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[caption id="attachment_19" align="alignleft" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-19" src="http://baseballbrazil.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/mlbf_132414883_th_45-300x169.jpg" alt="Paulo Orlando - 1st MLB HR - photo credit: royals.com" width="300" height="169" /> Paulo Orlando - 1st MLB HR - photo credit: royals.com[/caption]

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After a brief hiatus, the blog is back! Regrettably there was a fatal loss of the blog archive but we’re currently attempting to retrieve as much as possible and repost here. Stay tuned for the return of the archive as well as updates to this website, which is still a bit of a work in progress…

In the meantime, there’s a lot of great stuff happening in the world of Brazilian baseball:

Let’s start with <strong>Paulo Orlando</strong>, who began the season on the <strong>Kansas City Royals</strong> big league roster as the fifth outfielder. Amazingly, Orlando’s first three major league hits of his career were triples and he now has a league leading five triples in 104 ABs this season. Then just last night, Orlando hit his <a href="http://m.royals.mlb.com/news/article/126851432/paulo-orlando-belts-first-homer-in-royals-loss" target="_blank">first career MLB home run</a>...in <strong>Yankee Stadium</strong> of all places. In case you were wondering, Orlando has 63 career minor league home runs in 9 seasons. He also has 63 career minor league triples. At any rate, Orlando has been flexing his skills as a reserve outfielder who’s been getting a lot of starts lately on a very good KC team.

Orlando is now the third Brazilian to make it to the Major Leagues, following <strong>Yan Gomes</strong> and <strong>Andre Rienzo</strong>. It’s not a coincidence that those three guys were instrumental for that <strong>Brazilian national team</strong> making it through the WBC qualifying round in Panama back in November, 2012.

Another player who was instrumental for that WBC team is infielder <strong>Leonardo Reginatto</strong>, who was promoted earlier in the season to <strong>Triple A Durham</strong> by the Tampa Bay Rays. In 22 games so far, Reginatto is hitting .316 with 9 RBIs and a .709 OPS.

Reginatto now represents the fourth potential Brazilian to play in the big leagues, along with <strong>Tiago da Silva</strong>, currently in the <strong>Mexican Baseball League’s</strong> <strong>Cuidad del Carmen (Blue Jays Triple A</strong>) and <strong>Murilo Gouvea</strong>, who literally last week made a comeback with the <strong>Fresno Grizzlies (Astros Triple A)</strong> after not pitching the last two seasons due to injury. This season da Silva is combined 2-3 with a 3.90 ERA and a WHIP of 0.93 in three different minor league levels, all in 18 relief appearances. Gouvea has made a couple of one inning relief appearances for the Grizzlies and has not given up a run.

Murilo was a 6 year minor league veteran up until 2012, but no doubt his most important career pitching achievement came with <strong>Barry Larkin’s</strong> Brazilian national squad in the WBC qualifying round. In the first game of that round against <strong>Panama</strong> (which included a lineup of <strong>Carlos Lee, Ruben Tejada</strong> and <strong>Carlos Ruiz</strong>), Murilo came on at the start of the 5<sup>th</sup> inning and subsequently pitched 3.1 innings without allowing any runs to help Brazil beat the home team, 3-2. Four days later against the same Panama team, Gouvea threw another 2.1 innings of no run ball to preserve the 1-0 victory for Brazil and the qualification to the next round. All of this, we can’t forget, in <strong>Rod Carew Stadium</strong> in <strong>Panama City</strong>.

By now, Yan Gomes has become a recognizable name by baseball fans that those who pay attention realize how much it hurt the <strong>Cleveland Indians</strong> when he went on the disabled list. After six weeks of being out of action, Gomes made his return behind the plate last Sunday in an Indians victory over the Cincinnati Reds. So far, Cleveland is easing Gomes back into starting every day, which is probably a good thing given the Indians’ schedule from now to the end of June is pretty scary looking.

Meanhwhile, Marlins pitcher Andre Rienzo started the season in <strong>Triple A New Orleans</strong>, where he was able find his groove and get a call back to the <strong>Miami Marlins</strong> on Sunday. Last night, Rienzo came in as a reliever and pitched 1.1 innings of no hit scoreless ball with two strike outs. Given the Marlins recent struggles, Rienzo has a big opportunity to stay in Miami if he can be consistent. Rienzo has 21 MLB starts under his belt, so we may see him go into the rotation at some point, especially given some of the unspectacular starting pitching that has gone on for the Marlins staff this season, including with Mat Latos and the lower spots of the rotation.

Back in Brazil, it was reported a month ago in the <strong>Folho de São Paulo</strong> online newspaper that Major League Baseball has been evaluating sites for building <strong>a new</strong> <strong>baseball stadium somewhere in Brazil</strong>. Details such as what kind of stadium, how big, who will use it, etc. have not been disclosed, but what is known is that sites in <strong>Recife (Aflitos stadium)</strong> and <strong>São Paulo (Parque Ecológico do Tietê)</strong> have been evaluated.

In <strong>Confederação Brasileira de Beisebol e Softbol (CBBS)</strong> – sanctioned action last weekend, <strong>São Paulo</strong> beat <strong>Marília</strong> to win the <strong>15<sup>th</sup> Annual Brazilian National U-21 Baseball Championship</strong>. São Paulo’s <strong>Vitor Souza</strong> was voted Best Hitter, Best Pitcher and tournament MVP. Nippon Blue Jays came in 3<sup>rd</sup> place and Ibiúna came in 4<sup>th</sup> place.

In the Brazilian amateur ranks, the <strong>Liga São Paulo de Beisebol </strong>has already completed the 5<sup>th</sup> round of their 2015 season. <strong>POLI-USP</strong> and <strong>Bats </strong>are currently atop the nine-team table at 8-2, followed by the <strong>Tomateros </strong>and 6-2 and the <strong>Underdogs</strong> at 5-3. The LSPB now has a new website on the <a href="http://grandslambrasil.com.br/ligaspbeisebol/">Grand Slam Brasil URL</a>; lots of detailed information can be found on the league.

The <strong>Liga Paulista de Beisebol’s</strong> season is also underway, with <strong>Itapetininga</strong> in first place at 4-0, followed by <strong>FARMIME-Astros</strong> at 4-1 and <strong>Piracicaba</strong> at 3-1. The LPB also has a nice <a href="http://www.lpb2015.com.br/">new website</a> with lots of great information.

Back in March, Brazil was the host country for the <strong>2015 South American Men’s Baseball Championships</strong> that would send the winner on to the <strong>2015 Pan American Games</strong> in Canada. Unfortunately, Brazil came in second place in the tournament, held in a newly built stadium in <strong>Mato Grosso</strong>, to Colombia in a close 6-4 final. There were many players on the Brazil roster with pro/minor league experience include <strong>Lucas Rojo, Pedro Okuda, Tiago Magalhaes, Murilo Gouvea, Felipe Burin </strong>and<strong> Fabio Murakami</strong>, among others.

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