Fifty-two players are attending preseason workouts at Estadio Exxon Mobil Super in Monterrey as the Sultanes get ready for the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico season, and four of them feel right at home.
Because they are at home.
Pitchers Roberto Garza, Carlos de León and Adrián Leo and catcher Arturo Rodríguez, all Monterrey natives, are in camp with the Sultanes with a chance to earn a roster spot for the 2024-45 season.
The four locals will have some stiff competition to make the roster, as the Sultanes have 32 pitchers, five catchers, six outfielders, and nine infielders in camp.
¡BE MY GUEST! ❄️
Ellos son los invitados al Summer Training de la LaMP 2024. ¡Venga Salvajes! 😎#SultanesXLaGloria pic.twitter.com/rR4DQiVUAR
— Sultanes de Monterrey (@SultanesOficial) September 16, 2024
Garza, 22, has three years of experience in the Oakland A’s organization, mainly in the Arizona Complex League. He also appeared in two games with the LAMP’s Naranjeros de Hermosillo in 2021-22, throwing two innings without allowing a hit or a run.
De León, 27, has pitched in Mexico’s two top professional leagues since 2016, though he saw limited action in the 2022-23 LAMP season and the 2023 LMB season. He did not play in the 2023-24 LAMP campaign or in the LMB this summer.
“I am happy for the opportunity I was given to come to training with Sultanes, I hope to give 100 percent, I am really, really happy,” De León told Mexican baseball website Septima Entrada. “I hope to play here with Sultanes, the truth is that since I was a child, you know that I am from Cadereyta and well, one always has the dream of playing with the Sultanes, that people come to support us.”
In five LAMP seasons, De Leon has a 4.12 ERA in 59 games with the Yaquis de Obregon, Mayos de Navajoa, and Tomateros de Culiacan, throwing 183 1/3 innings, striking out 135 with a 1.533 WHIP.
Leo played for the San Diego Padres Dominican Summer League team in 2018, posting a 2.43 ERA over 29 2/3 innings in 22 appearances. After not playing for three seasons, he reappeared with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the LMB in 2021, posting a 6.84 ERA in 26 1/3 innings over 16 appearances. He appeared in 16 games with the Rocky Mountain Vibes of the Pioneer League in 2022, earning an 8.71 ERA in 51 2/3 innings in 2022, and threw in one game in 2023 for El Aguila de Veracruz in 2023, allowing two runs on three hits in 1/3 of an inning of work.
A former Miami Marlins farmhand, Rodriguez made his first appearance in the LMB with the Sultanes in 2016, when he was 20 years old. He’s appeared in the LMB and/or the LAMP every year since, playing winter ball for Culiacan, Hermosillo, Obregon, the Caneros de Los Mochis, the Algodoneros de Guasave, and Monterrey,with a .243/.297/.341 batting line, 20 homers and 122 RBIs in 333 career LAMP games.
The Sultanes open the LAMP season at the Aguilas de Mexicali on October 11 at 9:30 p.m. EDT, and all LAMP games can be streamed on Extrabase.tv.
Estadio Exxon Mobil Super in Monterrey, Mexico, is the home of the Sultanes de Monterrey in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol during the summer and the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico in the winter. (Photo: Getty Images)
