Enrique Rojas: Master Reporter

If I learned anything over the offseason, it’s that ESPN’s Enrique Rojas has got Latin America covered. And I mean covered. If there’s baseball news coming out of the region, Rojas is bringing it to you.

He’s a must follow on Twitter. Even if, like me, you are the furthest from fluent in Spanish, but enjoy reading words like “beisbol” and “Cardeneles.” And then saying them over and over in your head, in your finest Spanish accent.

Seriously, though. Rojas. The man owns Latin America. Edgar Renteria disrespected by the San Francisco Giants? Rojas let us know. Octavio Dotel to the Toronto Blue Jays? Rojas dropped that bomb. Vladimir Guerrero to Baltimore, and Jose Bautista’s long-term, arbitration-avoiding deal in Toronto? Boom, Rojased.

Heard this: Enrique Rojas knows how old Jose Contreras really is.

Thanks to the NotGraphs Investigative Reporting Investigation Team, a unit I’ve developed quite a fine rapport with since I joined the NotGraphs team about three months ago, I’ve learned of some of Rojas’ previous scoops, in years gone by:

In 1961, Cuban intelligence knew the Bay of Pigs Invasion was coming. It was an Enrique Rojas tweet that alerted them to it.

In October 1962, it was Rojas who let the world know of three-way talks between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba; the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Years later, in 1993, Rojas tipped Colombian authorities to the whereabouts of Pablo Escobar, the world’s greatest drug lord, whose Medellin cartel fashioned itself “the New York Yankees of the cocaine world.”

In 1994, Enrique Rojas — still bringing the top-notch reportage, showing no signs of slowing down — broke word of another significant three-way deal: NAFTA.

Impressed? You should be. Now give it up for Mr. Rojas. We likely wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.

Image courtesy Christopher Hall.