For years, the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol was classified as a Triple-A circuit, albeit one where teams did not have direct affiliations to Major League Baseball clubs.
Since 2020, the league has been independent, but the level of play, generally, has risen, as the LMB removed limits on how many foreign players teams could sign, the affiliated minor leagues in the U.S. contracted, and MLB organizations signed fewer veteran minor leaguers.
So far, three players who have appeared in the LMB in the 2025 season have signed deals with Major League Baseball clubs. Here’s a look at each of them and where they’ve ended up.
Stephen Nogosek, P, Kansas City Royals – Nogosek, who made 33 MLB appearances over parts of four seasons with the New York Mets from 2019-23, signed with the Kansas City Royals on May 7 after starting the season with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico.
After a stellar winter with the Tomateros de Culiacan in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico where he posted a 1.39 ERA in 32 1/3 innings across 31 appearances, Nogosek was added to the Charros de Jalisco for the 2025 Caribbean Series, where he threw 3 1/3 shutout innings over four appearances, helping the Charros reach the championship game. He remained in Mexico to start the LMB season with the Diablos, where he threw nine innings in 10 appearances with a 6.00 ERA.
Though he has yet to be assigned to a minor league affiliate, Nogosek will likely head to either Double-A Northwest Arkansas or Triple-A Omaha.
Jon Olsen, P, New York Yankees – Olsen, 28, signed with the New York Yankees after starting the season with the Piratas de Campeche. Olsen has dealt with several injuries and had multiple surgeries that kept him off the mound in 2019 and 2023, and he also missed the 2020 season when the minor league season that year was cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Last season, Olsen tossed 127 innings for the York Revolution in the independent Atlantic League, notching 136 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.60 on his way to the Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year award. He made three starts this year for Campeche, throwing 17 innings with 19 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA.
He’s been assigned to the Double-A Somerset Patriots, where he has yet to make an appearance.
Jose Lavagnino, C, New York Yankees – Unlike Nogosek and Olson, Lavagnino is a young prospect with the bulk of his career ahead of him. Just 18, the 5-foot-9, 200-pound native of Mexico made one appearance with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico this season before signing a free agent deal with the Yankees, getting a hit in his only at-bat and catching one inning. He’s been assigned to the Dominican Summer League to begin his journey to the major leagues.
Photo: Stephen Nogosek gestures during the sixth inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, in New York. The Mets won 8-0. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
