The manager of one of the most successful franchises in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico will be coming back in 2025-26.
Juan Gabriel Castro will be returning to manage the Naranjeros de Hermosillo next season, the team announced Thursday. Castro has managed the Naranjeros the last three seasons, winning the LAMP’s manager of the year award in 2022-23, the LAMP title in 2023-24, and guiding the Naranjeros to the second-best record in the league in 2024-25.
His 2023-24 team won 11 consecutive playoff games on their way to the title, but finished just 2-4 at the Caribbean Series, which was held at Miami’s loanDepot Park.
Castro has a career record of 145-102 for a winning percentage of .582 as the skipper of the Naranjeros. He managed the Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol to the Zona Sur championship series in 2022, when the team went 55-32 in the regular season. He was fired 15 games into the 2023 season after the team started 6-9.
As a player, Castro played 1,103 games in Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, and Baltimore Orioles over 17 seasons, batting .229/.268/.327.
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Drake, 35, was born in Matanzas, Cuba, and played two years in the Serie Nacional before escaping Cuba on a boat in 2011. He reached Mexico, where he eventually signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing in their minor league system before heading back to Mexico after the 2016 season.
He’s played nine seasons in the LAMP, appearing in 427 games with Guasave, Obregon, Jalisco, and Los Mochis, and parts of three seasons in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional with Aragua and La Guaira, batting .278 in winter ball with 36 homers.
Photo: Juan Gabriel Castro will manage the Naranjeros de Hermosillo again in 2025-26. (Courtesy of LAMP)
