Wilfredo Rodríguez (minors02)

Wilfredo Jesús Rodríguez-Chévere

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 200 lb.

• High School Puerto Rico Baseball Academy

• Born June 25, 1994 in Carolina P.R.

BR register page

Biographical Information

Wilfredo Rodríguez-Chévere has played in the minors and for the Puerto Rican national team.

The Colorado Rockies took him in the 7th round of the 2012 amateur draft, two picks after future major leaguer Jacob Stallings and two picks before future major leaguer Corey Oswalt. The scouts were Rolando Fernandez, Jhonathan Leyba and Martin Cabrera. He hit a solid .319/.370/.452 for the Grand Junction Rockies. Baseball America rated him as the #13 prospect in the Pioneer League, between Chris Beck and Julian Yan. Michael Perez beat him out for All-Star honors at catcher.

In 2013, he slumped to .270/.355/.326 for the Tri-City Dust Devils. He made his Puerto Rican League debut that winter, going 0 for 1 for the Cangrejeros de Santurce. Backing up Jose Briceno for the 2014 Asheville Tourists, he hit .310/.359/.399 and fielded .994 at C but only threw out 14% of those who tried to steal. Asheville won the South Atlantic League pennant. Had he qualified, he would have been 8th in the league in average, between Drew Dosch and David Dahl.

Backing up A.J. Jimenez with Santurce in 2014-2015, he hit .231/.286/.269. He split 2015 between the Modesto Nuts (.224/.250/.298 in 64 G) and Grand Junction (3 for 18, 2B, 3 BB) for his first real struggles offensively as a pro; the Rockies cut him loose. Backing up Juan Centeno and Rene Rivera, he batted .310/.375/.483 for the 2015-2016 Cangrejeros. Signing up with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters, he produced at a .288/.356/.436 clip in 2016. In the winter, he hit .215/.301/.277 between Santurce and the Tiburones de Aguadilla.

That earned him a second look in the affiliated minors. The Chicago White Sox signed him and he hit .200/.292/.250 in 6 games for the Kannapolis Intimidators then was let go. Returning to Sugar Land, he hit .333/.400/.413. He was 53 plate appearances shy of the 378 needed to qualify for the Atlantic League leaders; had he qualified, he would have been second in average (.004 behind D'Arby Myers) and tied Marc Krauss for 3rd in OBP. He did not make the All-Star team as Isaias Tejada was picked at catcher. He hit .258/.361/.290 for his hometown Gigantes de Carolina that winter. He opened 2018 with the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League (.250/.314/.359 in 18 G) then joined the Chicago Dogs. After 16 games there (.163/.232/.184), he was released. He then joined Puerto Rico for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games and was their starting catcher as they won the Gold Medal. He drove in 3 in their opening win over Venezuela and was 3 for 3 in their 2-1 win over host Colombia, the Bronze Medalists. He hit .456/.500/.591 with 3 runs and four RBI in six games. He played error-free ball and threw out 2 of 3 would-be base-thieves. He was 4th in the Games in average (between Luis Mateo and Carlos Colmenares), 5th in slugging (between Reynaldo Rodríguez and Kevin Ramos) and tied for 9th in RBI.