Back in mid-November the Cincinnati Reds added 21-year-old outfielder Hector Rodriguez to the 40-man roster in order to keep him from being selected by other teams in the Rule 5 draft. He was coming off of a season in which he hit .283/.336/.450 between Double-A (82 games) and Triple-A (53 games). Rodriguez was also playing in the Dominican Winter League for Escogido at the time.
One of the youngest players in the league, and the youngest player in the league getting any sort of regular playing time (he was the only player who was under 22-years-old to get 90 at-bats), Rodriguez was performing well. He played in 31 regular season games for Escogdio, hitting .301/.375/.504 with as many walks – 13 – as he had strikeouts. You can check out his career stats here.
His team made the playoffs, but Rodriguez had no been playing since the regular season ended. Escogido made it through the round robin portion of the playoffs and began the championship series last night and Rodriguez made his return after not playing for over three weeks. He started the game in center and was hitting leadoff.
In his first at-bat he lined a double the other way at 100 MPH off the bat and then came around to score the first run of the game. Two innings later he would line out to center. In the bottom of the 6th inning he came through with a single into right field at 109 MPH off of the bat.
Rodriguez would come back around to the plate to lead off the 8th inning. At the time his club trailed 6-2. He led off the bottom of the frame with a single into left field at 102.4 MPH off of the bat. That kick started a 5-run rally that put his team ahead for good as they grabbed the first game of the championship series. Escogido would bat around in the inning and when Rodriguez came back to the plate he was intentionally walked. He would finish the day 3-4 with a double, walk, and two runs scored.
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