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Former Mexican League player struggles in debut
By Stephanie Storm
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009
With staff ace Hector Rondon promoted to Triple-A Columbus and no pitcher from the Indians rehabbing in Akron after a month of several doing so, the Aeros suddenly found themselves in need of two starters the past three days.
Typical protocol would be to get them from high Class-A Kinston.
But with the Indians experiencing a shortage of pitching organizationwide and the brass apparently feeling no young arm was close enough to being ready to pitch at the next level, the Aeros were forced to go with Plan B — signing players from the outside.
On Sunday at Harrisburg, when the spot in the pitching rotation that had been conveniently used to accommodate Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, Aaron Laffey and Scott Lewis had finally run out of rehabbing major leaguers, veteran Bobby Livingston joined
the Aeros.
Livingston had recently opted out of his contract at Double-A Bowie and was familiar with the Aeros, having pitched against them four times. He promptly went on to earn a 6-2 complete-game win in the first game of the Aeros' doubleheader sweep.
When the Aeros returned home Tuesday for a three-game homestand against the Reading Phillies and Rondon's spot up in the rotation, Aeros fans were introduced to the Mexican League's Michael Tejera.
To his credit, Tejera — and Livingston — have some major-league time on their resumes: Livingston with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds and a bulk of Tejera's coming with the Florida Marlins.
''They're very similar players,'' Aeros pitching coach Ruben Niebla said of the two left-handers. ''They're not overpowering, but have a very good feel to pitch. They have good command of their secondary stuff and are guys who've been around and know what they're doing.''
This season, Tejera's experience has come with two teams in the Mexican League, rated at about the same as affiliated baseball's Triple-A level.
He began the year with los Tigres de Quintana Roo, going 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) then went 2-0 with a 3.04 ERA in five games (four starts) for los Sultanes de Monterrey.
''We are aware of what Mike can do,'' Niebla said. ''We got good reports on him and have a pretty good idea of what to expect out of him.''
But unlike Livingston's initial success in an Aeros uniform a few days ago, Tejera labored through his first start at Canal Park as the Aeros lost to Reading, 11-7.
He faced seven batters in the first and allowed two runs, eight batters in the second and gave up another two runs. In a three-run fifth, he faced nine more Phillies.
With the Phillies pulling away 8-3, Stephen Wright came out from the bullpen to relieve Tejera — who had given up eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits and five walks. He struck out four.
''I don't think he'd pitched in a couple weeks,'' Aeros manager Mike Sarbaugh said. ''So for sitting that long I thought he went out and did OK. He looks like he knows how to pitch, he mixed his pitches up and a couple plays behind might have made a little diference. But that's baseball.''
It wasn't the start Tejera would have liked in his debut, but it is far from the toughest thing he's ever experienced in baseball. Originally from Havana, Cuba, Tejera defected with another Cuban player as a teenager in 1994.
Stephanie Storm can be reached at sstorm@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians and Aeros blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters.
With staff ace Hector Rondon promoted to Triple-A Columbus and no pitcher from the Indians rehabbing in Akron after a month of several doing so, the Aeros suddenly found themselves in need of two starters the past three days.
Get the full article here.
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