Rodolfo Amador, Los Mochis Caneros The Los Mochis Caneros continued their surprising quest for a Mexican Pacific League pennant with a pair of weekend home wins over Guasave heading into three scheduled midweek games at the Algodoneros' Estadio Francisco...
The Los
Mochis Caneros continued their surprising quest for a Mexican Pacific
League pennant with a pair of weekend home wins over Guasave heading
into three scheduled midweek games at the Algodoneros' Estadio
Francisco Carranza Limon. The Caneros finished last in the LMP
playoff points race in 2020-21 and 2021-22 prior to this winter,
where they stand poised to win just their fourth title since their
1947 formation and first since the 2002-03 season. For their part,
Guasave seeks the second pennant of that city's existence as an LMP
franchise site beginning in 1965 (their first came in 1971-72).
Rodolfo Amador, Los Mochis Caneros
Saturday's
Game One was a 9-6 slugfest during which the Caneros broke open a 1-1
contest with six runs in the bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a
three-run homer by DH Juan Uriarte off Guasave starter Nico Tellache,
who'd pitched one-run ball through three frames but did not survive
the Los Mochis onslaught in the fourth. Tellache absorbed both the
beatdown AND the loss, giving up five runs on five hits and two walks
in 3.1 entradas, striking out four.
Manny
Barreda only fared slightly better as the Caneros opener, tossing
four innings of one-run ball himself (the one run coming on an
Esteban Quiroz solo homer in the second) before being chased during a
four-run Algodoneros fifth that saw Sebastian Elizalde take him deep
for another three-run bomb on what proved to be the last pitch the
veteran lefty would throw. Fabian Cota came in and registered the
third out. The Caneros scored twice more in the bottom of the fifth
to make it a 9-4 lead that was never threatened. Uriarte finished
with a 3-for-4 night for four RBIs and two runs scored. Elizalde went
3-for-5 for the Cottoneers in a losing cause as Cota's one inning of
relief work was enough to be awarded the win.
Things
were a little tighter for Sunday's Game Two as the Caneros scored a
pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 3-2 walkoff win over
the visitors. Longballs factored in this one, starting with Joey
Terdoslavich's line-drive roundtripper off Caneros starter Nick
Struck in the top of the second to give Guasave a 1-0 lead. It would
prove to be the only run Struck allowed in four innings and when he
left after six inning, the game was tied at 1-1 thanks to a
run-scoring Uriarte single in the bottom of the fourth that knotted
the score. That was the only run Guasave starter Jeff Kinley gave up
in seven innings as the former Marlins minor leaguer continued to
show his move out of the bullpen after ten years as a reliever is
working.
The
score remained at 1-1 until the top of the ninth, when the
Algodoneros nudged ahead on an Alejandro Ortiz double off Carlos
Vazquez scored Juan Carlos Gamboa from second. However, fate proved a
cruel mistress to Guasave closer Brandon Koch, whose third pitch to
leadoff batter Roberto Valenzuela was redirected over the wall in
left-center for a homer that brought the Caneros back even at 2-2.
Then, with two down and a 1-0 count on Rudy Amador, the veteran third
sacker smoked a Koch offering for a line-drive circuit clout to left
that ended the game and sent a second straight sellout crowd of
11,662 at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada home with smiles on their
faces.
Game
Three is slated for Tuesday night at 8:30PM local time. Pitcher of
the Year Luis Miranda will open on the mound for Los Mochis while
Guasave will send Geno Encina to the hill. Miranda is 1-0 with a 3.38
ERA in four playoff starts for the Caneros while Encina has won one
of three starts with a 3.60 ERA for the Algodoneros.
The two
teams reached the LMP title series with respective Game Six wins last
Wednesday. Los Mochis topped Obregon, 5-2 at home behind the solid
pitching of Miranda, who allowed one run on
one hit with six strikeouts over six innings. The Yaquis opened the
scoring in the top of the third when Dariel Alvarez launched a solo
homer off Miranda, but the Caneros fought back to take the lead with
a three-run fifth during which Wagner Lagrange singled in Uriarte with the go-ahead run and later scored on Isaac Rodriguez'
safety.
Obregon
scored a single tally in the seventh when Yadir Drake scored from
second on a Victor Mendoza one-bagger but Los Mochis put the contest
away one inning later when reinforcement Valenzuela, the LMP
batting leader, belted a two-run homer. Miranda got the win for the
Caneros while Braulio Torres-Perez took the loss after letting in
three runs over five innings.
Strong
pitching made all the difference in Wednesday's other Game Six, this
time a 2-0 Guasave shutout in Hermosillo that closed out that series,
4 games to 2. Mex Pac strikeouts champion Matt Pobereyko tossed seven
beautiful innings, allowing just two hits and no walks with five
strikeouts to take the win home for the Algodoneros, who qualified
for their first LMP championship series since 2011-12.
Jesse
Castillo socked a two-run homer to center in the top of the seventh
off Hermosillo starter Elian Leyva as the Cottoneers pitching staff
held the potent Naranjeros scoreless over the final 18 innings of the
series. Leyva, a two-time Pitcher of the Year, absorbed the loss
despite a strong start himself in which he took a shutout of his own
into the seventh before Castillo broke the scoreless tie.
At the
conclusion of the Guasave-Hermosillo series, Naranjeros pitcher
Wilmer Rios (who led the Mex Pac with nine wins) was removed from the
reinforcement draft pool by signing a minor league contract with the
Cincinnati Reds. Rios' Mexican League rights remain with the Monclova
Acereros, for whom his nine wins last summer were tied for the LMB
lead with Veracruz' Luis Marquez.
In the
subsequent third installment of the reinforcement draft, the Caneros
picked first after some arcane proceedings and selected Obregon
pitcher Manny Barreda, who himself had been picked by the Yaquis from
Culiacan in the first reinforcement draft. Barreda had gone 2-1 with
a 3.65 ERA in four starts for Obregon. In the second round, Los
Mochis picked another Obregon starting pitcher in Torres-Perez, who we mistakenly identified as Brazilian last week.
Torres-Perez, who pitched for Mazatlan during the regular season,
actually hails from the tropical paradise of Auburn, Washington.
Choosing
second, Guasave fortified their infield by choosing Obregon's Juan
Carlos Gamboa in the first round and Jasson Atondo from Hermosillo in
the second. Neither have distinguished themselves during the current
postseason (Atondo was batting just .216 at the conclusion of the
semifinals while Gamboa's average was only .146), but Gamboa is a
former Mets farmhand who was MVP of the 2014 Serie del Rey in Mexico
City's last Mexican League title-winning season while Atondo is a
former Mex Pac Rookie of the Year who can play several positions.
CANEROS'
YASMANY TOMAS NAMED MEX PAC MVP
After
two consecutive last-place finishes in the playoff points standings,
the Los Mochis Caneros are the surprise team in this winter's Mexican
Pacific League championship series after finishing second in both the
regular season combined standings and points race. One of the prime
movers for that turnaround is Cuban-born outfielder Yasmany Tomas,
who has been named the LMP's Most Valuable Player for 2022-23.
LMP MVP Yasmany Tomas
Tomas
finished tied for the league lead with 10 homers while topping the
tables with 57 RBIs. He also hit for a .328 average (4th), a .383 OBP
(6th), a .510 slugging percentage (3rd), an .893 OPS (4th)
and 27 extra-base hits (2nd). That regular season plate success
hasn't yet carried over into the playoffs, where Tomas was batting
.245 with just one homer and five ribbies over 13 games through
Sunday, but Los Mochis wouldn't be where they are today without him.
Nicknamed
“El Tanque,” the 32-year-old Havana native spent five winters
playing for his hometown Industriales between 2008 and 2014 in the
Cuban National Series, batting a composite .290 with 39 homers and
151 RBIs over 272 games. He defected to Haiti after the 2013-14
season and after some legal maneuvering, the 6'2” 260-pounder was
able to audition in the Dominican Republic for various MLB teams and
eventually signed with Arizona to a six-year, $68.5 million contract.
He made his MLB debut in 2015 and one year later clubbed 31 homers
for the Diamondbacks, although he had the dubious distinction of
finished in the National League's top five in errors committed by
both left fielders and right fielders that year.
Tomas
appeared on his way to stardom but injuries in 2017 and a 2018
incident that resulted in speeding and reckless driving charges after
he was clocked driving 105 mph in Tempe, Arizona led to a demotion to
the minor and his eventual release in late 2019 despite two strong
years for AAA Reno. He had only played 26 games for AAA Rochester in
2021 since prior to his arrival in Los Mochis last fall.
Now
primarily a first baseman, Tomas becomes the seventh player from the
Caneros to win the Héctor Espino Trophy and the first since Brian
Burgamy in the 2013-14 season. The ballot vote that prioritized
members of all ten LMP team front offices, the specialized media and
the fans gave 45 percent of the votes to Tomas so it wasn't really
close among the six candidates to choose from.
Other
finalists included Monterrey's batting champion Roberto Valenzuela
(21 percent), Hermosillo pitcher Wilmer Rios (16 percent), Caneros
outfielder Justin Dean (11 percent), Obregon first baseman/DH Victor
Mendoza (5 percent) and Los Mochis pitcher Luis Miranda (2 percent).
While Miranda edged out Rios for Pitcher of the Year honors in the
balloting for that award, Rios led Miranda by an 8-to-1 margin in MVP
voting.
SULTANES
TO REOPEN BASEBALL ACADEMY
After
three years of inactivity, the former Mexican League Baseball Academy
in El Carmen, Nuevo Leon will come back to life in 2023 with the
support of the Monterrey Sultanes. Team's president Jose Maiz García
made the anouncement, according to Septima Entrada writer
Tomas Lopez. Interviewed on the Bateo Libre radio program,
Maiz stated that an agreement has been reached with the Mexican
League to once again develop players at the facilities.
El Carmen Baseball Academy
“Monterrey
is going to continue training Mexican baseball players,” Maiz
declared, “especially now that no other team in the league wanted
to participate in El Carmen. Possibly we are just going to
participate. It has already been arranged with the league. The other
17 teams did not want to take part in the El Carmen Academy. The
Sultanes have already sent people to see the facilities and in about
two or three months we will be working in El Carmen. Sultanes only.”
Maiz,
a member of Monterrey's Little League World Series champions along
with future big league shortstop Hector Torres and Mexican League
star Angel Macias, added that it may be called Academia Cerro
de la Silla or Academy Cerro de Las Mitras.
The
academy was inaugurated in 1996 as the brainchild of then-LMB
president Pedro Treto Cisneros, Mexico City Tigres owner Alejo
Peralta and Mexico City Diablos Rojos president Roberto Mansur to
develop prospects for future play in the Mexican League. In more than
two decades of operation, thousands of young players called the
dormitories home as such future MLB players as relievers Roberto
Osuna and Joakim Soria plus infielder Ramiro Pena cut their teeth on
the diamonds in El Carmen, as did eventual LMBers like shortstop
Heber Gomez and first baseman Japhet Amador.
The
academy's expenses (which included housing, dining and education in
addition to baseball development) were shared for years by all Liga
teams at approximately US$500,000 each. LMB organizations would send
teenage signees for some seasoning before bringing them up to the LMB
if they were good enough, although the contracts of many were sold to
Major League organizations while they were still at the facility.
However,
as many teams were struggling to pay the bills at home while others
began building academies of their own (especially after MLB
determined that teams cannot sell players to its organizations but
academies can), support faded for the El Carmen operation and it was
shut down in 2019. It has remained closed since.