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Famous players from Mexico ahead of MLB World Tour’s stop in Mexico City | Sunday Special

By April 27, 2024 | updated 1 year ago

Dodgers Valenzuela Dodgers

FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela prepares to release the ball in the first inning of the opening game of the National League Championship series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Oct. 9, 1985, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers will retire the No. 34 jersey of Valenzuela during a three-day celebration this summer. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, File)

Lennox McLendon

The Rockies and Astros are set to face off in Mexico City on Saturday and Sunday as part of MLB’s World Tour. 

It’s a country with a great history of baseball success, and it started with a famous Dodger. 

Some famous major leaguers from Mexico: 

Fernando Valenzuela (1980-1997) 

No one may be more famous in Mexican baseball history than Fernando Valenzuela, otherwise known by “El Toro,” who was a phenom on the mound and ignited “Fernandomania” after signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers at 19 years old.

He went on to win the National League Cy Young and Rookie of the Year award in just his second season with the Dodgers. It helped him to the most wins above replacement (41.45) by a Mexican baseball player in MLB history and spurned a new generation of players from the country.

Vinny Castilla (1991-2006)

Vinny Castilla attributes his initial love for baseball to watching Valenzuela, and he broke the country’s batting records the same way his idol did so for pitching marks.

Castilla leads all Mexican players in home runs (320), doubles (349), runs driven in (1,105) and hits (1,884). He did so across the second-most games for any native (1,854) and helped create Colorado’s “Blake Street Bombers” alongside Larry Walker, Andres Galarraga, Dante Bichette and Ellis Burks.

The era put the franchise on the map after its 1993 inception and put Castilla in the driver’s seat of the Mexican national team as a manager in 2007 for the Pan American Games and in 2009 for the World Baseball Classic. He was inducted into the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Jorge De La Rosa (2004-2018)

Jorge De La Rosa was a southpaw like Valenzuela and marked his name all over the Rockies’ history books.

He holds the record for pitcher wins (86) and strikeouts (985) and found consistency on a staff that has to pitch half its games at Coors Field, the league’s preeminent offensive ballpark.

In 2013, he put together the franchise’s second-best pitching season by win-loss percentage (.727) and its sixth-best, single-season earned run average (3.49) across 167 2/3 innings.

Other notable players

Bobby Ávila (1949-1959)

Aurelio Rodríguez (1967-1983)

Teddy Higuera (1985-1994)

Yovani Gallardo (2007-2018)

Isaac Paredes (2020-now)

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