You may have noticed a commenter here on the site who goes by the name of Salva. His full name is J. Salvador Arias and he writes Loco por el béisbol, a site dedicated to baseball primarily in Colombia (where he lives), the Caribbean, and around the world.

Chances are, when you think of sport in Colombia you think of the national soccer team. Salva, who lives in the capital Bogota, says that soccer rules the roost, and that the popularity of baseball for the most part is relegated to the Caribbean Region of Colombia. Indeed, all seven major leaguers who have hailed from Colombia, including Orlando Cabrera and Edgar Renteria, are from the Caribbean region. Salva was kind enough to do a write up of last week’s international series between the Colombian and Nicaraguan league champions that just concluded over the weekend.

The ‘Other’ Caribbean Series

If you follow the winter leagues, you surely know about the Caribbean Series, an international competition featuring the winners of the top Caribbean Winter Leagues — Dominican Republic, México and Venezuela (unfortunately there is no Puerto Rican representative this year).

However, there are several other winter leagues also happening — the “amateur” league in Cuba, and leagues in Panama, Colombia and Nicaragua. The last two, play an short three-game series without an official name in order to gain some notoriety from the Caribbean Federation with the hopes of joining the Caribbean Series in the near future.

This was the second year the Colombian and Nicaraguan teams matched up in the unnamed series, and for second time the Colombian team (called Barranquilla Caimanes, “Caiman” is the spanish for a certain breed of crocadile) swept the Nicaraguan champion (Boer Indios, Indians in english) with wins in three straight games.

The first two games were closely played. Game 1 on Jan. 29, was a pitching duel between Javier Ortiz, a former Yankees prospect who currently plays in Italy, and Rafael Garcia of Indios. The game ended with a final score of 2-1 in 10 innings.

In game 2 Caimanes rode three HRs to win 5-2. The third and final game saw the Colombian team score eight in the second inning on the way to a 16-2 blowout win. Former Seattle Mariner Emiliano Fruto (currently on the D-Backs Triple A team) threw six strong innings to pick up the win and the championship.

Do the Colombians play at a high enough level to compete in the Caribbean Series? My guess is that the level of play in the Colombian league is around A-level, with few players have experience above that level. I do not think that Caribbean Federation will consider admitting Colombia until the 2009-2010 season, which is unfortunately because ultimately it hinders the spread of baseball to this region. Even some kind of preliminary round, a play-in if you will, feturing the winners of the leagues in Nicaragua, Colombia, and Panama, perhaps adding a fourth team from the stronger league, would be a great benefit. It is a better way to increase baseball popularity around the world.