Rowdy Tellez traces baseball roots to Mexican League

HOUSTON – Rowdy Tellez comes from a baseball background. His family has enjoyed watching and playing America’s pastime since the 1920s, when his grandfather started playing baseball in the Mexican Baseball League.

After Rowdy’s grandfather immigrated to Colorado from Mexico, he continued to play baseball. He joined the Greeley Grays, which was founded by migrant workers. By 1920, 10,000 of the 12,000 workers employed by the company were Latino.

Tellez read a book called “From Sugar To Diamonds: Spanish/Mexican Baseball 1925-1969.” The book covers the stories of the Greeley Grays. 

“It was kinda like the Sugar Beet League. That’s what they called it,” Tellez says. “Just a lot of migrant workers, farmers and all that would go play in those.”

All-American

Tellez, 29, always enjoyed playing baseball. Growing up, Rowdy and his father Greg would attend San Francisco Giants games to watch his favorite player, J.T. Snow. 

Greg Tellez put Rowdy in T-ball. From Little League all the way to travel ball, Rowdy realized he could possibly make baseball into a profession. Rowdy Tellez finished high school as a First Team All-American by Baseball America.

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He was also a Rawlings First Team All-American, and Rawlings/Perfect Game All-Region First Team in California. 

The Sacramento, Calif., native, received offers to play college baseball at USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State and Miami. Tellez was committed to play at USC. Nonetheless, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 30th round out of high school.

Tellez’s dream was to play pro ball. When the opportunity presented itself, he took a chance. He signed with the Blue Jays for a $850,000 signing bonus.

Tellez embraces Mexican roots

Tellez represented Team Mexico in last year’s World Baseball Classic. The Mexican American and his teammates were close to upsetting eventual champion Japan in the WBC semifinals. Unfortunately for Mexico, Shohei Ohtani and Japan came back in the ninth inning and defeated Mexico 6-5. Team Mexico went further than any other Mexican team in the WBC.

Tellez didn’t have the opportunity to meet his grandfather. Though he proudly represented his family’s name in one of the most prestigious tournaments in Major League Baseball.

“It was really special to be a part of that,” he said. “To be able to see my name on the back of the jersey and to wear Mexico in the front. My grandfather played in Mexico. It was emotional and pretty special, especially for my dad and my uncles and my family to watch somebody be able to do that.”

The Pirates’ first baseman wants to be an impactful athlete for both Mexico and the United States. Just like former Giants’ first baseman, Snow, was to him. 

“I’m just proud and honored to hopefully influence more young kids in Mexico to chase their dream and be proud of where they come from,” Tellez says.

The Pirates are currently 55-54 through 109 games. There six games from the National League Central division and three games back from the last Wild Card spot in the National League.

The 6-foot-4 slugger signed a 1-year, $3.2 million contract with the Pirates. Before the 2024 season, the Buccos weren’t projected to make the postseason.

“I’d say resilient,” Tellez said of how he would describe his team in one word. “I think you can see in a couple of games that we’ve played recently and kind of throughout the season, we take it down to the last out. I think for us it’s just about showing up no matter knowing it could change. Whether it’s two outs in the ninth or you put up nine runs in the first, you never know what’s gonna happen.”

The Pirates have a mix of rookies and veterans in their clubhouse. Two of their starting pitchers, Jared Jones and All-Star Paul Skenes, lead the starting rotation with their hard-throwing fastballs. Veterans like 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, two-time All-Star Yasmani Grandal and Tellez have tasted the postseason.

The Pirates haven’t made it to the postseason since 2015, when the Chicago Cubs defeated the Pirates 4-0 in the NL Wild Card. In addition, the Pirates haven’t won a postseason game since defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2, in the 2013 NL Wild Card.

“It’s always good to have guys like him with his experience,” Pirates infield coach Mendy Lopez said of Tellez. “The guy has been in the big leagues for a long time, and I think this team will benefit from that. 

“He’s one of our leaders in the infield. We actually have young infielders that listen to him. He can hold anyone accountable, like he’s that dude.”

With a group of young players and savvy veterans, the Pirates could put an end to their nine year postseason drought.