Francisco Rodriguez (baseball)

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**Francisco Rodriguez**

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — No. 57
Closer
Born: January 7, 1982 (1982-01-07) (age 26) Caracas, Venezuela
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
September 18, 2002 for the Anaheim Angels
Selected MLB statistics (through May 30, 2008)
Win-Loss	21-15
Earned Run Average	2.37
Strikeouts	531
Saves	167
Teams
Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2002-present)
Highlights and awards
2004 and 2007 All-Star 2006 Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award

Francisco "Frankie" José Rodriguez (born January 7, 1982 in Caracas, Venezuela), nicknamed "K-Rod", is a Major League Baseball player. A right-handed relief pitcher, he has played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since 2002, and served as the Angels' closer since 2005.

1 Career highlights
2 Pitches
3 Personal life
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Career highlights

Rodriguez signed as a non-drafted amateur free agent in 1998. Originally a starting pitcher, Rodriguez moved to relief pitching in 2002 after elbow and shoulder injuries shortened parts of his 2001 minor league season. Critics have also claimed his slight build and lack of stamina made him ineffective as a starter. He made his major league debut in 2002. With the multiple injuries to the Angels bullpen, the club picked him up at the mid of September. He emerged as a postseason relief hero on international television, winning five postseason games, never having won a Major League game before.

Because Rodriguez had played very little in the Major Leagues, hitters in the playoffs had little idea what to expect from him, a situation that often favors the pitcher. In the ALDS he silenced the Yankees bats, and got two victories with eight strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings. Against the Twins in the ALCS, he went 2-0 with seven batters fanned in four and one-third innings. Finally, in the 2002 World Series against the Giants, he had a 1-1 record with 13 strikeouts in eight and two-thirds innings. At 20 years old, he became the youngest pitcher in 32 years to pitch in the World Series and the youngest ever to pick up a victory.

In his sophomore year, Rodriguez became a legitimate, polished setup man. He gave up an earned run in nine of his first 15 games, but then only nine of last 44 appearances. He was selected for the All-Star Game and on August 24, 2004 became the sixth pitcher in the Angels' 44-year history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season without starting a game - joining Mark Clear (105 in 1980), DeWayne Buice (109, 1987), Bryan Harvey (101, 1991) and Troy Percival (100, 1996), and Scot Shields (109, 2004) in that same year. Shields now serves as setup man to Rodriguez.

Entering the 2005 seasoned veteran Angels closer Troy Percival departed to sign as a free agent with Detroit leaving the door open for Rodriguez to become the Angels' full-time closer. Overcoming both a tendency to walk too many batters, and a particularly embarrassing moment in which he allowed the Oakland Athletics to score the winning run of a game by carelessly dropping a simple return throw from the catcher, Rodriguez tied with Bob Wickman for the American League lead in saves with 45.

Rodriguez improved on his share of the 2005 American League saves title by leading the Majors in 2006 with 47 saves, one more than the National League leader Trevor Hoffman and six more than American League runner-up Bobby Jenks. On September 10 against the Toronto Blue Jays, he became the youngest closer in Major League Baseball history to accumulate 100 career saves at age 24. He accomplished this feat a year younger than the previous record holder, Gregg Olson. For his exploits as a relief pitcher, Rodriguez was named the DHL Baseball Delivery Man[1] for the month of August. [2]

At the 2007 All-Star Game in San Francisco, Rodriguez was named as one of three Angels to represent the club, along with teammates Vladimir Guerrero and John Lackey. Despite two walks in one-third of an inning, Rodriguez recorded the save as the American League hung on to defeat the National League, 5-4.

On September 25, 2007, Rodriguez was named as one of 10 finalists for the "DHL Presents the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Year Award."

[edit] Pitches

The fastball, unlike many closers, is not Rodriguez's main pitch. It has consistently hit 94-97 mph (151-156 km/h), and has been referred to as "explosive", but is generally thrown out of the strike zone to get batters off balance. His breaking ball comes in two varieties—a hard curve which starts looking like a strike and then breaks down out of the strike zone and that is often confused with a slider, and slower, looping more traditional curve which, at its best, makes right-handed batters knees' buckle before breaking back into the strike zone. Since his harder curveball breaks so sharply into the dirt, it at times makes him vulnerable to throwing wild pitches. It is the command of these breaking pitches that has allowed Rodriguez to be so successful. Rodriguez added a circle change to his repertoire for the 2006 season, using it as a strikeout pitch against left-handed batters.

[edit] Personal life

Rodriguez's nickname of "K-Rod" became quickly popular during his meteoric rise in late September of 2002 and the playoffs. It is a take-off on "A-Rod", the nickname of baseball star Alex Rodriguez, with "K" representing the common abbreviation for strikeout.

Rodriguez is a practitioner of Santería.^[1]