‘Mexico Strikeout King → Taiwan’ Former SSG Wire-to-Wire Championship Key Player, Venezuela Winter League Trip Imminent... When Will He Finally Rest?

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Wilmer Font (36), the foreign ace who led the SSG Landers to a “wire-to-wire” unified championship in the 2022 season, will continue his relentless schedule without rest. After Mexico and Taiwan, he is now set to take the mound in his home country’s Venezuela Winter League.

Venezuelan local sports media outlet "El Emergente" reported on the 17th (Korea time) that "Fonte is set to join Leones del Caracas, a prestigious team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP)." According to Fonte's agent, Fonte is scheduled to join the Caracas roster around the end of October and begin preparations for full-scale competitive appearances.

Font says that Caracas is a familiar and home-like team to him. In the 2025-2026 season, when he returned to the Venezuelan stage after eight years, he pitched for Caracas in eight games over 36⅓ innings, recording a 3-3 record with an ERA of 4.95 and 29 strikeouts, solidly holding down the rotation.

In fact, Font’s movements this season have been truly close to those of an “iron man.” He started all 20 games for the Sarpulleros de Saltillo in the Mexican Professional Baseball League (LMB), recording a 8-4 record with an ERA of 4.91, fully fulfilling his role as the ace.

In particular, he dominated the league with overwhelming pitching power. Even while struggling in his final regular season appearance by allowing 4 runs in 2⅓ innings, Font managed to strike out 3 batters, ultimately reaching the milestone of 100 strikeouts (in 19 games) for the season. It was a moment when he narrowly edged out Noah Squire (Tijuana, 98 strikeouts) by just 2 strikes to claim the top spot in overall strikeouts in the Mexican League. Font was also the only pitcher in the league to record three-digit strikeouts. “KIA alumni” Ronnie Williams ranked fourth with 89, and Daniel Mendez ranked fifth with 87.

With this, Font became the fourth Venezuelan-born pitcher in LMB history to be crowned the strikeout king, following Julian Ladra (136) in 1957, Luis Mercedes Sanchez (155) in 1980, and Urbano Rugo (164) in 1993. It was a major record achieved after a span of no less than 33 years.

After moving his base to the TSG Hawks in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), where he recorded a 2-2 record with an ERA of 5.73 in 4 games, Font is heading straight to his home country’s winter league as soon as he finishes his schedule in Taiwan. It is a schedule that sees him covering Mexico and Taiwan from spring to autumn, and guarding the Venezuelan mound in winter.

For domestic fans, Font remains a vivid memory. He entered the KBO League in 2021 as SSG’s first foreign pitcher upon the team’s founding, posting an 8-5 record with an ERA of 3.57. In the 2022 season, he commanded SSG to their first-ever “wire-to-wire” unified championship in KBO history with a dazzling performance of 13 wins and 6 losses in 28 games, along with an ERA of 2.69.

In particular, in the opening game against Changwon NC on April 2, 2022, he delivered the first 9-inning perfect pitching in KBO history, not allowing a single batter to reach base during the regulation innings (9 innings). Although he suffered the misfortune of not being officially recognized as a perfect game due to the team’s offense remaining silent and the score staying at 0-0, the power of Font’s powerful high fastballs in the 150km range and his sharp-breaking curveballs was enough to swallow the league whole.

Font, who signed a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres for the 2023 season and attempted a return to Major League Baseball but unfortunately had to give up on that goal, is showcasing his vigorous “strikeout machine” instinct even at the age of thirty-six, moving between Mexico, Taiwan, and Venezuela.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original