Right-hander Francisco Rodriguez has signed with Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League, according to The Athletic’s Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). The man they call K-Rod hasn’t pitched in the Major Leagues since 2017, though he tossed 42 1/3 innings for the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks in 2018.
The veteran reliever is still hopeful of returning to the big leagues, and it was only back in 2016 that Rodriguez recorded 44 saves for the Tigers while posting an impressive 3.24 ERA, 8.0 K/9, and 2.48 K/BB over 58 1/3 innings. That strong year gave way to a rough 2017, however, that saw him post a 7.82 ERA for the Tigers before being released, and then failing to earn another ticket to the Show after signing minor league contracts with the Nationals and Phillies that same year.
Rodriguez is now 37, and looking for one final encore in what has been an outstanding career. After making an immediate impact as a rookie to help the Angels win the 2002 World Series, K-Rod has been an effective late-game weapon for five different teams over 16 MLB seasons. His 62 saves in 2008 is still the league’s all-time single-season record, and Rodriguez’s 437 saves places him fourth on the all-time list, behind only Hall-of-Famers Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, and Lee Smith.
surprised no one brought him in last offseason.
Surprised Dodgers didn’t look at him.
With how big of a dumpster fire Joe Kelly has been I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep a tab on how K-Rod fares in the Mexican league. I mean honestly it’d be hard to be worse than Kelly has pitched.
Link goes to the wrong Francisco Rodriguez, at least for now. In any case, he had decent numbers in the Atlantic League last year. That ain’t big league hitting but it isn’t low-A ball either. He might be useful to someone still…
Yup! Link provided above by MLBTR is link to the other Francisco Rodriguez.
Great Angel’s career Frankie and thank you for that special 2002 season!
Unless I’m recalling incorrectly, this site can’t control which player is linked at Baseball Reference’s site. It’s an automated program which usually links to the player with that name who has debuted most recently, so this happens a lot when there is more than one player with the same name.
Come on Braves! seems right up our alley…cheap signing and hope for the best
how did the assault case end?
Long live k-rod
Let him start over Edwin Jackson
Other notable MLB players on Acereros:
Erick Aybar
Chris Carter
Al Alburquerque
Bruce Maxwell
Jordan Pacheco
Ruben Rivera