.” Writer Thomas Lopez says that during an interview on the Bateo Libre radio progam, Valdez said he held a meeting with Aguilas players before Puig's signing with Veracruz was announced and that the players “perfectly understood the level of character we were receiving. The harmony is very beautiful, a true 'teamwork' and we have not started to play yet.” Valdez rejected speculation that Puig was receiving perks like a personal chauffeur or security at his in-town residence.

    Finally, a longtime Tigres star is in camp with the Quintana Roo team in a new role with the Mexican League club. After briefly appearing in the Indians' system in 1991, Robles went on to spend 21 seasons as a power-hitting shortstop in the LMB (including a 14-year stint with the Tigres in Mexico City, Puebla and Cancun between 1994 and 2007) before retiring as a player in 2012. Now Robles is in his first season as the Tigres hitting coach under manager Adan Munoz, a teammate between 2004 and 2007. “What you learned during 20 seasons, you have to do it now with your players, with the boys,” Robles said. “Support them in whatever they can take care of and given them advice for game time.” The 50-year-old played on seven division champions and four pennant winners with the heritage franchise.

SARAPEROS SIGN 14-YEAR-OLD MERIDA INFIELDER

Jorge Cervantes in Saraperos camp

    Most professional teams in any sport will sign a young, unproven player with an eye to the future, but the Saltillo Saraperos may have outdone themselves with their latest contract. The Mexican League club recently announced an agreement with a 14-year-old native of Yucatan, middle infielder Jorge Cervantes.

    Saraperos sports director Roberto Magdaleno led a virtual press conference last week to announce the signing that was also attended by Cervantes, parents Jorge Cervantes Ramos and Fely Lara Garcia, sister Monserrat Cervantes and paternal grandfather Francisco Cervantes. “I want to thank Jorge's parents on behalf of the board of directors for the opportunity they give us to have their son with us, and even more to come from so far away.

    “We hope to God that with the passage of time, he can make a relevant career with us. A special thanks to Luis Borges for his support and follow-up. Luis is a person who spent a long time in Saltillo keeping a very special affection for the team and the city, a professional as an athlete and a great person who was able to coordinate with (scouting director) Leo Figueroa to complete this important signing.”

    A native of Merida like the young signee, Borges spent the final four seasons of his 17-year LMB career as an infielder in Saltilo after 11 summers with the Yucatan Leones. He's worked as a baseball instructor in recent years for Pittsburgh and in Merida, he had the opportunity to train and observe players and has known the Cervantes family for a long time. “I've known Luis from a very young age,” Borges said. “He's always had skill but above all, the attitude to play baseball. It was a process to know at which point could he get to do it professionally.”

    “Luis has excellent hitting to develop and great projections to be a good player, even for the United States. He is very young, having just turned 14 years old, and we must continue working with him, but he'll go as far as he wants.”

Jorge Cervantes

    The 14-year-old shortstop and second baseman, who's studied the past year at Blas Pascal High School (where his favorite subject is science), said at the press conference, “I'm very excited to be able to belong to this great organization. I was training with Luis Borges in Yucatan for about eight months and was confident that I could be signed. We trained very hard several days a week to achieve this dream.”

    Cervantes had a chance to work out with the Saraperos for three days in training camp and said he settled down in short time. “At first I didn't think about it much,” the teen remarked. “I was nervous batting. I felt a little tense when I saw great players like Kennys Vargas and Manny Rodríguez himself but on the second day, I was letting go and I was calmer.”

    His favorite Major League player at the moment is Fernando Tatis Jr., but also appreciates Randy Arozarena “a lot for his hitting. In my country I have had the opportunity to train with him (Arozarena is a Merida resident during the offseason). He's an icon for everything he achieved in the World Series.”

    Cervantes concluded by saying, “I want to raise the surname Cervantes high. I have to take advantage the confidence that the entire Saraperos board of directors have given me and the support I received from Luis Borges so that they would notice me. This is the beginning of a career and I want it to be worth it.”

BRAVERMAN: MEXICAN PLAYERS GET “INEQUALITY” IN LMB

Out 27 columnist David Braverman

   One of Mexico's most prominent baseball columnists is David Braverman. His “Out 27” column is one of the most widely-read across the country and his name was floated as a potential replacement for Javier Salinas as president of the Mexican League before the Assembly of Presidents selected Horacio de la Vega as the 26^th man to hold that title in November 2019.

    Braverman recently wrote a column decrying what he considers poor treatment of Mexican-born ballplayers within the Mexican League, particularly in roster spots a salaries. The following is an edited Google translation of that column:

    With the LMB mini-season just around the corner and the 18 teams preparing for it, a theme is once again becoming more acute that should not be put aside because it is a recurring one. I am referring to the growing inequality that appears on the rosters of some organizations around the hiring of Mexican players born in Mexico, Mexicans born in the United States and foreigners.

    Taking the preseason roster presented by the Acereros de Monclova as an example, we can see that of 44 players, only 8 of them are born in Mexico; that is, only 18% of the total of their squad. The remaining 82% is made up of Mexican baseball players born across the border (dual nationality) along with Dominican, Venezuelan and American foreigners.

    The issue is not only on the list of players and goes further. This team will be managed by foreigner Pat Listach and among 10 members of its coaching staff, only three were born in Mexico: Martín Arzate, Matías Carrillo and Francisco Villegas. Needless to say, Spanish is practically unspoken in their dugout, something very similar to what has happened in other dressing rooms such as Tijuana or Dos Laredos.

    You may be wondering how all of this affects the Mexican-born player. I tell you, the country's baseball player collects his salary in pesos as a native person with a business activity, is issued a receipt for salary and therefore pays taxes. In the case of foreigners, every player receives their salary in dollars, as agreed from the beginning of the season. The Mexican-American plays as a “Mexican,” bienvenidos, but is paid like an American (in dollars) and I leave there the doubt of how they work in terms of taxes. They are Mexicans like you and me, that is how the Constitution establishes it, but just as they have rights, they must comply with obligations and there is the doubt. Now that if it is about making a player “Mexican,” they tell me that in Castaños, Coahuila, there is the solution.

LMB prospects in Liga Academia game

    Given all this, it is clear that a good number of players born in Mexico are being displaced. Many of them have not played since August 2019 and have had to dedicate themselves to other trades for more than a year. Let's not forget that the LMB teams, in addition to their seasonal rosters, have reserve lists in which many players are simply "stand by" without receiving a salary.

    The Mexican baseball player born in Mexico has to get on his feet and once and for all react and pull in the same direction: stars and rookies, with high or low salaries. They should have formed a union a long time ago, an association that looks out for their interests not by fighting with owners but to give themselves their place both in contractual and salary issues, insisting not to create conflicts but to build profits. Today the players, in addition to salary issues, have no one to defend them or in matters such as fights with umpires, expulsions, fines, etc.

    Gentlemen, you are the raw material of baseball, no one else. Take action.

YASIEL PUIG SIGNS WITH VERACRUZ AGUILAS

Yasiel Puig comes to Veracruz

     One-time major league All-Star outfielder Yasiel Puig has signed a one-year contract with the Veracruz Aguilas of the Mexican League for the 2021 season. Puig verified the signing via Twitter last week and has already reported to the Aguilas' spring training camp. Terms were not disclosed, although it's believed the Cuban product had been seeking $25,000 per month in talks with LMB teams in Veracruz, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Monclova. The maximum salary for Liga players is said to be $10,000 per month.

    On his Twitter account, Puig's translated statement read, “Thank you Mexico for being here once more in my life. Thank you Aguilas of Veracruz for this opportunity and for opening your arms to me. This wild horse is grateful and happy to play the field once again!” Puig was nicknamed Wild Horse by longtime Dodgers radio announcer Vin Scully during his time with the Los Angeles team.

    Puig did not play in 2020 but had a productive MLB season in 2019, when he swatted 24 homers and drove in 84 runs while batting a combined .267 for Cincinnati and Cleveland (where he landed in a midseason three-way trade that netted the Reds future Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer). He was ready to sign a free agent deal with Atlanta last year, but a positive test for the Wuhan virus scuttled his 2020 season.

    The 6'2” 240-pounder from Cienfuegos has hit 132 homers and hit .277 over 861 MLB games in a career dating to his 2013 debut with the Dodgers. He finished second to the late Jose Fernandez of the Marlins in Rookie of the Year balloting that season and appeared in the All-Star game in 2014. 

    Puig burst on the baseball scene as a 17-year-old member of Cuba's bronze medal team at the 2008 World Junior Championships. After a couple winters playing with his hometown Elefantes in the Cuban National Series, he attempted to defect in the Netherlands while playing in the 2011 World Port Tournament. Instead, he was caught and forced to sit out the 2011-12 CNS season.

"Tastes great!"..."Less filling!"

    According to Wikipedia, Puig attempted to defect to Mexico no fewer than 13 times between 2009 and 2012 in order to become a legal resident and sign with an MLB organization. That journey included an arrest at a Cuban safe house, interception by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter near Haiti and one “successful” defection to Mexico that resulted in his detention there by the Zetas drug cartel. Puig was finally able to stay in Mexico long enough to be signed by the Dodgers as a free agent for seven years and $42 million in 2012.

    The volatile 30-year-old has been as controversial as he is talented since his arrival in the big leagues. While most involve actions on the playing field, his latest controversy is of the off-field variety. He's been accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a 2018 Lakers basketball game in a Staples Center bathroom in Los Angeles. Although the alleged incident (after which the Dodgers traded Puig to the Reds) has been investigated by MLB, no police report was ever filed. The woman in question has subsequently filed a lawsuit against him in civil court but Puig is seeking to have the case thrown out. His attorneys claim she'd sent him text messages with heart emojis days after the encounter occurred, in which Puig says the two had a consensual sexual encounter.

    Puig's legal issues have made him radioactive among MLB teams and apparently no offer was made by any team in Asia, so now he's set to play with Veracruz as the latest in a number of relatively high-profile signings of former big leaguers by Mexican League teams. Prior to Puig, Monclova inked infielder Addison Russell and pitcher Bartolo Colon (for a second time), Tijuana agreed to terms with reliever Fernando Rodney and Guadalajara made a deal with first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. 

    El Rincon Beisbolero's Jose Carlos Campos notes that only a handful of the LMB's wealthier clubs are bringing in big names, highlighting the gap between rich teams and underfinanced ones, and speculated that they're able to do so by using money not spent on salaries during last year's canceled season during the abbreviated, 66-game schedule to be used this summer.

LMB TO USE “LUCKY LOSER” SYSTEM IN PLAYOFFS

Xorge Carrillo takes BP in Toros' camp

    The Mexican League announced its playoff format for 2021 last week and it'll be one very familiar to past winterball fans of the Mexican Pacific League. The LMP's old “Lucky Loser” system, which was discarded when the Mex Pac postseason field was expanded from six to eight teams in 2019-20, will be used for the first time in the summer circuit.

    With the LMB expanding to 18 teams due to the additions of Guadalajara and Veracruz to the Liga lineup, the number of playoff qualifiers has been likewise increased from four to six teams per division. Rather than giving the top two regular season finishers a first-round bye while the next four teams played for advancement to their division semifinals, all six clubs will take part in the opening stage. All three series winners will move on, as usual, and be joined by the team that won the most games in losing their opening-round series.

    The shortened regular season will open on May 20 when the defending champion Monclova Acereros host the Monterrey Sultanes in a single game, followed by a full slate of action on May 21. The 66-game schedule will conclude on August 6 with the post season commencing one night later. The playoff date parameters are as follows:

First Round: August 7-15
Division Semifinals: August 17-25
Division Championships: August 27-September 4
League Championship (Serie del Rey): September 6-14

    Playoff teams will be seeded according to their regular season won-lost percentage. In the case of a tie in the standings, records involving games between the teams involved will be the first tiebreaker, followed by runs differentials from their head-to-head matchups. The first round “Lucky Loser” will be determined by a similar criterion, with regular season records and run differentials used as tiebreakers.

Tigres player being tested for virus

    The LMB office has also announced pandemic-related health protocols to be used throughout the season by its 18 clubs. The so-called Diamond Plan will involve the usual edicts of constant handwashing, use of alcohol gels and safe distancing but also add a few wrinkles.

    Each franchise will be required to assign a “Covid-19 Officer” to ensure that the Diamond Plan is carried out. Players must have undergone related testing 48 hours prior to reporting to their respective teams, followed by isolation lasting 48-72 hours, after which they will undero another test.

    In addition, the Diamond Plan established three levels of ballpark access: Level 1 is for essential tasks on the field, Level 2 allows limited access to the playing field for managers and coaches while Level 3 allows media and staff members access to ballparks but not the playing surface.

    Players may not use showers, saunas or whirlpools without social distancing, two buses will be used on road trips instead of one and players will not be allowed to interact directly with fans, who will be required to wear masks at all times except while eating or drinking. At those times, fans will be asked not to speak, sing or shout (breathing is optional under those circumstances, with inhaling the preferred choice).

MEX PAC TO OPEN 2021-22 SEASON ON OCTOBER 5

 

Culiacan title defense begins October 5

   The Mexican Pacific League held a virtual Assembly of Presidents meeting last week and confirmed some dates for their upcoming 2021-22 schedule as well as the order of selection for July's drafts of non-reserved Mexican and import players.

    The regular season is slated to open on October 5 with the return of the popular reciprocal two-game series in which rival teams host each other on consecutive nights before the usual three-game series formats for the rest of the regular season, which will conclude on December 23.

    The eight-team playoffs will open for the first time on Christmas Day and be played in three stages until no later than January 22, 2022. The LMP's heavily-reinforced championship team will then head to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic for the 2022 Caribbean Series.

    This summer's draft of players not on reserve lists of the LMP's ten teams will be held on July 8 in Hermosillo. The draft will be held in two parts: One for Mexican players and one for foreign players. Here is the order of both stages as verified last week by league president Omar Canizalez:

MEXICAN PLAYER DRAFT
1-Los Mochis Caneros
2-Obregon Yaquis
3-Hermosillo Naranjeros
4-Monterrey Sultanes
5-Jalisco Charros
6-Guasave Algodoneros
7-Culiacan Tomateros
8-Navojoa Mayos
9-Mazatlan Venados
10-Mexicali Aguilas

FOREIGN PLAYER DRAFT
1-Mexicali Aguilas
2-Los Mochis Caneros
3-Monterrey Sultanes
4-Obregon Yaquis
5-Navojoa Mayos
6-Jalisco Charros
7-Hermosillo Naranjeros
8-Culiacan Tomateros
9-Mazatlan Venados
10-Guasave Algodoneros

    Mexicali will have a new face overseeing their draft picks this summer. The Aguilas last week announced the return of David “Chile” Cardenas to the franchise as “sports advisor” to owner Dio Alberto Murillo. “It is with pride to have David back home,” Murillo is quoted as saying, “a connoisseur of baseball on and off the field...we are sure that he will support us at all times to seek that fifth championship for our fans.”

    Cardenas spent six winters as sports manager in Mexicali between 2010-16 after retiring as a pitcher in 2020 and will presumably assume duties previously held by Luis Alfonso Garcia, who was “separated from the position of Sports Manager” in February after two seasons (and two first-round playoff exits). Cardenas oversaw an Aguilas team that reached the second round of the playoffs all six seasons he worked for them while playing in two championship series.

Sergio Romo signs with Jalisco; Puig to Charros too?

Relief pitcher Sergio Romo, who was a member of the Mexican National Team during last week’s trip to Japan, has signed a contract with the Jalisco Charros for the final month of the regular season.  Romo will join the club for their second-half stretch drive in December.

The 33-year-old Romo has spent the last nine summers with the San Francisco Giants, where he compiled a career record of 32-26 with 84 saves and a sparkling ERA of 2.85.  He was a member of three World Series champions (2010, 2012, 2014) and was selected to pitch for the National League in the 2013 All-Star Game.  He pitched in his 500th MLB game in August.

A native of Brawley, California, Romo signed with the Giants as a 28th-round draft pick in 2005 out of the University of Northern Alabama after spending time at Arizona Western and Mesa State.  He made his big league debut on June 26, 2008 during an interleague game against Cleveland, where he tossed a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts.  The 5’11’ righty eventually became San Francisco’s closer, saving 38 games in 2013 and another 23 in 2014 before being supplanted by Santiago Casilla.  He’s been a middleman for the Giants since, although Romo will test the free agent waters this winter after completing a three-year, $20.5 million contract last season.

While Romo has spent five summers in the professional ranks, this will be his foray into the winter league.  Although he represented Mexico last week in Tokyo (both his parents were born in Mexico), Romo joins the Charros roster as an extranero after a contingent from the Guadalajara team traveled to Tokyo to conduct negotiations.  He’s expected to join skipper Homar Rojas’ team next month.

Jalisco is reportedly also interested in signing Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, The 25-year-old Puig was an instant sensation with Los Angeles in 2013, batting .319 with 19 homers in 104 games, but has steadily fallen out of favor with management for his sometimes lackadaisical play, particularly on defense.  A number of Cubans have been making their mark in the MexPac this winter (especially in Culiacan), but Puig would be the most notable of them if he signs.