Tossing Tomatoes in Culiacan

The Liga Mexicana de Pacifico

The Mexican Pacific League began in 1945 in Hermosillo, Sonora Mexico under the name Pacific Coast League, which is now the name of one of MiLB's Triple-A leagues. From 1945 to 1958, known as the league's first stage, only four teams existed. By 1958 the league had changed its name to Winter League of Sonora, but it wasn't until 1970 that it took its current name of the Mexican Pacific League.

Today the league consists of eight teams, each consisting of a healthy crop of players, but less than half of the players are MiLB talent. The majority are assigned with other professional Mexican teams. Unlike the Arizona Fall League, the Mexican Pacific League's season is twice as long and concludes on December 30, with playoffs commencing in January 2011.

The Culiacan Tomateros (as of 11/7/2010)

The Tomateros (translated: Tomato Pickers) consists of 34 players, 13 of which report to MLB parent clubs. Culiacan has three Dodgers: outfielder Prentice Redman, and pitchers Francisco Felix and Thomas Melgarejo. In the early part of their careers, Felix and Melgarejo had the privilege of pitching at Dow Diamond for the Great Lakes Loons.

Though the Tomateros have the worst batting average in the league, which may be the reason they are second-to-last in the overall standings, they are the second-best in pitching. Culiacan has a collective ERA of 4.07, allowing 93 earned runs in 205.2 innings pitched. The Tomateros boast the most strikeouts in the league with 169.

Twenty-four of those strikeouts came from the arms of Culiacan starter Francisco Felix and reliever Thomas Melgarejo. In four starts, Felix holds the Liga's fourth-best strikeout per innings pitched ratio (7.83) with 20 K's in 23 innings. He has a 1-3 record, but hasn't received much run support: an average of 1.6 runs per loss. His 4.70 ERA will do, but again it's his strikeouts that are the most impressive.

Melgarejo began his relief duties strong with a stretch of 3.1 scoreless innings that dropped his ERA to 2.70, but he has since allowed five earned runs and is back up to a 9.00 ERA (6ERx6IP). His last time out, Melgarejo was brought in late to fix the mess that was left by reliever Miguel Rubio. He needed one out in the bottom of the 12th to prevent either of the two runners on base from scoring.

Facing the top of Mazatlan's order, the Loons former lefty couldn't get it done and allowed long-time Triple-A player Tim Raines his first hit of the night. The single through the hole at shortstop gave Mazatlan a walk-off win to end the four-plus-hour contest. Melgarejo hasn't pitched since and is currently on the seven-day disabled list, so perhaps he was physically prevented from throwing his best stuff in that 12th-inning loss. For an update on Melgarejo's status, be sure to check back for our final installment of our Loons Winter League Baseball coverage.

Loon Legacy

Felix was a Loon for only a very brief stint during the inaugural season. In 10 appearances, the Culiacan-native went 1-1-1 for a minuscule 0.76 ERA (3ERx35.1IP). He quickly rose to play at the Triple-A level the following season.

Melgarejo had a much longer stay with the Loons that stretched from '07-'08. The lefty began his career as a starter, but was moved to the bullpen after working a 1-5 record through 12 starts. In comparison to his home ERA of 8.15, Melgarejo prospered on the road with a 4.94 ERA. The following season was the opposite, and saw the Mexico-native back into the Loons starting rotation at season's end. He was still better on the road, but only slightly, and had a combined ERA of 4.19.