The Mexican League seems to have become the last resort for old players hoping to return to the majors. The Mexican League used to be a mostly independent league, like the Japanese league now, but now it has a lot of former major leaguers now.
I find it very interesting to see how many past stars are now in the Mexican League, hoping to catch the eye of a major league team. Here's a sampling:
Bartolo Colon, at 48, is still going strong for the Aceros de Monclova, with a 6-1 record and a 3.55 ERA. He even threw a complete game a month ago.
Oliver Perez, who was a hotshot young pitcher for the Pirates before I was born, had been pitching for the Indians since 2018. He had a 2.57 ERA overall, but 39 year-old relievers are not in high demand and he was released after 5 appearances this season. Since then he has been pitching for the Toros de Tijuana, and he currently has a 2.63 ERA with 35 strikeouts over 24 innings.
Adrian Gonzalez was a name I was surprised to see. Adrian, of course, was a big star 10 years ago, but he completely collapsed after his 2016 season, hitting .240 without power over the next two seasons. Adrian sat out 2019 and 2020, but is hitting a robust .349 for Guadalajara, with 41 RBIs in 40 games.
A name you probably don't know is Henry Urrutia, who played 34 games in 2013 and 2015 for the Orioles. But right now he's dominating for the Saraperos de Saltillo, hitting .410 with 11 homers and 47 RBIs in 47 games.
Chris Roberson has been in pro ball since 2001, and last appeared in the majors in 2007, but he's still going strong, hitting .299 with 11 homers and a .529 slugging percentage this year for the Bravos de Leon.
How the mighty have fallen. In 2016, Addison Russell was the 22 year-old shortstop for the World Champion Chicago Cubs. His batting average was just .238, but he hit 21 homers and had 95 RBIs, and he was just 22. Except that over the next three years, his average stayed the same, and his power went backwards. In 2020 he was playing in Korea, and hit just .254 with 2 homers in 65 games. He's been doing a bit better for Monclova this year, though, with a .306 batting average and 6 homers.
In 2016, Chris Carter hit 41 home runs. But 2017 would be his last year in the majors. You can stay in the majors even if you strikeout 200 times, but not if you also have an iron glove. After hitting .224 in the minor leagues in 2018, he found better success for Monclova in the Mexican League in 2019, posting a stellar .293/.449/.709 slash line in 2019. The 2020 Mexican League was canceled due to COVID-19, but Carter has been doing well this season, hitting .286 with 4 homers in 10 games. He was placed on the reserve list June 1st, but was activated on Monday.
Jumbo Diaz, everybody's favorite 315-pound reliever, has been pitching for Mexico City this year, with a 1.89 ERA in 21 games.
Alex Liddi, who played parts of three seasons with the Mariners, is one of seven Italian-born major league players in history. So far this season he is hitting .341 with 12 homers in 45 games.
Like Addison Russell, playing in the Mexican League is a bit of a come-down for Yasiel Puig. He's been doing fine, with a .293 average with 10 homers, but not much more than average. He's not going to get back to the majors like that.
Fernando Rodney doesn't seem to want to stop playing. He's been pitching since 1999, and right now he's in the bullpen for the Toros de Tijuana. In 22 games, he has an 0.78 ERA and 14 saves. In his pro career he's appeared in 1175 games.
Jair Jurrjens had some very good seasons for the Braves way back when, and had a 53-38 record in his MLB career. Right now he's pitching for Oaxaca, and has a 2-1 record with a 3.55 ERA in 6 games.
Fernando Salas, one-time closer for the Cardinals, has been dominant so far this season for Tabasco, with 0 runs allowed over 19.1 innings, and 10 saves.
Felix Pie was once a top prospect for the Cubs, but now he's 36, and playing for the Piratas de Campeche. He's doing very well, though, hitting .351 with 4 homers in 28 games. In 2019 he hit .381 with 22 home runs in 93 games.
And there are plenty other former major leaguers in Mexico, those were just the ones I thought were most interesting.
I feel like you could write a book about this.
Thanks for reading!
