Luis Mendoza (baseball)

Mendoza was claimed off waivers by the San Diego Padres on July 8, 2005. He was assigned to the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm. He made two starts for the Storm going 0–1 with 9.28 ERA. He was placed on waivers by the Padres and on July 28, 2005, was reclaimed by the Boston Red Sox. He finished the 2005 season struggling for the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks in which he had a 6.34 ERA and a 4–9 record in 23 games (22 starts).

He began the 2006 season for the Blue Rocks. After 13 starts in which he went 5–4 with a 2.86 ERA, he was promoted to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs on June 12, 2006. He made 9 starts for the Sea Dogs going 1–5 with a 6.38 ERA. On July 30, 2006, he was traded to the Texas Rangers for relief pitcher Bryan Corey. He finished the 2006 season with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders. He struggled with the Roughriders as he had a 7.75 ERA with a 2–4 record in 7 starts.

Mendoza began the 2007 season with the RoughRiders. He finished the minor league season with the Roughriders going 15–4 with a 3.93 ERA in 26 games (25 starts). He was second in the Texas League with his 15 wins, tenth in the league with a 3.93 ERA, and led the league in complete games (3). He was also a Texas League Mid-Season All-Star and Post-Season All-Star.

Mendoza's strong performance earned him a callup on September 5, 2007. Mendoza made his debut on September 8 when he started the game against the Oakland Athletics, becoming the 101st major-league player to have been born in México. His start was cut short, however. In the second inning with Nick Swisher batting, Swisher hit a line drive which hit him in the left knee cap and he dropped to the ground. He got back up and finished the second inning. When he went in to the dugout, his knee began to stiffen up on him and he left the game.^[1]

On August 14, 2009, Mendoza threw a no-hitter for the Oklahoma City RedHawks against the Salt Lake Bees.^[2]

On April 2, 2010, Mendoza was traded to the Kansas City Royals for cash considerations.

On July 18, 2011, Mendoza threw a no-hitter for the Omaha Storm Chasers against the Memphis Redbirds.

On February 18, 2012 the Royals announced they had signed Mendoza to a one-year contract for the 2012 season. No financial terms of the deal were released.^[3]

Mendoza began 2013 as the Royals fifth starter, where he started until his rotation spot was taken by Bruce Chen on July 8.^[4] From then on, he was used sparingly, pitching in 6 games the rest of the season. In 22 games (15 starts) in 2013, Mendoza went 2–6 with a 5.36 ERA, striking out 54 in 94 innings.

On November 11, the Royals requested release waivers on Mendoza so he could play with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball.^[5] His contract is a two-year, $2 million deal.^[6]

Pitching style

Mendoza has four pitches: a sinker (91–93 mph), a knuckle curveball (81–85 mph), a four-seam fastball (91–94 mph), and a changeup (83–86 mph). He uses the sinker early in the count and the curveball mostly when ahead in the count or with 2 strikes. He only uses the changeup against left handed hitters.^[7]

References

↑ Sullivan, T.R. "'Pen leads Rangers after starter leaves", MLB.com, September 9, 2007. Accessed September 9, 2007.
↑ MiLB.com
↑ Lance Veeser (2012-02-18). "Royals sign four more including Hosmer and Moustakas". KSHB-TV website. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
↑ Dutton, Bob (July 8, 2013). "Bruce Chen replaces Luis Mendoza in Royals' rotation". The Kansas City Star.
↑ Kaegel, Dick (November 11, 2013). "Mendoza headed to Japan for 2014 season". MLB.com.
↑ "Nippon Ham Fighters sign Michael Crotta, Luis Mendoza". yakyubaka.com. November 12, 2013.
↑ "Player Card: Luis Mendoza". Brooks Baseball. Retrieved 26 December 2013.

External links

Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
Luis Mendoza on Twitter

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters current roster

Active roster	1 Dai-Kang Yang 2 Kenshi Sugiya 3 Kensuke Tanaka 4 Yuji Iiyama 5 Brandon Laird 6 Sho Nakata 7 Haruki Nishikawa 8 Kensuke Kondo 9 Takuya Nakashima 10 Yushi Shimizu 11 Shohei Otani 12 Go Matsumoto 13 Yuya Ishii 14 Takayuki Kato 15 Luis Mendoza 16 Kohei Arihara 17 Hiroshi Urano 18 Yuki Saito 19 Hirotoshi Masui 20 Kenta Uehara 21 Hisashi Takeda 23 Ryo Watanabe 25 Naoki Miyanishi 26 Daiki Asama 27 Shota Ohno 28 Hayato Arakaki 29 Kazutomo Iguchi 30 Yohei Kagiya 31 Hiromi Oka 32 Susumu Orui 33 Hideki Sunaga 34 Mitsuo Yoshikawa 35 Yodai Enoshita 36 Masaru Nakamura 37 Kenji Yano 38 Masaru Takeda 39 Hirotoshi Takanashi 40 Masashi Kanehira 43 Akihiro Hakumura 45 Shota Hiranuma 46 Hayao Segawa 47 Toyoki Tanaka 48 Keisuke Tanimoto 49 Shingo Ishikawa 50 Ruita Usami 51 Naoya Ishikawa 52 Anthony Bass 53 Shota Tatsuta 54 Yutaka Otsuka 55 Chris Martin 56 Tomoya Ichikawa 57 Shogo Yagi 58 Toshitake Yokoo 59 Yuki Yoshida 60 Yuji Arabari 61 Yuya Himeno 62 Yuto Takahama 63 Naoyuki Uwasawa 64 Yuya Taniguchi 65 Kengo Ota 66 Takumi Oshima 67 Ryosuke Kishizato 68 Ryo Ishikawa 70 Tomohito Yoneno

Coaching staff	Manager 80 Hideki Kuriyama

Mexico National Baseball Team 2013 World Baseball Classic roster

3 Jorge Cantú 8 Edgar Gonzalez 9 Sebastián Valle 11 Daniel Rodríguez 13 Rodrigo López 14 Eduardo Arredondo 18 Luis Alfonso García 19 Ramiro Peña 21 Gil Velazquez 23 Adrian Gonzalez 24 Humberto Cota 25 Walter Ibarra 27 Cesar Ramos 31 José Cobos 39 Luis Mendoza 41 Marco Estrada 42 Horacio Ramírez 42 Arnold León 45 Francisco Rodríguez 46 Óliver Pérez 47 Luis Cruz 49 Yovani Gallardo 52 Dennys Reyes 54 Sergio Romo 57 Óscar Villarreal 59 Fernando Salas 64 Alí Solís 68 Efren Navarro 74 José Félix 91 Alfredo Aceves 95 Karim García

Manager Rick Renteria Coach Rubén Amaro Coach Juan Castro Coach Teddy Higuera Coach Ever Magallanes Coach Sid Monge Coach Fernando Valenzuela

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