Kyle Galdeira  -  K-Zone
SID/Web Editor

kyleg@hawaiiwinterbaseball.com


Winter Ball Heating Up in the Caribbean
Posted on Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 02:00pm HAST

Just as players come to Hawaii Winter Baseball to hone their skills and get some extra work in, others flock south of the border to spice up their offseasons with a dash of baseball in the Caribbean.

Three Winter Leagues operate yearly in the Central American region: the Dominican Winter League, Venezualan Winter League, and the Mexican Pacific League. The three nations along with Colombia and Nicaragua make up the Caribbean Federation. Each league sends its champion (as well as the Dominican League's runner-up) to the Caribbean Series, a six-game round-robin tournament held this year in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The team with the best record throughout the tourney is declared champion.

So, if you ever wonder why more players of Latin descent don't make the trek to Hawaii during the winter, it's because many choose to stay closer to home with the hopes of vying for the prestigious Caribbean Series crown.

Guest blogger Chris Lentine, Senior Manager of Stats Operations for Major League Baseball Advanced Media (and faithful supporter of Hawaii Winter Baseball), recently jotted down his thoughts about the "other" Winter League, and some of its Iron Men in the rough.

Lentine writes:

We all know Cal Ripken Jr. is the Iron Man of baseball.

And well he should be playing 2,632 consecutive games spanning 16 seasons. But fans of Latin American baseball, especially the Mexican Baseball League, know about a few Iron Men of their own.

Heading into the 2008 Season there are no less than 127 players who played in the Mexican League last season and played this past winter in the Caribbean Leagues at some point.

This is truly the "modern" definition of an Iron Man.

Many of these players -- while admittedly playing to make extra money -- are also playing for the love of the game and the love of their country.

Take the odd journey of Nelson Figueroa, who went 9 1/3 innings of one run ball for Mexico on Sunday in an eventual 2-1 loss to Licey of the Dominican Republic.

Only two weeks earlier Figueroa shut down Licey while a member of the Eagles of the Dominican League in their league championship series. But because Figueroa only played for the Eagles in the playoffs he was not eligible to play for them in the Caribbean Series but was eligible to play for Mexico.

But Figueroa's journey started well before that as the Mexican Baseball League's Chihuahua Dorados gave him a chance when he was out of baseball. He went 8-6 for Chihuahua before his Caribbean League duties.
His winter league numbers will surely land him a shot in spring training this March and if nothing comes from that then certainly another shot in the Mexican League.

Figueroa's journey is not unique, but it pails in comparison to some of the real Latin American Iron Men in baseball. Take super star Miguel Tejada or Major League veteran Julian Tavarez, both of whom insist on playing in the Winter Leagues and make sure that is part of their contracts with their Major League clubs.

But the Mexican League's true Iron Man is Monterrey favorite Mendy Lopez. Currently Lopez is holding down first base in the Caribbean Series for the Eagles and it hitting close to .500 for the series.

Lopez, who hit .304 for the defending champs from Monterrey, has been playing every season dating back 1992, or at least when he turned professional in 1992. Just do the math that is 16 seasons of playing baseball 11 months a year.

Lopez shows no signs of letting up and will again be a mainstay for the Sultans. He is far from alone as Erubiel Durazo, his teammate for most of last season at Monterrey and who looks to be joining him again this season. Durazo had a brief stint with Scranton-Wilkes Barre of the International League and then also played most of the winter in Mexico.

Durazo, a native of Hermosiilo, has been playing professionally since the 1997 season when he broke in with Monterrey. While not quiet up to Lopez in terms of years, you can expect to see Durazo working his way towards that same type of longevity as Lopez.

These are just a few of the "Iron Men" of the Mexican Baseball League, something for fans of the Mexican League to be very proud of.


Posted under - Players | 6 comments


Comments

  1. Lance said on 02/06/2008:
    Nice Lenten article (it is ash wednesday) from Lentine. Was great having Latino players in the HWB this past season. To be honest that was the one thing missing in '06. I expect big things from Argenis Diaz, and Jimmy James (Is that his real name or did he grab a newer birth certificate? :) )may surprise a lot of people. You can't knock Abreu either, he had good numbers in Waipahu. I'm glad they had all the Dominicans on one team or they would have felt like Kala Kaaihue at a Merengue concert. Dexter Fowler got an invite which is great, but I was hoping they would throw Eric Young Jr a few at bats as well. I'm glad the 06 stats are still up, hopefully you guys could keep the yearly stats up permanently. Looking forward to developing stories regarding hwbers... Once hwb gets a few more seasons under its belt the alumni news will be tough to keep up with.

  2. Lance said on 02/06/2008:
    Missed it the first time, Chris Nelson got invited also.

  3. Kyle said on 02/07/2008:
    Thanks Lance, that's great to hear about Fowler...I know they have him roughly slated to be in the majors by 2009, so this is the next step in his progression. I'll do my best to catch up with him and get an article on how he's doing when I'm in Arizona.

  4. Lance said on 02/09/2008:
    nice writeup re: Dave Clark on milb.com

  5. Kyle said on 02/15/2008:
    Yeah, saw that...I tried calling him back when I wrote the article on him getting the job, but I bet he was swamped with other calls at the time. Have you had a chance to check out the Top 15 Prospects list I put together? I've had a great response, including milb.com posting the list, so check it out and let me know what you agree/disagree on!

  6. Lance said on 02/19/2008:
    Kyle I only made about 5 games this year, not enough to guage. Please get 1/2 the games back to UH! I wish I was in a better position to share my thoughts. I like Austin Jackson though because from the looks of the kid he is working with what God gave him without any help other than training. He's fast, gets a good jump on the ball, and has a nice stroke at the plate which will only get better. Plus he's a nice kid. Georgia Tech played UConn in hoop up here recently by the way, and AJ would have been the point guard had he not signed. I'll see him in FLA in 3 weeks so I'll send some pictures back. Can't recall if I mentioned it but I'll see sharks 2006 pitching coach Tony Arnold this year when he comes through town with AA Indians EL affiliate. I'm loking forward to your reports from AZ- would love to see some interviews with past hwb players / coaches. I'll try to forward whatever tidbits I get back from FLA, I won't be there til 3/14 though. Keep the updates coming!