My turn: No shortage of talent locally

Major League Baseball opens its season this week, and Portales is well represented.

Cody Ross, born in Portales on Dec. 23, 1980, is the Florida Marlins’ right fielder. He may start the year on the disabled list with a calf sprain, but he belted 24 home runs last year and is key to the team’s success.

Ross’ family left Portales soon after his birth, but he’s well known to the area from his high school playing days in Carlsbad.

Portales doesn’t have to share Logan White with anybody. The 1980 Portales High graduate pitched three seasons in Seattle’s minor league system. His greater baseball contribution has been in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office.

White is the Dodgers’ assistant general manager and has played a key role in finding many of the team’s top players through the amateur draft, including James Loney, Blake DeWitt and Clayton Kershaw.

Elida native Oscar Acosta, who died in 2006, is another Roosevelt County product who made his mark on pro baseball. After pitching five seasons in the minor leagues, he began coaching and was pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers.

His son, Ryan Acosta, was drafted by the Cubs in 2007 and ended 2009 in the New York Yankees’ organization.