Roenis Elias, who was solid in four starts for the Sultanes de Monterrey this winter, will head to Taiwan to play for the Fubon Guardians in the summer of 2025.
Since last appearing in Major League Baseball with the Seattle Mariners in 2022, Elias had a dominant season in the winter of 2022-23 with the Aguilas Cibaenas of LIDOM, posting a 0.92 ERA in seven starts, throwing 39 innings with a 0.7698 WHIP. That earned him a minor league deal with the Chicago Cubs, but he left the organization after four starts at Triple-A Iowa to pitch for the SSG Landers in the Korea Baseball Organization. Over two seasons in South Korea, Elias posted a 3.88 ERA over 255 innings, with a 1.290 WHIP.
Since joining the Sultanes, Elias made four starts, posting a 2.45 ERA over 22 innings, fanning 20 batters with a 1.045 WHIP.
His deal with the Guardians will reportedly pay him $500,000 for the 2025 season.
Seeds Set For 2024-25 Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico Playoffs – The Tomateros de Culiacan backed into the top overall seed, finishing third in the second half with an 18-15 record. After winning the first half, Culiacan got out to a slow start in the second half before recovering to finish tied for third with the Aguilas de Mexicali. Culiacan won the tiebreaker by virtue of having the league’s best record in the regular season (43-25), and finished the regular season with a total of 18 points — the same as second half winner Hermosillo, but they again win the tiebreaker by having the best regular season mark, making Hermosillo the second seed. Culiacan will face No. 8 Mazatlan in the first round, while Hermosillo will face No. 7 Obregon in the first round.
The Charros de Jalisco, who had a solid second half after manager Benji Gil returned from leading Mexico at the 2024 WBSC Premier12, earned the No. 3 seed, and will face Mexicali, who will host the 2025 Caribbean Series at El Nido de Las Aguilas next month.
Finally, the No. 4 seed went to the Caneros de Los Mochis, who will face the Algodoneros de Guasave in the first round.
Reinforcement Draft Results
Caneros de Los Mochis – Francisco Haro (RHP), Dalton Rodriguez (RHP)
Charros de Jalisco – Donovan Casey (OF), Roenis Elias (LHP)
Tomateros de Culiacan – Josh Green (OF)
Yaquis de Obregon – Carlos Sepulveda (IF), Victor Labrada (OF)
Algodoneros de Guasave – Norman Elenes (RHP), Norge Ruiz (RHP)
Venados de Mazatlan – Charlie Hasty (RHP), Miguel Guzman (IF)
Naranjeros de Hermosillo – Damian Mendoza (RHP), Joe Stewart (OF)
Aguilas de Mexicali – Carlos Bustamante (RHP), Faustino Carrera (LHP)
For those unfamiliar with winter ball, as teams are eliminated, their players become free agents and can sign with teams that are still alive in the playoffs. The LAMP and Venezuela’s LVBP hold drafts at the end of the season for the players on eliminated teams to select reinforcements from teams that didn’t make the playoffs.
After the Reinforcement Draft was conducted, the teams then conducted the Substitution Draft, which allowed teams still alive to select a player and immediately add that player to the active roster, provided they deactivate a foreign (Non-Mexican) player from the active roster by January 1. The Tomateros elected to activate outfielder Josh Green and didn’t participate in the Substitution Draft.
Substitution Draft Selections
Naranjeros de Hermosillo – Joe Stewart (OF)
Caneros de Los Mochis – Victor Labrada (OF)
Aguilas de Mexicali – Matt McDermott (OF)
Yaquis de Obregon – Bobby Bradley (OF)
We’ll See You New Year’s Day – The 2024-25 LAMP Playoffs begin January 1, with all four series playing game one. Every LAMP game can be streamed live via the league’s YouTube page for a fee.
Editor’s Note: As we did last year, there will be a daily roundup of all the results from the playoffs around the four leagues of the CBPC until champions are decided. This will be the last LAMP roundup column until next season.
