Historical Orioles Player Retrospectives- Francisco Rodriguez

When I was younger I had a Guinness Book of World Records that was published annually. In the sports section of the 2008 or 2009 edition they had a page celebrating Francisco Rodriguez setting the new record for saves in a season. In MVP Baseball 2005 KRod is one of the best young relievers in the game. In MLB 2k12 he is older but still has one of the best pitches in the game. During his time in Milwaukee at the end of his major league career he made a large donation to the local school system my cousin taught in for a new baseball field to be built and new school supplies in several different schools. During his short time with the Orioles Krod tossed me a ball during warmups. All these reasons, and my love for all shutdown closers, are why Francisco Rodriguez is one of my favorite players from his era.

Francisco Rodriguez is my pick for the best Venezuelan relief pitcher of all time. From a country that produced pitchers like Johan Santana, Carlos Zambrano, and Felix Hernandez, Rodriguez was never a starter but he was a heck of a pitcher. Perhaps the most feared closers of the mid to late 00s KRod had 3 top 5 finishes in Cy Young voting between 2004 and 2008. His double digit K/9 both for his career and 7 of his 14 qualified seasons helped him keep and strengthen his K-Rod nickname, which he earned as a rookie pitching in the 2002 postseason for the Angels. He led the league in saves 4 times in his career and had another 4 seasons finishing in the top 5 for the league. Overall in his career he is 6th all time with 437.

Rodriguez started pitching at the age of 7 at a baseball school near his hometown. He would eventually sign as an international free agent with the Angels and shortly after pitch in the Pan American Youth World Baseball Championship. He would pitch well enough to be listed on the all championship team later that year in Baseball America’s coverage of the event. Rodriguez would make his debut with the Angels in 2002 and be the youngest player in the league. He would make the postseason roster through some tomfoolery by the angels using him as an injury replacement. His postseason performance is one of the best by a rookie reliever in the modern era.

After establishing himself as the Angels closer in 2004 and several more years of solid reliever seasons KRod would go on to have a record setting performance in 2008. He would break the single season saves record with 62 and finish 3rd in Cy Young voting. After the 2008 season Rodriguez would be one of the biggest names on the free agent market and sign a 3 year deal with the Mets. His production and efficiency would decline with the Mets and he would be traded to the Brewers for two PTBNLs. In just one contract he went from one of the best relievers in the game to a salary dump. His tenure was also marked with some controversy, he clashed several times with the Mets front office, ran into league trouble, and during spring training during his last year with the team he had a little apology tour. Rodriguez was so ineffective with the Mets and Brewers he failed to hit the vesting criteria for his final year of his contract and had very little demand as a free agent. Landing back with the Brewers he eventually would be traded to the Orioles for Nicky Delmonico.

As an Oriole, Francisco Rodriguez served as a set-up man to Jim Johnson and did not record any saves in 22 IP. The only stop in his career where he did not record a save. He would still strike out batters at a rate of 11.9 K/9, which marked a bit of an uptick in efficiency in that department for the now 31 year old. After the Orioles missed the playoffs with just 85 wins KRod was a free agent once again. He would land with the Brewers late in the offseason. After stops in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington, Rodriguez would rack up over 400 saves before leaving major league baseball and playing briefly in the independent league with the Long Island Ducks, where he was teammates with fellow former brief stint mid 10s Oriole Lew Ford. I cant find anything about his official retirement, but he was on the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot and received 10% of the vote, followed up by 7.6% this year.

Francisco Rodriguez’s legacy is a complicated one. Based on career numbers before the age of 30 he is one of the best relievers ever. But inefficiency and the occasional off the field issue during the back half of his career make his hall of fame case and this retrospective multilayered and complex.