Rodrigo López, general manager of mexican baseball team, Benjamin Gil, Manager of the Mexican Baseball Team speaking during a Press conference for the upcoming Premier 12 tournament to be played from November 9 to 24. (Photo by Carlos Santiago/Eyepix Group/LightRocket via Getty Images)
With less than two months to go until the start of the World Baseball Softball Confederation‘s Premier12 tournament, Mexico’s management has been shaken by the resignation of three key figures.
Rodrigo Lopez, along with Mariana Patraca and Jorge Campillo, resigned from Mexico’s Premier12 team, citing a lack of support, according to a story from Blanca Cisneros, a Monterrey-based journalist who covers the Sultanes de Monterrey in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico for Sky Sports and ABCNoticias.mx.
Me llega información que Rodrigo López, Jorge Campillo y Mariana Patraca han renunciado a seguir en el proyecto con la Selección Mexicana de béisbol ahora el trabajo de pantalón largo lo estaría realizando Diego Patricio Pérez (LMB) quien tuvo a su cargo la formación de la…
— Blanca Cisneros (@Blanquisc) September 16, 2024
Cisneros posted on X that the management of Mexico’s entry for the Premier12 will now be handled by Diego Patricio Perez, who is the baseball operations manager of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol. Perez previously served as general manager for Mexico’s team at the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.
Benji Gil, who managed Mexico at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, will remain as manager for the Premier12.
Lopez, Campillo and Patraca put together Mexico’s team for the 2023 WBC, a club that advanced to the semifinals at loanDepot Park in Miami and fell to Japan 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-run double by Munetaka Murakami.
A former Major League Baseball pitcher from 2000-12 with the San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs, Lopez has also played winter ball in the LAMP with the Tomateros de Culiacan and appeared in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico. After his retirement as a player, he worked as a Spanish language broadcaster for the Diamondbacks.
Campillo pitched in MLB with the Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves from 2005-09.
Patraca pitched for the Mexican national softball team before embarking on a career in management, and has worked in international and Latin American operations for the Diamondbacks. An ESPN Deportes profile from March 2023 described her as “the brain planning Mexico’s team for the World Baseball Classic,” noting that she had spearheaded baseball operations for the Dominican Republic team that won the island nation’s first Olympic medal in baseball at the 2020 games.
Perez does have experience in operations management with the Mexican national team, having served as general manager at the 2020 Olympics, the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, where Mexico won gold, and the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile, where Mexico took the bronze.
Currently ranked No. 2 in the WBSC’s World Baseball Rankings, Mexico finished fourth in the 2015 Premier12, losing to Japan 11-1 in seven innings in the third place game at the Tokyo Dome. At the 2019 Premier12, Mexico finished third, beating the United States 3-2 in 10 innings at the Tokyo Dome.
Mexico will host a portion of group play at the 2024 Premier12, with Estadio Panamericano in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and Estadio Santa Teresita in Tepic, Nayarit, hosting Group A games from November 9-14. Group A includes the Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, the United States and Venezuela as well as Mexico. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Round at the Tokyo Dome November 21-23.
