Tucson Saguaros open season with new talent and big-league ambitions

The Tucson Saguaros kick off their 11th season at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium this week with a three-game series against the Pecos Bills.

Game 1 of the series, and home opener for the Saguaros, starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are available starting at $10 per person.

The Saguaros’ season officially started last week on the road as they took on the Alpine Cowboys in Alpine, Texas, winning two of three games before heading down to Pecos, Texas, to face the Bills, where they lost two of three. The Saguaros are 3-4 after losing at Roswell, N.M., on Monday, 11-9, in the first of a two-game set.

After this week’s home opener, the Saguaros are hosting a team meet and greet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, where community members can get autographs and take pictures with the players.

Now, as the Saguaros are set to head back to Tucson, there’s no place like (a second) home for a majority of the team.

Many of this season’s Saguaros are from outside Tucson, including the team's manager and shortstop, Gavy Perez-Torres, who is from Roswell, New Mexico. Perez-Torres has been with the Saguaros for four seasons.

Because the team is only active for the summer, Saguaro players rely on host families in Tucson for the season. The team is still actively looking for local host families. 

“We're excited, it's hard to be on the road for a ton of days and then go back home to finally relax, so everyone's definitely excited to meet their host families that are going to take care of them for the summer,” Perez-Torres said ahead of returning to Tucson. “... Everyone's definitely looking forward to it (going to Kino.) Also, since our stadium is easily the best stadium in our league, it's a professional-grade stadium, it's fun to play when you have an environment like that.”

Traveling can be the most challenging aspect of being a part of the league, Perez-Torres says. The players are responsible for traveling to and from games, which often involves seven-plus-hour drives.

With so much travel between Texas and Colorado on the agenda for this season, finding rest can be difficult at times. 

Ahead of Wednesday’s home opener, the Saguaros are planning to squeeze in any rest they can get and consume lots of electrolytes. (Temperatures could reach 101 degrees on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.)

Perez-Torres knows it can be hard to have fun in the league sometimes because of the hurdles like traveling and even pay, he says.

“But I want to make sure that the guys are still enjoying the baseball life,” he said.

Because the goal is to get players beyond the semi-professional Pecos League and signed with the Pioneer or Frontier Baseball Leagues, two of four independent baseball leagues partnered with the MLB.

“We all have individual goals and the Pecos League is a good opportunity to get recruited by those higher leagues, for example, the Pioneer and the Frontier Leagues. … They pay better, and it exposes our guys more to keep climbing that ladder, to keep getting to the higher leagues, so that's kind of an individual goal for everyone, is to get recruited.”

This season, the Saguaros have very few returners, which is a good thing, Perez-Torres says, because it means players are moving on to the next level.

The Saguaros currently have 17 rookies on their roster. A few of them are already making an impact on the team.

Jack Kalisky, a rookie from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, is one of them. 

Kalisky ended his time in San Antonio with a career 237 RBIs, 54 doubles and a .459 on-base percentage.

“He's definitely a guy that is going to be a big asset to our team,” Perez-Torres said.

Kalisky’s teammate from Our Lady of the Lake University, rookie catcher Diego Zuniga, is making a name for himself with the Saguaros, too.

“He's been really clutch at the plate so far and able to hold the defensive running game,” Perez-Torres said. “They're going to be scared to try to steal bases on us.”

Last season, the Saguaros took home the Pecos League championship, its fourth since the team’s inception. This year, they could win back-to-back championships, a feat they haven’t accomplished since 2020-21.

While the season looks promising so far, Perez-Torres says he’d be happy with finishing the season on July 26 above .500.

And making sure the players and the community have a ball this season — no pun intended.

“It's a fun environment there,” Perez-Torres said. “There's a couple of guys on the team that have the potential to make it to the higher leagues, and it's the same thing as going to see triple A, double A, or single A games, you know, those guys are in the league already but still trying to climb, and we have the same talent on our team. We’re just a little bit further away than those other teams. Baseball has always been fun. It's a family sport. … Even if it's just on the weekends, the fans definitely will have some fun coming out and supporting the Saguaros.”