Dereck Rodríguez


Iván Dereck Rodríguez, nicknamed D-Rod, is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. The Minnesota Twins selected Rodríguez in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB draft as an outfielder. He was converted to a pitcher in 2014. He made his MLB debut in 2018. He is the son of Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez, and is affectionately known to fans as Son of Pudge.

Early and personal life

Rodríguez was born in Arlington, Texas, to Maribel Rivera and Baseball Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez. His father spent 21 years in the Major Leagues, won 13 Gold Gloves, and was a 14-time All-Star. He has three siblings. He grew up in Texas, and at age 10 moved to Florida, where he later on attended Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Opa-locka, Florida, and transition from catcher and played center field and pitched for the baseball team.
Rodríguez likes to cook and mostly cooks the Puerto Rican food he grew up with. He also likes video games, including Fortnite. Rodríguez is married to Ashley Negrón, whom he met in 2015 at a basketball game in Puerto Rico. He is an avid Batman fan and has a Batman tattoo on his forearm.

Career

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins selected Rodríguez in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB draft as an outfielder, and he signed for a $130,000 signing bonus. After he batted.216 with six home runs in 352 at bats at the Rookie-level in Minor League Baseball over his first three professional seasons, the Twins converted him into a pitcher in 2014. He was 2–2 with a 1.05 ERA in 17 relief appearances for the Elizabethton Twins. In 2015, Rodríguez had a 6–3 win–loss record and a 2.85 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 12 games started for Elizabethton, and was named the league's Pitcher of the Year. He also played in three games for the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Fort Myers Miracle. The next season, he pitched for Cedar Rapids, where he had a 4–11 win–loss record and a 5.08 ERA, and for Fort Myers where he pitched to a 1–2 record with a 2.56 ERA. During the 2016–17 offseason, he pitched for the Indios de Mayagüez of the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, and then pitched for the Criollos de Caguas in the 2017 Caribbean Series. He was named to the Puerto Rican national baseball team's roster for the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In 2017, he pitched for both Fort Myers and the Chattanooga Lookouts where he compiled a combined 10–6 record and 3.27 ERA in 26 games between both teams.

San Francisco Giants

Rodríguez signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants organization for the 2018 season. He began the season with the Sacramento River Cats of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. Rodriguez had a 4–1 win–loss record and a 3.40 ERA before the Giants promoted him to the major leagues on May 28.

2018

Rodríguez made his major league debut in relief of Jeff Samardzija on May 29, 2018 against the Colorado Rockies. During the game he pitched 3.1 innings and hit an RBI double. Rodríguez has a successful rookie year with the Giants with a 6-4 record and 2.81 earned run average in 31 games. As a starter, he allowed 3 runs or less in 16 of his 19 starts and pitched 5 or more innings in 17 of his 19 starts.

2019

Rodríguez struggled during the early portion of the season and was sent down to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. He was recalled and sent back down to Sacramento several times during the season and pitched in relief and made spot starts for the Giants. For the season, with Sacramento and San Jose he was 3-0 with a 3.67 ERA in seven starts in which he pitched 34.1 innings and struck out 37 batters. With the Giants, he was 6-11 with a 5.64 ERA and pitched in 28 games in which he pitched 99 innings.