Juan José Pacho

Juan José Pacho Manrique
also known as Juan José Pacho Burgos

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 150 lb.

• Born April 8, 1963 in Oxcutzcab, Yucatán México

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Juan José Pacho played for 23 years in the minor leagues. He was known as a very good defender at shortstop.

Pacho debuted in 1980 with his home state's Yucatan Lions, going 1 for 2. In 1981, he played in the Cleveland Indians farm system for the Batavia Trojans (.198/.261/.226) and Waterloo Indians (.211/.308/.246). His .953 fielding percentage at short for Batavia tied for the lead among New York-Penn League players at the position.

In 1982, Juan bounced between Waterloo (4 for 12, BB, 2 2B), the AA Chattanooga Lookouts (.237/.296/.266 in 71 G) and the AAA Charleston Charlies (0 for 7). He had made it to AAA at age 19. Pacho spent 1983 with the Buffalo Bisons (.146/.311/.188 in 37 G, backing up Jeff Moronko at short) and the Charlies (.268/.316/.275 in 43 G as a utility infielder).

Pacho was in the Chicago White Sox chain in 1984, hitting .231/.276/.253 in 36 games for the Glens Falls White Sox. He also returned to Mexico that year to bat .306/.342/.339 in 51 games for the Mexico City Red Devils. Juan returned to Yucatan in 1985 and would spend the rest of his Mexican League career with them. He hit .259/.313/.321 that season. In 1986, Pacho batted .325/.365/.399 for the Lions; he stole a career-high 21 bases but was gunned down 14 times. He also set career highs for average, runs (78), RBI (54) and doubles (28, his lone time over 20) in what was an explosive year for Mexican offenses. He also hit his first three career home runs.

Pacho hit .291/.345/.387 in 1987. He hit a career-best 7 home runs; this would be half the total he would attain in his 23 years of summer ball. In '88, the Oxcutzcab native batted .324/.378/.374 for Yucatan and also was with two Atlanta Braves affiliates, the Richmond Braves (5 for 25, 2B) and Greenville Braves (.212/.299/.235 in 28 G).

Pacho spent all of 1989 with Greenville, hitting .247/~.274/.274. It would be his last campaign north of the border. In winter ball, he batted .283/~.331/.330 for the Mazatlan Deer. In '90, he hit .284/.322/.333 for the Lions (and led the league's shortstops with a .978 fielding percentage), then followed with a similar .284/.358/.332 line in 1991. Pacho batted .270/?/.325 for Mazatlan in the winter of 1991-1992.

In the summer of 1992, Juan batted .276/.335/.325 and stole 19 bases in 21 attempts for Yucatan. He had a strong winter in average (.301 for the Deer), tying Eric Mangham for 8th in the Mexican Pacific League. It didn't carry over to the summer, in which he hit .243/.306/.294, slugging under .300 for the first in his Mexican League career.

Pacho had another great winter, in 1993-1994, hitting .306 and slugging .412 for Mazatlan. He was 4th in the league in average but only .003 behind leader Ted Wood and beating out many former and future major leaguers. Juan hit .290/.337/.313 for the 1994 Lions. In 1995, the 32-year-old hit .273/.340/.326. Pacho batted .260/.309/.293 in 1996. The veteran's batting line in 1997 was .257/.317/.280. He hit .253/.346/.280 for Yucatan during '98, with a career-high 58 walks, never having topped 45 previously.

In 1999, Pacho hit .260/.336/.276 for the Lions. During the 2000 campaign, the old-timer's batting line was .292/.327/.342 for his best average and slugging percentage since the 1980s. He also hit his first home run in seven years. Through 2000, Pacho had batted .280/.339/.328 in 1,780 Mexican League games. His 204 sacrifice hits were a LMB record, breaking the mark held by Juan Francisco Rodríguez.

Pacho hit .238 for Yucatan in 2001, then .207 in 2002, his final year. He finished at .278 in 1,891 games in the Mexican League. He also played 20 seasons in the Mexican Pacific League, setting several defensive records including 8 times leading his position in fielding percentage.

He later managed the Algodoneros de Torreon. In addition, Pacho guided the Mazatlan Deer to back-to-back titles in 2005-2006. In the 2005 Caribbean Series, he led the Deer to an upset title, the first ever by a Mexican club in a year in which Mexico hosted the Caribbean Series.

Pacho was voted into the Salón de la Fama in 2009, his second year on the ballot.

Sources

• Salon de la Fama
• Assorted Baseball Guides and Baseball Almanacs from 1981-1995
• The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros