This week, the Cincinnati Reds made an intriguing move by signing Irvin Machuca to a minor league contract, bringing him in from Mexico. The 24-year-old right-handed reliever has spent his entire career in Mexican baseball, playing in both the Mexican League and the Mexican Pacific League (a winter league).
Machuca began his professional career at 19 with Campeche in the Mexican League, appearing in 36 games and pitching 37.2 innings with a 4.54 ERA. To put that in perspective, the league’s overall ERA was 5.79, and his team’s ERA was 6.26, with the average age of pitchers at 29.5. That winter, he made 31 appearances for Los Mochis, tossing 25 innings with a 3.96 ERA, while the league’s ERA was 3.60.
Since then, Machuca has continued playing for Campeche in the summer and for Los Mochis in the winter, though he missed the entire 2021 season. Over the past two winters, he has been particularly impressive for Los Mochis, recording a dominant 1.15 ERA over 55 innings, with 64 strikeouts and just 18 walks.
The competition level in Mexico’s two major leagues is not on par with Major League Baseball. While there are some players with big league experience in both leagues, the overall competition is likely closer to the Double-A level rather than MLB standards.
Though it’s challenging to directly compare his numbers to MLB performance, we can still evaluate his skills by watching him pitch. The Mexican Pacific League streams all of its games on YouTube, and I’ve taken the time to review and chart his last four appearances so you don’t have to (unless you’d like to!).
A few things stood out. First, Machuca has a strong fastball. It has both good velocity and movement, consistently reaching 94-97 mph in every outing, and it moves well on both planes. His slider, which works in the mid-80s, has a sharp 12-6 break.
However, it was also clear from these four games that he struggled with command, particularly with his slider. His control of the fastball was also inconsistent. Across these four games (which is a small sample size), he threw strikes 62% of the time. This doesn’t match up with his overall performance this winter, where he walked only seven of the 106 batters he faced, one of which was intentional. This may have just been a rough stretch, as he didn’t issue any walks and struck out seven during this span.
It seems unlikely that Machuca will compete for a big league spot this spring, but he certainly has the tools to make it to the majors. His fastball velocity and movement are promising, and his slider shows potential as well, though he’ll need to improve his control of it. During the games I watched, he missed the zone with 12 of his 23 sliders, and for him to be successful at the MLB level, he’ll need to be more consistent with its placement.
You can check out his career stats here, though he may be listed as Irving Machuca in some places.
