The Liga Mexicana Arco del Pacifico, the Mexican Winter League, is amid the league finals that will determine which team will move on to represent Mexico in the Caribbean Series in Miami.
With the conclusion of the regular season, the league has begun to announce some of its awards and will continue to do so in the upcoming days. The League Rookie of the Year award went to the New York Yankees’ prospect Jared Serna.
Serna played for 61 games in the Mexico Winter League for Charros de Jalisco, during which he hit for a slash line of .310/.365/ .479 with an OPS of .844. Among players with at least 250 plate appearances, Serna’s batting average was second in the league, and his OPS was third. His seven Home Runs among the same group of qualifiers were also good for third in the league. Serna spent 2023 in the New York Yankees Minor League system, splitting his time between A and A+ clubs in Tampa and Hudson Valley, respectively. Overall, Serna had a slash line of .284/.350/.463 for an OPS of .813, hit 19 HR, had 79 batted, and had 28 doubles in 563 combined plate appearances.
The Manager of the Year award in the Mexico League went to manager Benji Gil of Charros de Jalisco. Gil has previously managed the Mexico team in the World Baseball Classic and the Summer Olympics and is currently a coach for the Los Angeles Angels. As a player, Gil had a professional career of over 20 years that included eight seasons at the Major League level for the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels. His best season was in 2001, when he played 104 games and had an OPS of .807 and OPS+ of 109 in 278 plate appearances for the then-Anaheim Angels. Gil’s playing career also took him to play in the Independent League Winter League in Mexico and the American Association Independent League.
Colombian pitcher Elkin Alcala won the league’s Reliever of the Year award for the second consecutive year. Alcalá pitched 31.2 innings, had an ERA of 1.72, and saved a league-leading 20 games for Venados de Mazatlán. He also had a WHIP of 0.947, which ranked fourth in the league for pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched. Alcala has spent the last three seasons playing in the Mexican Independent League. He has also played in the 2022 Caribbean Series as part of the tournament champions Caimanes de Barranquilla. Alcala was the winning pitcher of the 2022 finals, in which Caimanes defeated Gigantes del Cibao to collect their first-ever Caribbean Series championship.
Currently, the Mexico Winter League is during the playoffs. Naranjeros de Hermosillo, led by Tampa Bay Rays star Isaac Paredes, is awaiting the winner between Alcala’s Mazatlán and Tomateros de Culiacan. That series now is favoring Mazatlán 3-1. The league expects to announce the awards for their Most Valuable Player and Pitcher of the Year in the upcoming days.
