ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Prior to last season, the Red Sox had only six players from Mexico appear in at least one game, three since 1971. While not ignored by scouts, it was a country with less attention paid to it than Japan or Australia.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski sought to change that and asked senior vice president of player personnel Allard Baird to have his staff take a deeper look.
The result was Hector Velazquez, who is scheduled to face the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon.
The 29-year-old righthander represents a bit of a breakthrough for the Sox. It was for Velazquez, too. He pitched eight seasons in Mexico before getting a shot at the major leagues.
“I had waited a long time and tried to pitch the best I could,’’ Velazquez said via translator Daveson Perez on Saturday. “I was waiting for a chance and praying I would get one.’’
Vice president of player personnel Jared Banner saw Velazquez as a possibility after breaking down peripheral statistics from the Mexican League. Marcus Cuellar, an assistant in player personnel, was then dispatched to watch Velazquez pitch.
Cuellar and another scout, Edgar Perez, saw Velazquez pitch for Mexico in the 2017 Caribbean Series and came away impressed.
“No doubt about it, that helped him,’’ Baird said. “We had done a lot of background work prior to that point.’’
The Yankees also were interested, but the Sox were able to purchase Velazquez from his Mexican League team, Campeche, on Feb. 18, 2017. The cost was only $30,000.
Velazquez didn’t have a choice in the matter, nor did he profit. Campeche had final say.
“I wanted to go to Boston because they had shown the most interest and I told my team that,’’ he said. “I had to wait for them to make a deal. There was no control but they did what I wanted.’’
Velazquez arrived to the Sox having thrown more than 240 innings over the previous 12 months. He started 22 games for his Mexican League team then 14 more in the Mexican Winter League before pitching in the Caribbean Series.
After being allowed some rest, Velazquez made his major league debut on May 18 at Oakland. Admittedly nervous, he allowed six runs in five innings and was demoted to the minors a few days later.
But Velazquez returned and made seven more appearances for the Sox, two of them starts. He gave up two runs over 19⅔ innings.
With Drew Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Steven Wright on the disabled list, Velazquez made the rotation out of spring training.
“It’s a great opportunity,’’ Velazquez said. “It was my goal to be on the roster at the start of the season.’’
Pomeranz and Rodriguez could return within two weeks, so Velazquez may not be in the rotation for long. But with the Sox lacking starter depth, he is a potentially important player.
Velazquez will be facing the Rays for the first time.
“If we can walk him through his start to maximize his pitches, he can be really, really good,’’ manager Alex Cora said.
What Cora means by that is thoroughly preparing Velazquez on the strengths and weaknesses of each hitter. The Red Sox believe he’s better being aggressive early in counts instead of trying to set hitters up.
Some changes
After using the same lineup the first two games, Cora went to his bench on Saturday. Brock Holt (second base), Sandy Leon (catcher), and Mitch Moreland (first base) all started.
Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers, and Christian Vazquez were out of the lineup. Andrew Benintendi played center field with J.D. Martinez getting his first start in left. Hanley Ramirez was the DH.
Cora believes that even young players like Devers should get a break.
“Because you’re 21 years old doesn’t mean the turf is any softer,’’ Cora said before Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Rays. “We have to take care of him, too.’’
Eduardo Nunez is scheduled for a day off on Sunday. Cora planned out the lineups well before the series started. He has them mapped out through Tuesday.
“It’s something that’s going to happen,’’ he said. “It’s going to happen because we need to keep these guys fresh.’’
Cora knows from his experience as a bench player that it’s helpful when a player knows ahead of time when he will be in the lineup.
“When you know ahead time, you can prepare,’’ he said. “It’s not that you’re going to do something different. But that day you can do your homework and work on your approach against a certain pitcher.’’
Pair of aces
Chris Sale pitched six scoreless innings and David Price seven in the first two games of the season. It was only the third time in team history the first two starting pitchers of a season did not allow a run. Carl Mays and Sad Sam Jones (1919) and Lefty Grove and Jim Babgy Jr. (1940) were the other duos . . . The Rays honored their inaugural 1998 team before the game. Wade Boggs was the most notable player present. Wilson Alvarez, who started the first game in team history, returned to throw out the first pitch. The current players wore throwback Devil Rays uniforms.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com.
