Alex Rodríguez
From BR Bullpen
Alexander Emmanuel Rodríguez (A-Rod)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 190 lb.
- Debut July 8, 1994
- High School Westminster Christian High School (Palmetto Bay)
- Born July 27 1975 in New York, NY USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Alex Rodriguez, often called A-Rod, is one of the biggest stars in major league baseball. Having played his first Major League game at age 18, he has established himself as one of the game's best players, having won three MVP awards and passing several important career milestones, including 500 career home runs and 1,500 RBI.
He is the only person to play major league baseball at age 18 since the 1970's.
[edit] Early Life and Minor League Career
Rodriguez was born in New York City to a Dominican couple, Victor Martinez and Lourdes Navarro. The family moved to the Dominican Republic and then to Miami, Florida when Alex was quite young, and he grew up in Miami. He was a star player on the Westminster Christian High School baseball team, and was selected to play for the U.S. in the 1992 World Junior Championship, where he led the team with 16 RBI, scored 15 runs, hit .264 and slugged .509 as the team won Silver.
A-Rod was drafted by the Seattle Mariners as the # 1 pick in the 1993 amateur draft after earning first team prep All-American honors and leading his high school team to a national #1 ranking. His school record for home runs was later tied by J.P. Arencibia in 2004.
In his first year in the minors in 1994, he went from Single A to AA to AAA ball in the same season, hitting over .300 with power at two of the three stops. He spent about half of 1995 in Triple A ball at Tacoma of the PCL, hitting .360 with a .654 slugging percentage.
[edit] Major League Career
Rodriguez made his Major League debut with the Seattle Mariners on July 8, 1994 at Boston, becoming the only player to reach the majors at age 18 since the 1970's. He spent less that a month with the Mariners that season, and split time in 1995 between the Mariners and their AAA team in Tacoma. In 1996 he spent only two games with Tacoma, and since then has been in the majors full time. He remained with the Mariners through the 2000 season, making three All Star teams and establishing himself as one of the game's best shortstops and one of it's premier offensive players.
Prior to the 2001 season, A-Rod signed a 10 year/$252 million contract with the Texas Rangers that made him baseball's highest paid player. He continued to perform at the highest level with the Rangers, leading the league in home runs all three years and winning his first MVP award in 2003.
In 2005 he broke the New York Yankees' single-season record for home runs by a right-handed hitter, held for more than 50 years by all-time Yankee great Joe DiMaggio. In April 2007, he tied a record by hitting 12 home runs in his first 15 games.
Despite continuing to achieve extraordinary success in the regular season, A-Rod's postseason performance has been disappointing to his fans, batting .279 and slugging .483 with seven home runs in ten postseason series. He gained some measure of infamy during the 2004 ALCS against Boston when he "karate chopped" Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who was tagging him out at first base.
On October 28, 2007, Rodriguez opted out of the 10 year/$252 million deal, thus becoming a free agent. In November he re-signed with the Yankees after hearing advice from his friend Warren Buffett, the famous billionaire investor. Agent Scott Boras had encouraged him to ask for much more on the free agent market but Rodriguez did not heed his advice.
On September 3, 2008, a home run he hit to left field off Troy Percival became the first play to be reviewed under MLB's new instant replay rules; Brian Runge's home run call was upheld upon review.
On August 7, 2009, Rodriguez became the 9th player in major league history to hit at least 20 home runs in every year in a decade, and the first from the 2000's.
[edit] Statistical Markers and Notes
Although a huge star, his highest single-season Adjusted OPS to date is 177 in 2007, which places him only 211th (tied with 18 others) among season season marks.
While universally regarded as one of the best players in baseball, it is interesting to note that both teams that he has left have performed better the first year after he departed than they did during his final season with them.
He reached the 400 HR level at the age of 30, a rare achievement, then became the youngest player to hit 500 home runs when he connected off Kyle Davies of the Kansas City Royals on August 4, 2007; Jimmie Foxx had been the fastest to 500 HR before Rodriguez. He also became the third player to reach the 500 plateau as a Yankee, after Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.
He is one of only four 40/40 players in Major League Baseball history (i.e. hitting 40 or more home runs and stealing 40 or more bases in a season), along with Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Alfonso Soriano.
As a mark of how extraordinary a player A-Rod is, the similarity scores method shows virtually no player similar to him. The only player with a score as high as 800 out of 1000 is Ken Griffey, Jr. Eight of the ten players on the list are Hall of Famers, and the other two (Griffey and Vladimir Guerrero) will probably eventually be elected.
Rodriguez has a half-brother, Victor Rodriguez, Jr., who is a decorated Colonel in the United States Air Force.
[edit] Steroids
Jose Canseco, in a book written in 2007, claimed he had introduced Rodriguez to a steroids distributor but didn't state that Rodriguez had bought anything.
In December 2007, Katie Couric of CBS' Sixty Minutes interviewed A-Rod about performance enhancing drugs, among other topics. He then stated that he had never taken any performance-enhancing substance, nor had felt pressure to take any because some of his peers may have been.
In February 2009, Sports Illustrated broke the news that A-Rod had tested positive for steroids in 2003, at a time when there were no penalties for a positive test. These tests were supposed to remain anonymous and eventually destroyed, but their results were subpoenaed as part of the BALCO case, and apparently leaked to the media by a source close to that investigation. Rodriguez confirmed in an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons that he had used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003 while a member of the Texas Rangers, adding "I was young, I was stupid, I was naive, and I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth . . . being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance and for that I am very sorry and deeply regretful." When these allegations came out, a number of papers and fans began to call Rodriguez A-Fraud, a play on his more famous nickname reflecting their contempt for his actions.
In May of 2009, with Rodriguez sidelined by a hip injury, journalist Selena Roberts published a biography of Rodriguez which alleged that he has been a PED user since high school. The allegations are not sourced, and long-standing friends of Rodriguez, such as Doug Mientkiewicz, who knew him when they were both teenagers, went on the record to contradict the book's allegations.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 12-time AL All-Star (1996-1998 & 2000-2008)
- 3-time AL MVP (2003, 2005 & 2007)
- 2-time AL Gold Glove Winner (2002/SS & 2003/SS)
- 10-time AL Silver Slugger Award Winner (1996/SS, 1998-2003/SS, 2005/3B, 2007/3B & 2008/3B)
- AL Batting Average Leader (1996)
- 4-time AL Slugging Percentage Leader (2003, 2005, 2007 & 2008)
- 2-time AL OPS Leader (2005 & 2007)
- AL At Bats Leader (1998)
- 5-time AL Runs Scored Leader (1996, 2001, 2003, 2005 & 2007)
- AL Hits Leader (1998)
- 4-time AL Total Bases Leader (1996, 2001, 2002 & 2007)
- AL Doubles Leader (2002)
- 5-time AL Home Runs Leader (2001-2003, 2005 & 2007)
- 2-time AL RBI Leader (2002 & 2007)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 13 (1996-2008)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 12 (1996 & 1998-2008)
- 40-Home Run Seasons: 7 (1998-2003, 2005 & 2007)
- 50-Home Run Seasons: 3 (2001, 2002 & 2007)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 12 (1996 & 1998-2008)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 13 (1996-2008)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 3 (1996, 1998 & 2001)
| AL MVP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Miguel Tejada | Alex Rodriguez | Vladimir Guerrero |
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Vladimir Guerrero | Alex Rodriguez | Justin Morneau |
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Justin Morneau | Alex Rodriguez | Dustin Pedroia |
[edit] Records Held
- Home runs, shortstop, season, 57, 2002
- Home runs, third baseman, season, 52, 2007
[edit] Record Pace
Alex Rodríguez turned 31 on July 27, 2006. (Rodríguez' stats through 2005 season)
All-Time Leaders When They Turned 31:
- Pete Rose had 1724 Career Hits. Alex Rodríguez has 1901.
- Hank Aaron had 366 Career Home Runs. Alex Rodríguez has 429.
- Rickey Henderson had 1171 Runs Scored. Alex Rodríguez has 1245.
- Hank Aaron had 1216 Runs Batted In. Alex Rodríguez has 1226.
- Hank Aaron had 3692 Total Bases. Alex Rodríguez has 3576.
- Hank Aaron had 796 Extra-Base Hits. Alex Rodríguez has 792.
- Pete Rose reached base 2295 Times. Alex Rodríguez 2729 times.
- Craig Biggio had been Hit By Pitch 85 Times. Rodríguez has been hit 98 times.
- Eddie Murray had 65 Sacrifice Flies. Alex Rodríguez has 61.
- Pete Rose had 5582 At Bats. Alex Rodríguez has 6195.
- Pete Rose played in 1383 Games. Alex Rodríguez has played in 1592.
[edit] Sources and Further Reading
- Jack Curry: "Matching Pinstripes with Camouflage", in The New York Times, September 4, 2007, p. D1.
- Selena Roberts: A-Rod: the Many lives of Alex Rodriguez, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY, 2009.
[edit] Related Sites
- ARod.com
- Alex Rodriguez Player File on mlb.com
