Dozens of international baseball players will begin moving into the Allen Community College dorms as the newly christened Iola Hormigas kick off the Pecos League version of spring training in a few weeks.
The Hormigas open the season May 28 with a game on the road.
The athletes, who hail from Mexico, Venezuela and beyond, will call the Allen campus home up through July.
“We’re excited to host them,” said Doug Desmarteau, ACC athletic director. “They’re going to play 20 home games here and be here every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday starting June 2 through the end of July.”
The Hormigas — Spanish for “ants” — are the minor-league affiliate of the Bravos de Leon in the Mexican League, based in León, Mexico. Pecos League owner Andrew Dunn equated the Mexican League, also known as the Liga de Mexicana Beisbol, to an MLB triple A team. However, with recent changes to international allotments on Mexican League rosters, he believes many Mexican League teams could go toe-to-toe with many MLB franchises.
“It’s not very far from the Royals or the Chicago White Sox right now,” Dunn said. “The Mexico City Reds could beat the Chicago White Sox today or over a five-game series. It’s very high-level baseball. For us to get one of these guys to play in the Mexican League, it’s going to take time, but it will happen.”
The Hormigas are truly an international team — including Americans. While between eight and 10 players will come from the Mexican League, 15 will be a mixture of local and national players allocated from the Austin Weirdos. Players will begin moving into the college dorms May 24.
Their first game is May 28 in Blackwell, Oklahoma against the Flycatchers.
The Hormigas’ first home game is June 2 when they host the Garden City Wind.
“You’re going to see guys with tools that aren’t fully developed. We did this with three teams last year,” Dunn said. “Unofficially, we did it with Puebla and Tijuana. One of the players from Tijuana got signed by the Detroit Tigers — Alamont Cruz. Those guys work hard and they want to go somewhere.”
Allen — and Iola — will benefit in a variety of ways from hosting the Hormigas. First, the college collects a portion of the revenue from each game. Second, Allen has an opportunity for long-term evaluation of eligible players not called up and could potentially sign them to play for the local Red Devils.
“If Allen gets a pitcher out of this, that will be a feather in their hat,” Dunn said. “It’s a perfect situation being here in Iola. This is a place to train. It’s a place these guys can get out and the facilities are just what they need.”
Desmarteau said the college will do some work on its ballpark P.A. system in the coming weeks, but everything else as far as facilities supporting the Hormigas should be ready once the team arrives. The Allen Community College Board of Trustees will meet later this month and vote whether to approve alcohol sales at the games.
“This is going to be great for the community, the city, the college and everybody involved,” Desmarteau said. “Andrew has been very professional from the get-go. I’m excited. Hopefully we can support this and get some fans at the games.”
