Ricardo Sáenz

Ricardo Sáenz de la Paz

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.

• Born February 24, 1962 in Sacramento, Coahuila MEX

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Outfielder and third baseman Ricardo Sáenz played in the Mexican League from 1983 to 2007. He was elected to the Salón de la Fama in 2014.

A strong hitter who combined good power and high batting averages, he was mostly associated with the Acereros de Monclova, for who he spent most of the second half of his career, starting in 1996. He had started off with the Bravos de Leon by hitting .333 in 68 games in 1983, then was with a number of teams during the early part of his career, including all or parts of seven seasons with the Saraperos de Saltillo. Complete statistics for him are not readily available, but he batted over .300 many times and was otherwise in the .280s and above, and developed home run power later in his career, regularly hitting in double figures until he was n his 40s. On June 28, 2005, he became the fourth player in Mexican League history to hit four home runs in one game, doing so for Monclova against the Rieleros de Aguascalientes. His feat followed that of Derek Bryant, Roy Johnson and Miguel Ojeda, all of whom had done so since 1985. His 11 RBIs in that game also tied the league record. He had hit another long ball in his last at-bat in the previous game, making him the sole holder of the record of five consecutive homers.

He is the all-time Mexican League leader with 496 doubles. He is also in the top ten in Liga history in both runs scored and RBIs, and his 2,453 hits and 296 homers land him just outside the top ten. His twenty-five seasons as a position player are the second-most in circuit history, trailing only Daniel Fernandez who had 26,. Fernandez was inducted in the Salón de la Fama as part of the same class; Fernando Valenzuela was also part of that group.

In spite of his success in Mexico, he was never recruited by any Major League teams. After his playing career, he became a hitting coach in the Mexican League. His uniform number, 31, was retired by Monclova.