Adán Amezcua

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Adán Amezcua Magallón

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Adán Amezcua played for 23 seasons.

Amezcua debuted with the 1993 GCL Astros, hitting .297/.352/.428. With the '94 Auburn Astros, he batted .263/.315/.354. In 1995, his batting line was .246/.275/.415 for the Quad Cities River Bandits. With the 1996 Kissimmee Cobras, he was the third-string catcher but also played DH regularly, hitting .284/.349/.352. He split '97 between the Cobras (8 for 20, 3 BB, 3 2B) and the Broncos de Reynosa (.316/.378/.462). [1] In 1998, he played for Kissimmee (.275/.346/.447 in 72 G) and the Jackson Generals (.203/.237/.315).

Out of the Astros chain, he had his first full season in Mexico in 1999, slumping to .247/.349/.407 for Reynosa. [2] That winter, he did well for the Tomateros de Culiacán (.293 AVG, .465 SLG). [3] He moved to the Baltimore Orioles chain in 2000 and split the year between the Rochester Red Wings (.235/.306/.311 in 38 G), Bowie Baysox (.314/.352/.451 in 17 G) and Monterrey (.411/.467/.682, 23 R in 29 G). In 2001, he played for Bowie (.215/.282/.385 in 38 G) and Monterrey (.238/.296/.313) in an off-year.

He came up big that winter, though. He hit .273 and slugged .385 for the Tomateros in the regular season, driving in 36. [4] His Game 6 homer won the playoffs. Then, in the 2002 Caribbean Series, he drove in 3 in the opener against the Navegantes del Magallanes. In Game 2, he hit a 3-run homer off off the Tigres del Licey. He added a two-run homer in Game 3 and a solo homer in game 4 and the Tomateros would win the Series. He hit .455 with a 1.000 SLG. He was second in the Series in average (.019 behind Ramón Hernández and homers (one behind Vladimir Guerrero) and led in RBI (one ahead of Guerrero and Endy Chávez). He was named the Caribbean Series MVP, the first catcher to win since Chad Kreuter ten years prior. [5]

Amezcua signed with the San Diego Padres and had a solid summer with the Mobile Bay Bears (.275/.316/.396 in 25 G) and Portland Beavers (.312/.377/.449 in 43 G, backing up Wil Nieves). Despite a .297 summer, it would be his last time playing in the US. He hit .273/?/.370 in the winter. [6] He then was in Monterrey in 2003, producing at a .303/.375/.429 clip. In the winter, he batted .276 and slugged .427 for the Tomateros. [7] He played for the Tuneros de San Luis in 2004 and hit .267/.366/.403. [8]

The veteran posted a .312/.406/.447 batting line in 2005 back with Monterrey followed by .322/.407/.513 the next year. He played for Mexico when they won Bronze in the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games. [9] In 2006-2007, he hit .237/.363/.401 with 7 homers for Culiacán. He reinforced the Naranjeros de Hermosillo for the 2007 Caribbean Series, going 0 for 6 as the backup to Geronimo Gil. He hit .297/.375/.399 that summer for Monterrey followed by a .269/.364/.338 winter for the Tomateros.

Adán batted .292/.369/.425 for the 2008 Sultanes, then struggled in the winter (2 for 17, 2 BB). In 2009, he produced at a .327/.392/.415 rate for Monterrey; the 35-year-old backed up Baltazar López at first base. He hit .300/.336/.385 that winter, though. He reinforced Hermosillo for the 2010 Caribbean Series, going 1 for 10 with a run while splitting backstop duties with Saúl Soto. With Monterrey in 2010, he was back behind the dish, hitting .236/.310/.361 and catching 48% of would-be base-stealers. He batted .269/.345/.423 for the 2010-2011 Tomateros.

His 19th summer in baseball was a good one as he hit .349/.433/.530 for Monterrey and he caught 48% of base-runners. He had an off-season in winter ball (.220/.316/.320). He had a rare bounce-around season in 2012, playing two games for Monterrey (1 for 4), five for the Rieleros de Aguascalientes (.294/.333/.471) and 40 for the expansion Delfines de Ciudad del Carmen (.226/.314/.316). He was back with his usual Tomateros in the winter and posted a .226/.351/.403 batting line, backing up Alí Solís and César Tapia.

In 2013, he started at catcher for the champion Tigres de Quintana Roo, batting .294/.402/.511 and throwing out 43%. In the winter, he hit .269/.417/.328, backing up Solís and seeing some action at first base. That ended his long and productive winter ball career. Turning 40, he split 2014 between the Toros de Tijuana (.232/.295/.286 in 17 G) and Leones de Yucatán (.240/.314/.336 in 43 G). His final season as a player, he hit .203/.338/.313 for the 2015 Delfines and threw out 32%. He made the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Sources[edit]

  1. ↑ The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros.
  2. ↑ ibid.
  3. ↑ 2001 Baseball Almanac, pg. 349
  4. ↑ 2003 Baseball Almanac, pg. 384
  5. ↑ 2003 Baseball Almanac, pg. 381-382
  6. ↑ 2004 Baseball Almanac, pg. 368
  7. ↑ 2005 Baseball Almanac, pg. 372
  8. ↑ 2005 Baseball Guide, pg. 400
  9. ↑ MILB.com
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