Junior Guerra won the Return of the Year award in the LVBP season 2024-2025

Published at: 07/01/2025 09:29 AM

The pitcher Junior Guerra de Navegantes del Magallanes, from being one step away from retirement after undergoing Tommy John surgery, to winning the Luis Salazar Return of the Year award in the 2024-2025 season of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP).

Guerra received 43 of the 55 possible votes for first place (9 for second and 1 for third), to accumulate 243 points and easily beat Yangervis Solarte de Tiburones de La Guaira, who registered 11 votes for the first, 13 for the second and 16 for the third for a total of 110 units.

The podium was also completed by Pedro Rodríguez of the sharks with 1 vote for the first, 25 for the second and 16 for the third to accumulate a total of 96 points.

“It's a very important award for me, because I had been struggling with injuries for two years. Thank God I worked with a lot of faith to be back, surrounding myself with the right people to keep me healthy,” Guerra said on a Televén broadcast, reviewed by the LVBP.

Guerra said that it often crossed his mind to give up baseball. “I talked about it a lot with my wife, but she always gave me her vote of confidence to continue,” he said.

The Electric led the departments in wins (8), effectiveness (2.63) and innings pitched (68.1); he was second in fans (48), in addition to third in WHIP (1.33) and fourth in batting average against (.244) among qualified pitchers.

In his first year wearing the colors of La Nave , he joined a select number of players who have won this award with Magallanes: Richard Garcés (2004-2005), Edgardo Alfonzo (2007-2008), Luis Rodríguez (2015-2016) and Wilfredo Boscán (2018-2019).

Mazo News Team