Renato Nunez of the Detroit Tigers bats against the Cleveland Indians during the fifth inning at Comerica Park on August 14, 2021, in Detroit, Michigan. Nunez will play for Oaxaca in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol in 2024. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)
Former Major League infielder Renato Nunez will play for the Guerreros de Oaxaca in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol next season, the team announced on Wednesday.
Nunez, 29, was born in Valencia, Venezuela, and has played six seasons in Major League Baseball during his professional career.
Nunez is currently playing with Navegantes del Magallanes in Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional for the 2023-24 winter league season.
Last season, Nunez played for three teams in Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, starting the 2023 season with Toros de Tijuana. He played in nine games, posting a .303 batting average with 10 hits, five doubles, four RBI, three walks, and seven strikeouts before being released by the organization on May 2.
Nunez signed with the Acereros de Monclova on June 13 and played in six games, making 27 plate appearances with an average of .160, four hits, two doubles, four RBI, one walk, and seven strikeouts prior to him being placed on the reserve list on June 25. He was signed shortly after to the Leones de Yucatan on June 27.
He played in five games with Yucatan, and in 18 plate appearances, batted .167 with three hits, one double, one RBI, and four strikeouts prior to being placed on the reserve list on July 4.
During the 2022-23 winter league season, Nunez played for Navegantes del Magallanes in 37 games with 141 plate appearances smacking 36 hits while batting .290 with 11 doubles, seven home runs, 26 RBI, 10 walks, 26 strikeouts, and a .924 OPS.
In 2022, Nunez played in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters during his first season playing outside of MLB. He played in 131 games with the Ham Fighters and their minor league team batting .240 in 424 plate appearances recording 93 hits, 22 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs, 55 RBI, 23 walks, 111 strikeouts, and a .746 OPS.
Nunez made his MLB debut on Sept. 12, 2016, with the Oakland Athletics and spent two seasons with the organization. Nunez has played with the Texas Rangers in 2018, the Baltimore Orioles from 2018-20 and the Detroit Tigers in 2021.
In Nunez’s six seasons in the majors, he has a lifetime average of .245 in 307 games with 1,162 plate appearances, 258 hits, 51 doubles, 56 home runs, 154 RBI, 82 walks, 296 strikeouts and a .760 OPS during his career.
The 2024 Liga Mexicana de Beisbol regular season will open with the Diablos Rojos del México facing the Pericos de Puebla at Estadio de Béisbol Hermanos Serdán in Puebla on April 11. The Guerreros de Oaxaca will play their first game of the 2024 LMB regular season at home on April 12 against the El Águila de Veracruz at Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos.
