Reynaldo Rodríguez (minors03)

From BR Bullpen

Reynaldo A. Rodríguez Corrales

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 0", Weight 195 lb.

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Reynaldo Rodríguez was a AAA All-Star and has played for the Colombian national team numerous times, has won a Caribbean Series MVP and has led a major winter league in homers but never made the majors.

Rodríguez hit .166/.259/.179 for the 2004 DSL Yankees 2. He made big strides in 2005, hitting .335/.419/.400 for the DSL Yankees 1 with 23 steals in 32 tries and 42 runs in 58 games. He was 6th in the Dominican Summer League in average. He went 1 for 5 with a walk for the 2006 GCL Yankees, as injury cut his season short.

In 2007, Reynaldo returned to the DSL, hitting .349/.401/.589 between the two DSL Yankee clubs and allowing four runs in two innings on the mound. He tied for second in the league in average and tied for second with seven triples. The Yankees let him go the next year. He then starred in the Colombian Winter League, leading in average (.378) and taking home MVP honors. He went 0 for 12 with two RBI for the Colombian national team in the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup.

Rodríguez played with the Yuma Scorpions in 2009, batting .335/.380/.486 with 18 steals in 21 tries. His 6 triples were second in the Golden Baseball League. He was named the league's Rookie of the Year and Baseball America rated him the top prospect in the independent leagues. He batted .303 in the Colombian Winter League.

The Boston Red Sox signed Reynaldo for 2010. He hit .281/.387/.518 with 14 homers and 59 RBI in 85 games for the Greenville Drive, also stealing 12 bases in 16 tries. He played for Colombia in the 2010 Pan American Games Qualifiers, hitting .263/.391/.368. In 2011, he bounced between the GCL Red Sox (0 for 2), Lowell Spinners (5 for 15, HR, 3 BB), Salem Red Sox (.317/.396/.579, 44 R, 43 RBI in 56 G) and Portland Sea Dogs (.253/.302/.473 in 49 G). He led Red Sox farmhands with 39 doubles (two ahead of Chih-Hsien Chiang and Miles Head), tied Chiang and Christian Vazquez for 5th with 18 home runs and was 8th with 77 RBI (between Lars Anderson and Chiang).

In 2012, Reynaldo was with Portland (.257/.334/.505 in 90 G) and the Pawtucket Red Sox (.186/.265/.256 in 12 G). He was among the Boston farm system top 10 in doubles (30) and home runs (16). In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he hit .333/.385/.417 as the main 1B for Colombia.

The Minnesota Twins signed him for 2013. He batted .231/.305/.482 with 33 doubles, 21 homers and 70 runs for the New Britain Rock Cats that summer. He was third in the Eastern League in doubles (behind Javier Herrera and Alex Dickerson) and tied Tyler Collins and Allan Dykstra for 5th in home runs. In the Twins chain, he tied Kennys Vargas for second in doubles (6 behind D.J. Hicks), was 4th in dingers (between Chris Colabello and Vargas) and ranked 8th in runs scored.

Reynaldo was better still in 2014, hitting .286/.344/.510 with 36 doubles, 21 home runs and 81 runs in 126 games for New Britain while also hitting .156/.229/.281 in 10 games for the Rochester Red Wings. He tied Steven Moya for second in the EL in runs (5 behind Niuman Romero), led in doubles (3 more than Moya), tied Stetson Allie for 6th in home runs, was 5th in slugging (between Sean Coyle and Brian Burgamy) and was 6th in OPS (between Moya and Keon Broxton). Among Twins farmhands, he was second in runs (83, one behind Chad Christensen), first in doubles (37, 4 over Travis Harrison and Nate Hanson), second in home runs (22, 3 behind Adam Walker) and first in total bases (244, 24 over Walker). He was named the EL All-Star DH (Christian Walker was picked at 1B).

With the 2015 Rochester Red Wings, he hit .255/.307/.446 with 34 doubles, 7 triples, 16 homers, 81 runs, 80 RBI. He was among the 2015 International League leaders in slugging (6th, between Matt Tuiasosopo and Corey Brown), runs (first, four ahead of Chase d'Arnaud and Ben Gamel), doubles (2nd, 9 behind Taylor Motter), extra-base hits (2nd, one behind Motter), triples (tied for 5th with Jose Peraza), RBI (4th, between Jason Coats and Daniel Ortiz) and total bases (224, tied for 5th with Jesus Aguilar). He was named the IL All-Star first baseman. In the Twins chain, he led in runs (one more than Max Kepler), tied Kepler for the most two-baggers, tied Nick Gordon for 7th in triples, was 3rd in homers (after Walker and Ortiz), was second in RBI (26 behind Walker) and tied Kepler for second in total bases (26 shy of Walker).

With the 2015-2016 Yaquis de Obregón, he hit .247/.346/.494 with 10 homers, 30 runs and 30 RBI in 46 games. He tied Quincy Latimore for 5th in the Mexican Pacific League in dingers and would have been 5th in slugging had he qualified. Again manning first for Colombia when the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers were held in March 2016, he did a stellar job, hitting .417/.467/.833 with five runs and three RBI in three games. He got their first run; in the first against Spain, he drew a two-out walk from Sergio Perez and came home on an Adrian Sanchez hit. In the second game, he homered off Eliecer Navarro of host Panama. In the finale, also against Panama, he came up in the bottom of the 6th with a 1-0 deficit and was plunked by Humberto Mejia, then later scored on a Sanchez single to tie the game; Colombia won 2-1 to advance to the 2017 World Baseball Classic, their first World Baseball Classic. For the Panama qualifier, he was 3rd in slugging (after Carlos Ruiz and Javy Guerra), 2nd in OPS (behind Ruiz), first in runs (by two) and 3rd in total bases (2 behind Ruiz and one behind Guerra, both of whom played four games to his three).

In 2016-2017, he hit .309/.370/.536 with 12 homers and 41 RBI in 61 games for the Águilas del Zulia. He was among the Venezuelan League leaders in runs (32, tied for 9th with Mario Lissón), hits (68, 9th), homers (1st, one ahead of Renato Núñez and Denis Phipps), RBI (4th, between René Reyes and Phipps), slugging (5th, between Núñez and José Tabata) and OPS (6th, between Núñez and Hernán Pérez). He played for Colombia in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, making a nice play to rob Pete Orr and tripling off Wily Peralta but stats are unavailable because MLB.com erased all the old WBC stats years ago and has not put them back up (as of 2/4/22). He hit .206/.296/.254 that summer for the Bravos de León, one of many options they tried at first. Back with Zulia for the winter, he did very well in limited time (.346/.426/.494 in 22 G).

Having already played in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, the US, Mexico and Venezuela, he signed with Canada's Winnipeg Goldeyes for 2018, batting .281/.359/.449. In the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, his solo homer off Puerto Rico's Adalberto Flores was Colombia's lone run of the game. He had a 3-RBI day to beat the Dominican national team and get a spot for Colombia in the medal round. In the finale against Cuba (the winner getting Silver, the loser Bronze), his long ball off Vladimir García was the only Colombian tally in a 3-1 defeat. He hit .310/.310/.621 with two homers and seven RBI in seven games while playing error-free ball at 1B and RF as Colombia won their first baseball medal in the Central American and Caribbean Games since 1946. He was 4th in the Games in slugging (between Alexander Ayala and Wilfredo Rodríguez), led in homers and tied Gerald Chin for second in RBI (one behind Luis Mateo).

In the winter of 2018-2019, he batted .382/.435/.610 with 7 homers in 31 games for the Navegantes del Magallanes. Had he qualified, he would have edged countrymate Harold Ramírez for the batting title by .001 and OPS title by 20 points and beaten Delmon Young for the slugging lead by .023. Despite not qualifying for the rate stats, he tied for third in home runs, behind only Young and Willians Astudillo. In the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier, he was 2 for 13 but with four walks, a homer, two runs and two RBI and Colombia won a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games. He spent most of the summer starring in Mexico with the Tigres de Quintana Roo at .367/.420/.738 with 24 homers, 63 runs and 79 RBI in 63 games. Had he qualified, he would have tied Emmanuel Avila for 7th in average, beat Chris Carter for the slugging title by .029 and tied Carter for the OPS title. He missed some time for the 2019 Pan American Games, hitting .182/.280/.364 with three runs and two RBI in six games as Colombia's starter at first once again. A highlight was a homer off Team Canada's Jasvir Rakkar.

His winter career continued to shift between Venezuela and Mexico as he hit .281/.337/.422 for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo. He rapped 16 doubles, tying Daniel Castro for fourth in the LMP. The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. He was back in Venezuela by the summer of 2020-2021, batting .349/.371/.496 for the Navegantes del Magallanes. He was 8th in the LVBP in average (between Luis Sardiñas and Angel Reyes). In 2021, he hit .291/.348/.423 for Quintana Roo. At age 34/35, he stole 21 bases in 29 tries. He led the league in steals, one ahead of Herlis Rodríguez. That winter, he played for two LMP teams (the Yaquis and Águilas de Mexicali), hitting .285/.366/.384 and finishing 10th with 12 steals.

He was named MVP of the 2022 Caribbean Series when he helped lead Caimanes de Barranquilla to the first-ever Series title by a team from Colombia. In fact, the country's representatives had been winless in ten games prior to that year's tournament. He was 13 for 26 with a .500/.536/.761 batting line, five runs and three doubles in seven games. He was 4-for-4 against the Astronautas de Los Santos. In the finale, he doubled off Raúl Valdés to open the second and was driven in by Mauricio Ramos with the game's first run then doubled to open the 9th and was driven in by Ramos again in a 4-1 win over the Gigantes del Cibao. He led the Series in average (.065 ahead of Henry Urrutia), was second to Robinson Canó in OBP by .012, led in slugging by .152 ahead of Félix Pérez, tued Ramos for the most runs, led in hits (3 ahead of Urrutia, Canó and Harold Ramírez), tied Urrutia and Danry Vásquez for the most doubles, tied for the lead with one homer, tied Vásquez for fourth with four RBI and led with 19 total bases, 6 ahead of MLB stars Canó and Pablo Sandoval as well as José Siri. His dominance on Colombia showed when he was the only member of the champion team (other than manager José Mosquera) named to the All-Star team.

Sources[edit]

  • 2010 Red Sox Media Guide
  • 2006-2010 Baseball Almanacs
  • 2008 Americas Baseball Cup final report
  • World Baseball Classic
  • MLB.com
  • 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games site
  • 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier Statistics Report
  • 2019 Pan American Games site

Related Sites[edit]