Mexican teams bring spring back to Tucson

Under a setting Arizona sun, a right-handed coach throws batting practice from behind an L-screen. Television workers white-balance cameras from platforms high above first and third base. A group of young men stands in the shaded area behind the "turtle," the cage that covers home plate and the batters' boxes, joking around in navy blue jerseys and shorts, red socks pulled up high, topped with red caps. It's a scene repeated hundreds of times every March in the Phoenix area, but on this night, 120 miles south of the big leaguers, a different language is in the air.
Five years after the D-backs and Rockies skipped town for Scottsdale and left their longtime Cactus League homes vacant, Spring Training is back in Tucson. Four teams from the Triple-A Mexican League (or Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, LMB), the only affiliated Minor League full-season circuit outside the United States, set up camp in The Old Pueblo last month to prepare for the 2015 season. The American spring slate for the Piratas de Campeche, Rojos del Aguila de Veracruz, Tigres de Quintana Roo and Toros de Tijuana was a first for the LMB.
"Mexican Beisbol Spring Training" was the brainchild of Aaron Alcaraz, the son of a Mexican baseball legend and the product of a life in the game in his native country. Alcaraz, whose father Francisco was a pitcher and Hall of Fame umpire in Mexico, conceived the idea a year ago and began a lengthy process to make it a reality.
"A lot of times when [LMB teams] are doing their preseason, they play in small towns, on city fields that are sometimes a hazard for the players," Alcaraz said on the concourse of the former Tucson Electric Park during batting practice prior to the Campeche-Veracruz game on March 20. "A lot of them complain about that. They're risking injuries because they're playing on fields that are not groomed properly. They're not top-notch facilities or anything, and the level of play is against local teams, universities. I knew that there was a need for good competition and good facilities."
Through their company M1 Baseball, LLC, Alcaraz and his business partner Chara Mansur developed a concept: bring the Mexican preseason to Tucson and return professional baseball to a city that began hosting Spring Training in 1947 and last hosted a Minor League team -- the Tucson Padres -- in 2013.
Alcaraz visited multiple sites in Arizona including San Diego's former Spring Training home, Desert Sun Stadium in Yuma. Gradually, he zeroed his focus on Kino, a 155-acre complex 70 miles from the Mexican border with eight full-size fields and two additional practice diamonds; plenty of room for plenty of teams.
At last year's MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego, Alcaraz made his pitch to LMB team owners, and to his delight, the reception was a warm one. Campeche, Veracruz, Quintana Roo (Cancun) and Tijuana all signed on to be the LMB's spring trailblazers. In late February, they arrived in Tucson.
"Four was the magic number due to four clubhouses here and the amount of practice fields they had available," Alcaraz said. "They're ecstatic about it. They're all loving being able to play on these kinds of fields, practice every day. The hotels they're staying in are good quality hotels. They're all very, very happy, and upper management for all the teams are committing for next year."
The spring schedule for the LMB was a lighter one when compared with their big league counterparts north on I-10. The Mexican clubs practiced during the week at Kino but played games only on weekends with Friday night affairs, Saturday doubleheaders and Sunday matinees. Given the teams' enthusiastic response, Alcaraz already has his sights set on 2016 and beyond.
"What we're looking at is expanding here," he said. "The clubhouses here are quite big, and there are ways to probably accommodate two teams in one clubhouse, making proper divisions and splitting it in two. The goal for next year is to bring six, see what happens then, and then from there go to eight. We want to make Tucson the hub of the Mexican Spring Training."
It isn't just the teams benefitting from their vastly upgraded spring standing. The city of Tucson was eager to find another use for the facility, which began hosting the White Sox and D-backs as well as the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders in 1998, and reaped the rewards in March.
"The economic impact for the city of Tucson is great," Alcaraz said. "We're bringing close to 4,000 hotel nights for just the month of March alone with the four teams. That's not to say how much more money is in restaurants and malls being spent. That's just the teams alone. There are families. There are people that come and visit just because of this."
Despite crowds just in the hundreds in attendance at this year's games, held over three weekends from March 13-29, Alcaraz was confident support will grow in coming springs with more clearly targeted marketing. The Mexican state bordering Arizona, Sonora, plays host to three teams in the country's winter league. However, Tijuana, the closest of the four teams who set up camp in Tucson, is over 400 miles away.
"The Mexican community here is more familiar with the winter league in Mexico because it plays in this part of the country," Alcaraz said. "Our marketing side has been to advertise not only the teams but the names of the players because a lot of the players play year-round in Mexico. Here, we have names like Alfredo Amezaga, Jorge Cantu, Jose Contreras, Dennys Reyes. There's a lot of former big leaguers playing here, and the people know their names. That's been our marketing point, trying to pinpoint the names of the players rather than the teams so the people are more familiar and want to see the players."

A television crew broadcast games -- and other content like this set's "Today in Baseball" -- live back to Mexico.
A man strode to the plate for Veracruz wearing the number 3 and a name on his back: Ruiz. Former Rangers, White Sox and Braves prospect Ian Gac may not have had the correct identification on his jersey yet, but what he did have was a chance to keep playing at a high level and explore a new chapter of his baseball life.
Released by the Royals in the spring of 2013, Gac spent the last two seasons in the independent American Association. All the while, he kept an eye on Mexico, emailing teams and hoping for an opening. With a contract to play in St. Paul this season already in hand, Gac got a call in January: Veracruz wanted him.
"I wish I would've stuck with Spanish a little longer in high school or at least paid more attention the last 12 years of playing Minor League Baseball, and I could've learned a little bit," he said with a laugh in an empty Aguilas dugout after that March 20 game. "It's fun. There's some guys that speak English pretty well. There are probably six or seven guys that are pretty close to fluent, and there are a couple of guys who are dual citizens on this team. All the guys are great. I'm not really sure what they're saying, but they're pretty nice."
Gac reached Double-A with the Braves in 2012 and has been looking at a way back to affiliated ball since. That's where his Mexican adventure comes in.
"It's actually pretty close to a regular Spring Training," he said. "Fewer people though because it's just one team. There's a couple guys here for their Minor Leagues, but mostly it's for their big league, so there's only like 40 guys or something. Usually there's like 150."
A broad-shouldered 6-foot-3, 240 pound slugger who led the Carolina League with 33 homers in 2011, Gac views his swing to Mexico as another possible avenue back to the Minors -- or future stops abroad.
"I'm definitely in it to try to get back to MLB or maybe Japan or Korea, someplace like that," he said. "It's great for that opportunity. We played the Rangers' [Triple-A team] the other day, and that was good. I did alright, so who knows? Hopefully I go out and do well in this league, and maybe it leads to something."
To that end, Alcaraz believes the LMB and its Tucson experiment will pay dividends not only for players like Gac but for Mexico's brightest young talent as well.
"Let's say there's a player who maybe has been to the US, played in the Majors or Minors in the US, and they're a free agent and go to Mexico," Alcaraz said. "If they play in Mexico, they're exposed to sign with 30 [MLB] teams in the United States whereas if you're in Triple-A with one team, you have one opportunity to go to one [Major League] team."
With Kino's expansive facilities at their disposal, at least one LMB club -- and maybe more -- is betting big on Alcaraz's sentiment. Veracruz will utilize the complex essentially as its 2015 developmental arm, sending top prospects from Mexico to train in Tucson this summer. With a lease stretching until Oct. 15, the team's academy will encompass more than just a Spring Training feel.
"We're going to have a team that's going to be facing all the teams from the extended spring training out of Phoenix," he said. "I've already talked to the Diamondbacks, Royals, Rangers, White Sox, Reds, Padres, Giants, and they're all interested. They're always looking for games. We're going to be facing them, going up there. Maybe sometimes they'll be coming down here.
"For next year, the plan is to join the Arizona League, the Rookie league. We want to see if we can have a team that's called the Mexican Stars or whatever and join the league. We were planning on doing it for this year, but time just came too fast. That's the goal for next year, to have a team represent the Mexican clubs and play in that league. They've done it in the past. There was a Mexican Stars team, I think from 1998-2000, and it was a hit here. It was a success. A lot of people came to the games, and a lot of those players got signed to American teams. That's the goal, to showcase our players in the States. Rather than have the scouts go see them in Mexico, we have them here, and we can showcase them here."
Shortly before first pitch, a live telecast begins, beaming the Piratas and Aguilas back to Mexico. A local Mexican food truck opens its window to serve enchiladas and tacos and horchata down the right field line. Fans file into the former Cactus League park now pulsing with energy once more.
"It's amazing. It's seeing something that I worked so hard at come to fruition," Alcaraz said. "All the things happening here, it's amazing. It's a great feeling."
A different voice thunders over the ballpark speakers.
"Bienvenida a Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium…"