Right-hander Nivaldo Rodríguez has signed with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, per CPBL Stats.
Rodríguez, 27 in April, was a notable prospect in the Astros’ system as he climbed the minor league ladder. From 2016 to 2019, he threw 225 1/3 minor league innings with a 2.40 earned run average, pairing a 25.6% strikeout rate with a 7.5% walk rate. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November of 2019 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft and was considered the #23 prospect in the system by Baseball America going into 2020.
He then appeared in nine major league games over the next couple of seasons, pitching in five contests in 2020 and four more in 2021. He tossed 16 innings with a 4.50 ERA in that small sample. The Tigers claimed him off waivers in August of 2021 but kept him in the minors. He finished that year having thrown 62 Triple-A innings between the two systems, with a combined 5.37 ERA.
The Tigers outrighted him off the roster in November of 2021 but he didn’t have the ability to elect free agency, sticking with the club as non-roster depth. In 2022, he made 15 starts and four relief appearances at Triple-A with a 6.92 ERA in his 65 innings. He was released in August and signed on with the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent league. He tossed 30 innings over five starts for that club with an ERA of 1.50. He then spent 2023 with the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League, posting a 2.76 ERA in 94 2/3 innings there.
The former prospect obviously struggled in his last taste of affiliated ball but has shown some encouraging results over the past year-plus. The righty will now head to Taiwan to see how things fare over there. The CPBL is considered to be a lower level of competition than Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization, but Rodríguez is still young and could perhaps get himself back on track and pitch his way into other opportunities.
I’m utterly shocked no one has called out Fubon for being woke, and demanding the team go back to its previous name.
The Fubon Commanders it is, then.
Fubon Baseball Team
Fubon Indians .
Joelp,
I thought you’d still be exhausted from fighting with everyone on this site last week. Cheer up, pal!
@Bart Harley Jarvis
At least they have a better logo than the current team in Cleveland.
Yea outrage. Let’s keep it to ball talk huh ?
Satire (admittedly bad satire) not your thing?
Politics should have no place in baseball, which is why I wasn’t in support of the team name changes…but it happened. So, let’s just accept it and move on. Honestly, who cares anyways? It doesn’t affect our lives, so why should we care?
Because eventually you’ll be rooting for the Pittsburgh Pencils or the Detroit Lawn Chairs.
I’m hoping bigly for the Philadelphia Cream Cheeses.
I finally got a correct free agent signing for the contest. 🙂 If $3 million of his contract is deferred until 2034, I hit the daily double. 🙂 When did Fubon change their name from Indians? 🙂
Thank you, TGBM!
Better Guardians signing than Austin Hedges.
Looks like he was mishandled in the minors. Spent a few years at single-A and someone thought he’d be great a AAA where he posts a 6+ ERA without even going to Double-A? Hope he can get himself back on track and find a pathway back to the majors.
He’ll probably make a visit to the KBO after the 2024 season unless a KBO team releases one of their foreign pitchers and is willing to pay a posting fee
Joel, Maybe they don’t even know it’s a holiday today though. I didn’t realize it was until the trash collectors didn’t come this morning. I think only municipal workers can’t conduct business today. MLB signings are OK though.
@JoelP
Those three guys are greedy and will either wait as the season starts or become desperate and sign for a lower $-amount. I wouldn’t want the three of them on my team.
Taiwan not China, f China
Republic of China. Both nations consider themselves to be the rightful China.
testing