César Tapia

César Atlahua Tapia Figueroa

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 200 lb.

• Born November 10, 1982 in Empalme, Sonora Mexico

BR register page

Biographical Information

César Tapia has caught over 1,000 games in the minors.

He debuted for the 2004 Pericos de Puebla, going 2 for 6 with 3 walks, a triple and 3 runs. He hit .225/.269/.352 for Puebla in '05 as the backup to Hector Hurtado at catcher. In 2006, he moved to the Tigres de la Angelopolis and hit .301/.364/.403 and throwing out 37% of attempted base-stealers as their starter.

Tapia produced at a .343/.402/.541 clip with 22 doubles for Puebla in 2007; he gunned down 47% on the bases. That winter, he was mostly an outfielder for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo and hit .243/.317/.243; they had Geronimo Gil at catcher. In 2008, he hit .332/.390/.483 with 28 doubles and 70 RBI for the Pericos. He was 7th in the league in doubles and tied former major leaguers Rubén Rivera and Robert Pérez for 10th in RBI. He also caught 49% of would-be base-stealers. In the winter, he was 3 foe 18 for Hermosillo and hit .273/.265/.333 in 9 games for the Águilas de Mexicali.

In 2009, he threw out an amazing 59% of those who tried to steal while still hitting plenty (.347/.387/.486). He continued to fare much worse in the winter, hitting .143/.184/.143 for Mexicali, backing up Noé Muñoz. For Puebla in 2010, he hit .280/.364/.395, while catching 51% stealing. The next year, he bounced back at the plate to bat .330/.377/.433 with 21 doubles and 60 RBI. He was 1 for 2 in the winter for the Tomateros de Culiacán, who had Ali Solis starting behind the dish.

With Puebla in 2012, his batting line read .328/.374/.450 and he drove in 71. He hit .271/.340/.353 that winter for the Tomateros, splitting catching duties with Solis. In 2013, he hit .345/.388/.524 with 25 doubles and 80 RBI for the Periocs. That winter, he backed up Solis and Adán Amezcua for the Tomateros, going 1 for 9 with a double.

The Empalme native hit .350/.381/.454 with 25 doubles for the 2014 Puebla club. He was 8th in the LMB in average, between Ronnier Mustelier and Ruben Agramon. Winter was once again a different story as he was 0 for 2 with a walk only. In 2015, he batted .302/.339/.420 for Puebla. In the winter, he was 2 for 11 with a double and a walk for Culiacán, again sitting behind Solis.

He had a huge season for Puebla in 2016 as they won their first title since 1963, hitting .383/.421/.662 with 30 doubles, 21 homers and 94 RBI; the veteran catcher even stole 13 bases in 17 tries. He won the batting title (.012 ahead of Rubén Sosa), was 5th in OBP (between Jonathan Acevedo and Tim Torres), led in slugging (.043 ahead of Eliezer Alfonzo), tied Mario Lissón for 4th in doubles, tied José Julio Ruíz for 4th in homers and was 3rd in RBI (after Dory Hernandez and Alex Valdez). He also broke Oscar Rodríguez's long-standing franchise record for career doubles (198). He was named the league MVP.

The winter again was a rough one as he hit .214/.297/.250 for the 2016-17 Tomateros as the summer's MVP could not keep up his production. He batted .299/.369/.456 for the 2017 Pericos. The team then traded their long-time backstop with Alberto Carreón and Issmael Salas to the Acereros de Monclova for Romario Gil, Julio Felix and DJ Dixon. In 2018, Mexico split its league into two seasons. He hit .299/.341/.487 in the summer season for the Acereros and .253/.278/.457 in the winter season, with 10 homers in 40 games.

He hit .286/.286/.357 as a starter for Mexico in the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier as they just missed out a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games; he had two runs and two RBI in three games.

Notable Achievements

• 2016 MVP Mexican League Pericos de Puebla