It's been a lousy six weeks (and still is
) but let's at least go to the happy place for a while, shall we?
Most of us recall 1987 and the Haitian baseballs that went flying out of the park. (Well, relatively. The difference being that when Darryl Strawberry hit 39 HR in 1987, he was tied for the NL lead. When Straw repeated that feat in '88, he led the league by 10. Remember, nobody hit 50 HR in the majors that entire decade.) But those weren't the only lively baseballs in play that decade; the Mexican League had started using the "commando ball" in 1986, and kept it rocketing around for several years afterwards.
Which was a good time for Pirates farmhand Nick Castaneda to head south of the border. He'd been trapped at A-ball for three seasons and then got released at age 22, despite posting a .908 OPS at Prince William in 1984. Castaneda hit .318 with 15 HR for San Luis Potosi in 1985, his first year in Mexico, but then he (like the commando ball) really took off the following season.
He hit 53 HR (2nd only to Jack Pierce's 54), batted .412 (2nd behind Willie Mays Aikens and his ridiculous .454) and drove in 147 runs, behind only Aikens and Pierce. He led the league in runs scored, was third in doubles, second in walks, first in slugging, and first in OPS…yes, the actual numbers are 1930 National League-level diluted, but to be at the top of the league in so many categories still speaks to his accomplishments.
Injuries limited Castaneda to 55 games in 1987, but he bounced back in '88 to win the Mexican batting title, hitting "only" .374 and posting a still-absurd 1.161 OPS. This brought him back to the affiliated minors where he spent 1989 as a DH/1B at Omaha; he left a good deal of his power down south, but still posted an .892 OPS. However, he suffered an injury in a brawl and was limited to 52 games and missed his chance at a September call-up.
Castaneda returned to the Mexican Liga in 1990, and won another batting title. A stint at AAA Louisville in '91 was his last try up north, but the Cardinals only used him as a back-up (he was 29 by then) and despite the .391 OBP there was never any real chance for him to reach St. Louis. He returned to Mexico for a few more seasons before injuries curtailed his career down there, too. Still remains the Mexican League's all-time slugging and OPS leader.
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A four-year graduate of Pepperdine University, the worst bit of luck that Ruben Gonzalez had was playing first base and always being one step behind Tino Martinez in the Mariners' chain. With Alvin Davis holding down 1B in Seattle, the M's weren't terribly interested in speeding Tino along, much less Gonzalez behind him. So Ruben put in a full year at Beloit…and then one at Wausau…and then finally he reached San Bernardino in 1989, where he won the California League's Triple Crown, the first to do so since Jose Vidal at Reno in 1963. This got him to AA Williamsport the next year, where he played for a week before breaking his wrist.
When he recovered in late July, the Mariners sent him back to San Bernardino (what's the point? He'd already proven he could dominate that league) and despite the .937 OPS he put up in his six weeks back with the Spirits, didn't bump him any farther than AA, again, the next year. A slow start with the relocated affiliate (Jacksonville, now) and Seattle cut Gonzalez loose, done with him at age 25.
Attachment 561527
Skillful shortstop Mike McDonald was a teammate of Gonzalez at San Bernardino in 1989, and posted a nice .281/.362/.479 slash-line, knocking 18 HR for a second consecutive year. However, he had a bit of a hole in his swing, having whiffed 102 times at Wausau the previous year and 99 more for the Spirits in '89. When he went with Gonzalez to Williamsport in 1990, he could only wish for the broken wrist that Ruben suffered, as his AVG plunged to .210 and his strikeouts stayed high (92 K). His skill in the field kept him around for a few more seasons (always better to be a shortstop than a first baseman) and the M's even let him sniff AAA Calgary for a couple of weeks at the end of '92, but that was as far as he got.
Attachment 561525
Casey Close starred for Michigan in college, winning Baseball America's Player of the Year honors in 1986. The Yankees' 7th round draft-pick that same year, he quickly washed out of the Pinstripers' organization in just three seasons, after a horrific 1988 split between AA Albany-Colonie and AAA Columbus. Still, the Mariners gave him a new start in 1989 and he hit a strong .330 as a Calgary Cannon. But he wasn't called up and after losing 60 points off of his average the next year, he was let go. So it was Close, but no career for Casey.
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The good news for Close is that he went into sports management, becoming an agent for IMG, and within a couple of years was representing the Yankees' #1 pick of 1992, another ex-Wolverine…some kid named Jeter. So Casey ended up being more successful off of the field than he ever could have been on it. And thus we Close on an up note. Cheers!