Ellie Rodríguez

Infobox MLB retired
name=Ellie Rodriguez
position=Catcher
birthdate=birth date and age|1946|5|24
bats=Right
throws=Right
debutdate=May 26
debutyear=1968
debutteam=New York Yankees
finaldate=October 3
finalyear=1976
finalteam=Los Angeles Dodgers
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.245
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=533
stat3label=RBI
stat3value=203
teams=
*New York Yankees (by|1968)
*Kansas City Royals (by|1969-by|1970)
*Milwaukee Brewers (by|1971-by|1973)
*California Angels (by|1974-by|1975)
*Los Angeles Dodgers (by|1976)
highlights=
*Two-time AL All-Star: 1969 & 1972

Eliseo Rodriguez Delgado (born May 24, 1946 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico), is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He played from 1968-1976 for the New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, California Angels, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

His professional baseball career began in 1964 when he was signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent.cite web|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rodriel01.shtml|title=Ellie Rodriguez Statistics|publisher=Baseball-Reference.com|accessdate=2008-04-19] He spent the 1964 in the rookie and A-class Minor league baseball teams of the Athletics.cite web|url=http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/R/Ellie-Rodriguez.shtml|title=Ellie Rodriguez Statistics|publisher=The Baseball Cube|accessdate=2008-04-19] at the end of the season, on November 30, 1964, he was drafted by the New York Yankees from the Athletics in the 1964 first-year player draft. Rodriguez spent the next few years moving up the Yankees farm system, eventually making it to the AAA-level Syracuse Chiefs in 1967. A year later, Rodriguez made his major league debut for the Yankees.

Rodriguez debuted for the Yankees on May 26, 1968 against the Chicago White Sox. He played nine games over the course of the season while also spending time in Syracuse as well. On October 15, 1968, Rodriguez was drafted by the Kansas City Royals from the New York Yankees as the 13th pick in the 1968 expansion draft. In his first season with the expansion Royals, he made his first all-star appearance, though he did not play in the game. He finished the season with a batting average of .236 in 95 games. The following season he split time at catcher with Ed Kirkpatrick. At the end of the 1970 Kansas City Royals season on February 2, 1971, the Royals traded Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers for Carl Taylor.

He regained his starting role as the 1971 Milwaukee Brewers season began. Rodriguez played 115 games in 1971, yet only had a batting average of .210. He played 116 games the following season en route to his second all-star game, which he also did not play in. He finished the season with a career high batting average of .285 and over 100 hits. After splittign time at catcher with Darrell Porter the following season, Rodriguez was traded on October 22, 1973. He was traded to the California Angels with Ollie Brown, Joe Lahoud, Skip Lockwood, and Gary Ryerson for Clyde Wright, Steve Barber, Ken Berry, Art Kusnyer, and cash.

Rodriguez ended up having a breakout year in 1974. He had a fielding percentage of .992, played a career high 140 games, and hit a career high seven home runs. During the 1974 California Angels season, Rodriguez tied an American League record with 19 putouts in a nine-inning game and set another with 21 in an extra-inning game.cite web|url=http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Ellie_Rodriguez_1946|title=The Ballplayers - Ellie Rodriguez|publisher=BaseballLibrary.com|accessdate=2008-04-24] The following season, he played 90 games as catcher, and caught Nolan Ryan's fourth no-hitter. On March 31, 1976, he was traded by the California Angels to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Orlando Alvarez and cash, and spent one season with the Dodgers before being released on May 2, 1977.

Rodriguez is now a player development consultant for The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and is in charge of scouting Latin America for the league. [cite web|url=http://www.atlanticleague.com/atl-about.php|title=The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball|accessdate=2008-04-24]

ee also

*List of players from Puerto Rico in Major League Baseball

References

External links