TBNL: Mexico's baseball HOF adds several new inductees

19 new members were announced as part of this year’s class of inductees by the Salón de la Fama del Béisbol Mexicano (the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame). Five spent part or all of their careers in MLB, while the other 14 primarily played in the Mexican pro leagues.

First baseman Erubiel Durazo batted .281/.381/.487 (123 OPS+) over a seven-year career with the Diamondbacks and Athletics, hitting 94 homers.

Right-hander Ismael Valdéz pitched for seven teams across a 12-year career, working mostly as a starter, posting a 4.09 ERA (102 ERA+) over 1,827.1 IP with 1,173 strikeouts.

Right-hander Rodrigo López threw for six teams over his 11-year career, also working mostly as a starter, and posted a 4.82 ERA (91 ERA+) over 1,350.2 IP. López finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2002 (to Toronto’s Eric Hinske). The general manager of Mexico’s World Baseball Classic teams in 2023 and 2026, López also works as a Spanish-language broadcaster for the D-backs.

Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa pitched for five teams over his 15-year career, with nine of those coming with the Rockies. He posted a 4.58 ERA (100 ERA+) over 1,522 IP with 1,273 strikeouts.

Outfielder Karim García rounds out the quintet. García hit .241/.279/.424 (82 OPS+) with 66 home runs over his 10-year career with seven teams. García’s career then took him to Japan, Korea, and Mexico before retiring. He was also inducted into the Caribbean Series Hall of Fame this past winter.

García, of course, may be best remembered for having a pitch sail behind his head from Pedro Martinez during the 2003 ALCS, which helped lead to a brawl between the Red Sox and Yankees later in the game.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Wednesday evening, at 6:41 PM Denver time, the Tigers and Rockies began the first of three games (with a doubleheader scheduled for Thursday). Detroit won the first game in extra innings, 8-6. Detroit won the first game of the doubleheader, 10-2, and then the second, 11-1, with the game finishing up around 6:36 PM. Three losses in under 24 hours for the Rockies, who are now on pace to lose more than 130+ games this year.

• Earlier this week, the Phillies completed a three-game sweep over the Rays. This is the third straight year the Phillies have swept the Rays, but it also marks the third different location in which those series have been played. 2023’s contests were played at Tropicana Field. 2024 was at Citizens Bank Park. This year’s games were at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

• The KBO adopted the pitch clock this year and it has already made a difference in game times. According to the Yonhap News Agency’s Jee-Ho Yoo, the change has shaved almost 13 minutes off the average time of game this season. KBO games are taking under three hours to play for the first time since 1998.

• Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino has committed to play for Italy in next year’s World Baseball Classic.

• 18-year-old Kim-sung Joon has reportedly decided to forego the KBO Draft and will instead sign as an international amateur free agent with the Rangers, receiving a bonus expected to be around $1.3M. Joon has been dubbed the “Korean Ohtani” by many for his two-way abilities. It would appear that he chose the Rangers, in part, because they promised to let him continue developing on both sides.

Meanwhile, the boss at the day job is encouraging me to do some writing for the site. There’s still a lot to be determined on that front (like the frequency I’ll be writing, for one). For now, I’ll share some links because the traffic helps and you lovely people enjoy supporting my writing:

• Pirates fire manager Derek Shelton

• Cubs prospect Cade Horton to debut Saturday