By Pablo Pichardo
Throughout its history in the Mexican Arc League of the Pacific only five pitchers have managed to develop extraordinary campaigns that allowed them to win the “Triple Crown.” Fortunately, among these five pitchers, there is a Cuban, Elián Leyva, who in the 2018-2019 season, with the Charros de Jalisco, stole the headlines.
Leyva, in this contest, led in earned run average with 2.02, strikeouts with 67 and average and in victories with six, merits that earned him a very unpopular condition in Aztec baseball. In addition, the Cuban was a leader in WHIP, rounding out an excellent season.
The first pitcher to reach the “Triple Crown” in the aforementioned tournament was Mercedes Esquer for the Aguilas de Mexicali in the 1988-1989 season, achieving a 2.09 ERA while striking out 110 strikeouts during his 13 hits. Other pitchers who have achieved the feat are Cecilio Ruiz with the Yaquis de Obregón (1990-1991), the American Tim Burcham also with Obregón (1991-1992) and the Mexican Francisco Campos with the Venados de Mazatlán (2003-2004).
In the current 2021-2022 campaign, once again the Cuban pitcher Leyva, a native of Mayabeque, is grabbing headlines on Aztec soil for his brilliant performance with the Hermosillo Naranjeros as he finds himself in the fight to reach his second “Triple Crown” that would take him to enter the golden pages of the history of the League.
Leyva recently left another brilliant demonstration on the box by working for five chapters against the Sultanes de Monterrey allowing just four touchdowns and two earned runs with which his ERA was fixed at 1.37 that allowed him to reach his sixth win of the tournament. In addition, the Hermosillo star struck out six to reach 44 for the season.
After concluding the confrontations yesterday, the Antillean was the one with the best effectiveness, co-leading in victories with Raúl Carrillo and Demetrio Gutiérrez and sixth in strikeouts, just five from the top. Similarly, Leyva remained eighth in innings pitched with 59.
Elián with just 18 years of age debuted in National Series in the 2007-2008 season with the Havana team intervening in six games with a high 6.23 ERA during the 8.2 innings he worked.
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Cuban pitcher COULD TOUCH THE GLORY in Mexico for the second time