LMB: Veteran Jose Vargas Off To Hot Start In Queretaro; Mejia Sparkling In Mexico City

There are hot starts, and there’s what Jose Vargas has done in the first four games of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol season for the Conspiradores de Queretaro.

Vargas, 37, has appeared in all three games for Queretaro, and has clubbed four homers and driven in 11 runs in 11 at-bats thus far this season. Coupled with a walk and a pair of strikeouts in 12 plate appearances, the Ventura, Calif.-native is, at least for now, an actual “three true outcome” player for the Conspiradores, who are 1-2 in the Zona Sur despite Vargas being en fuego.

Now in his eighth season in the LMB, Vargas has appeared with Aguascalientes, Monclova, Saltillo, and Leon before joining Queretaro last season. Limited to just one game last season, he started the season off with a bang, contributing a two-run homer in Queretaro’s 11-1 win against the Bravos de Leon at home on opening night last Friday. On the second night of the season, he went 2-for-5, hitting a three-run homer in the second inning and a two-run homer in the eighth in Queretaro’s 16-9 loss. He capped off the opening series against Leon with a Sunday grand slam in the first inning, going 1-for-3 with a walk.

Obviously, Vargas can’t keep up this torrid pace all year, but it does signal a return to form for the veteran outfielder. He’s seen limited action each of the last two seasons, playing 13 games for Leon in 2023 after playing 76 games in 2022 evenly split between Saltillo and Leon.

Prior to the LMB, Vargas spent three seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization, rising as high as Low-A Kannapolis, before playing six seasons with Traverse City of the independent Frontier League.

Vargas wasn’t the only player in the series between Queretaro and Leon that was teeing off — Jimmy Kerrigan of Leon had three homers of his own in the series and is 5-for-15 on the year.

Mejia Mashing In Mexico City –  Former Major Leaguer Francisco Mejia appeared in two games for the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in their opening series against the Leones de Yucatan and going 6-for-9 with two doubles, a triple, and seven RBIs. Overall, Mejia is batting .538/.538/.923 with a 1.461 OPS so far.

Though he hasn’t appeared in MLB since 2023, Mejia had a pretty good year at Triple-A Nashville last year, appearing in 90 games, hitting 11 homers, and driving in 55 runs while batting .274/.348/.428. Over the winter, he played 25 games with LIDOM’s Tigres del Licey, batting .206 with 13 RBIs, and was stellar as a reinforcement for the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido at the Caribbean Series in Mexicali, Mexico, going 5-for-13 in four games with a pair of walks.

At 29, Mejia is still in his prime, and while Mexico City’s altitude can create statistical distortion, he’s been playing well enough to make you wonder why he’s in Mexico. In 355 career MLB games with San Diego, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay, he’s a career .289/.284/.678 hitter and an average defender in the big leagues. A good season in Mexico City might get him a non-roster invite next spring.

Cano Keeps On Going – Last year’s LMB batting champion is only third on his team in batting average thus far… with a .444 mark! Robinson Cano, 42, has thrived in Mexico City, leading the league in 2024 with a .431 mark. Through four games, he’s hitting above that clip, though the limited sample size means that he’s behind Mejia and Carlos Sepulveda, who’s hitting .455.

Photo: Francisco Mejia leads the Diablos Rojos del Mexico with a .538 average through four games of the season. (Photo Courtesy of the Diablos Rojos del Mexico)

Leif Skodnick - World Baseball Network

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