Search the Community

At 5:00 on Wednesday, Jeff Idelson announced that three players had been voted to become the 2017 Hall of Fame class. Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines made it after falling just short a year ago. On his first ballot, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez also was named a Hall of Famer, baseball’s highest honor. Certainly it was a huge day for all three new Hall of Famers. Certainly a big day for Puerto Rico. And without question, it was a big day for Dereck Rodriguez, Twins prospect and son of the first-ballot Hall of Famer. Making the Hall of Fame is a huge accomplishment. With Rodriguez voted in, it was also a big day for Puerto Rico. He became just the fourth player born in Puerto Rico to be named a Hall of Famer. Consider all of the great players to come from Puerto Rico, only Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Alomar are in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Lean Marrero spent his summer playing for the GCL Twins. Very young, he has a lot of athletic talent. Here are his thoughts on this important day for Ivan Rodriguez and for Puerto Rico. “It gives me satisfaction to hear that a Puerto Rican has reached the Hall of Fame. It inspires me to stay focused on what I want my career to be like It serves as an example to always exceed any limitation.” JJ Fernandez, a Twins minor league outfielder who spent his 2016 season in Cedar Rapids and had been a catcher before 2016, was excited for Rodriguez. “For me, he deserves it. He’s one of the best catchers baseball has ever seen. It really means a lot for sure. Everybody in Puerto Rico is very happy and proud.” Another 2016 Kernel, Nelson Molina, was very excited as well. “It means so much to me. Really, it does. Since I was a little kid, he was always my favorite player. I know it’s not only me, but all the young players from Puerto Rico have this feeling of excitement and feel extremely proud, knowing that dreams do come true with hard work, dedication and a lot of sacrifice.” Molina continued, “I got the pleasure of not only meeting him, but to get to know him on a personal level. All I can say is that he is a great human being who has given me advice on how to be a better player. As I mentioned before, I know it’s not only me, but all of Puerto Rico feels extremely proud of Ivan for joining a select group of elite baseball players in the Hall of Fame, and putting our island, Puerto Rico, very high as have Roberto Clemente, Roberto Alomar and Orlando Cepeda.” “It means a lot,” said Dereck Rodriguez, another member of the 2016 Cedar Rapids Kernels roster from Puerto Rico. He continued, “Hopefully there’s one next year too in Edgar Martinez. You never know. It could be one year, five years, twenty years. It’s a very special moment for Puerto Ricans and for the island. I know they’re going crazy right now. I’ve received phone calls and FaceTimed with people. It's nuts over there right now. It’s a fun time.” Dereck Rodriguez is excited for the island of Puerto Rico, where he has been pitching (and well) this winter. But as the son of Ivan Rodriguez, Dereck is understandably excited for his dad and his family. On Tuesday, he flew to Dallas to be with his father. It was important for him to be there. “It means a lot to me. This is where I was born. This is where everything started for him. It’s where things started for him and for me,” he continued, “It was big. I was there from Day 1. I went through the journey with him. I spent a lot of nights with him in the hotel in the summers. It means a lot. It was important for me to be there with him for that special moment.” Just ten minutes before 5:00, the phone rang at Ivan Rodriguez’s home. On the other end, the Hall of Fame. Seconds later, Pudge clenched his fist and raised his arm as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. The first person to give him a hug was his son, Dereck. Dereck Rodriguez said, “It was a special moment. Yeah, I got the first hug in. It was a very special moment. I couldn’t hold back any tears.” Dereck Rodriguez has a very different perspective on the game of baseball than most people, even most minor leaguers. It might be surprising to some to learn when he realized just how difficult this game is and the challenges it can present. “Before I signed, I always just thought of this as just a game. After I signed and had been in the minor leagues and been through all of the struggles… It’s tough. It’s tough. And to be a Hall of Famer, and to be the caliber of player that he was, it’s not easy. So I understand 100% how he must feel after all of the hard work and sacrifice that he put in. It paid off.” Rodriguez has said before that he spent a lot of time with his dad growing up. He saw it up close. He had a great view of the game and got to know many of his dad’s teammates, but for him, it was about more than that. In fact, other things were likely more important much of the time. “When I used to come to the field when I was younger, I used to spend my time making paintballs and playing pickle and all that stuff with the other kids.” Now? As Dereck Rodriguez stood in the outfield at The Ballpark in Arlington, looking in as his father conducted a press conference on the infield, his mind was racing and full of excitement. “I go to a baseball game, and wow, I want to be here. I’m here standing in the outfield. I’m wishing and hoping. I can’t wait to be hopefully one day be pitching on that mound, in front of this packed stadium, in the town that I lived in and grew up, and it pretty much raised me for a lot of years.” Dereck Rodriguez is one proud son. “The feeling that I have right now for my dad, and me honestly, I can’t believe it that my dad is a Hall of Famer.” That was the sentiment he felt when he posted the following on twitter: Rodriguez noted, “To be honest, it was a longer tweet but you can only put so many characters, so I had to make it shorter.” Drafted in the 6th round of the 2010 draft out of high school in Florida, Rodriguez spent the first three years of his professional career as a hitter. At that point, Rodriguez and the Twins brass made the decision for him to move to the mound, to become a pitcher in 2014. In 2015, he was the Appalachian League pitcher of the year. His father gets to a handful of Dereck’s games each year. “He’s been supportive. He tries to make it out there as much as he can.” Ivan Rodriguez is a special assistant to the GM of the Texas Rangers. It’s a title similar to what the Twins recently named Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer and LaTroy Hawkins. He also does pregame and postgame shows for Fox Sports Southwest during the season. This year, Dereck Rodriguez moved up to Cedar Rapids to start the season. He really struggled for the first two months before taking off. Starting in mid-June, he started pitching much better. In fact, he had a strong six-week stretch for the Kernels and earned a promotion to Ft. Myers where he pitched well in five starts to end the season. “I started throwing the ball down a bit more. It was honestly that confidence. I didn’t have as much confidence as I should. I started throwing the two-seam a lot more, and that helped a lot. Started getting a lot more ground balls instead of fly balls. It was a combination of things. But that main thing was that I just needed to build up my confidence. It paid off. I got moved up to High-A and I just kept doing it up there.” This winter, as we mentioned, he has been working out the bullpen for Mayaguez. He pitches an inning or two each weekend. In 13 games and 17.2 innings, he is 2-1 with a 1.02 ERA. He has been very appreciative of the opportunity he was given and gained a lot from it. “It was special. It was fun. They gave me the confidence that they believed in me to throw me in those late-game situations. Puerto Rico, compared to the other leagues, may not be the highest ranked, but it’s really good competition. They have AA, AAA, big league guys playing there. It was a lot of fun. It taught me a lot. I worked on a couple of things. It taught me how to pitch in different situations, key situations late in the game. It taught me a lot.” 2017 is a big year for Rodriguez. At the end of the season, he could become a free agent if he chooses. So what are his goals? “I think any player in the minors, the ultimate goal is to go up as much as he can; AA, AAA, or even the big leagues. I’m taking some time off right now with my arm to give it some rest before getting it going again. Trying to make AA right out of spring training and see what happens from there. Hopefully I do well enough and they see the hard work that I do during the year and then, we’ll see, maybe move up to AAA and maybe the big leagues in September.” He’d like to get a little rest before spring training starts in a little over a month. But the next few days will not allow for it. He is going to be a bit busy, doing some traveling with his dad. They are flying up to New York tonight, expected to arrive in Cooperstown well after midnight. “It’s going to be a couple of fun, hectic days.” Tomorrow afternoon, Ivan Rodriguez will join Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines at the baseball Hall of Fame to see the museum and speak with more press. Dereck says that he has been to Cooperstown before, but this will certainly be different. “I’ve been there before, but as a visitor. Last time I went, I was 12 years old. Now I get to go and see everything, appreciate everything a lot more now that I’m older.” What an experience! Some may say that Johnny Bench is the greatest catcher in baseball history. Some will say that title goes to Yogi Berra. In baseball’s 150-year existence, it is certain that Ivan Rodriguez is right there at or near the top of the list of baseball’s great catchers. His son Dereck is very happy and very proud. As he should be. “He worked his butt off to be where he is today. I honestly don’t think there’s been a harder working person than he has been. During the offseason, his workout program, and even during the season, he was the first one to get to the stadium and the last one to leave. He worked his butt off to get to where he is today.” View full article

The winds of change are blowing through the hallowed grounds of Cooperstown. Debate has swirled over which players, if any, from the steroids era should be elected. Mike Piazza was elected as part of the class of 2016 and there were steroid rumors surrounding him. Other top players from the steroid era, like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, have been forced to wait their turn. Within the last few months, it was announced that former MLB commissioner Bud Selig will be enshrined in Cooperstown. This is the man who oversaw the growth of baseball to the level that it is today. He also allowed the steroid era to continue longer than it should have gone on. If the architect of the steroid era is being let into the Hall, players of that culture will soon follow suit.There needs to be a fine line drawn and each person is going to put that line in different spots. When baseball started testing/suspensions for steroids in 2005, players continued to break the rules. Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez broke the rules and won't be on this ballot or any future ballot. Here are the ten names I would pencil in if I had a ballot: Class of 2017 Jeff Bagwell: It was close last year but Bagwell's 71.6% of the vote fell just short of the 75% needed for induction. There are some who have questioned his candidacy because he was a power hitter in the midst of the steroids era. Bagwell is tied with Ty Cobb for the third most seasons with a .420+OBP, .540+SLG, and 15+ stolen bases. Only Ed Delahanty and Barry Bonds are higher on the list. Tim Raines: Raines enters his tenth and final year on the ballot with a full head of steam. He finished last year with almost 70% of the vote and the ballots released so far this year show he should easily make it. He is one of the best lead-off hitters of all time. He's fifth in stolen bases, 13th in stolen base percentage and 46th in win probability added. Ivan Rodriguez: It took Mike Piazza, the best offensive catcher of all time, four tries to be elected to the Hall. With Piazza breaking down the door, it looks like Ivan Rodriguez will get to follow on his coat-tails. The 14-time All-Star won the AL MVP in 1999 and was NLCS MVP in 2003. He played more games at catcher than anyone in history and he has 13 Gold Gloves to show for all this time behind the plate. Future Inductions Vladimir Guerrero: Guerrero is an interesting case and I think voters will be more open to his election in the years to come. He was a career .318/.379/.553 hitter while ranking in the top five in the MVP voting four times including winning the 2004 AL MVP. His .318 average and 449 home runs have only been matched by Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and Jimmie Foxx. That's some rare company. Trevor Hoffman: For a few seasons, he held the all-time record for career saves before being passed by Mariano Rivera. Even as a relief pitcher, he finished second in the Cy Young voting twice and had two other top six finishes. He was the first pitcher to reach 500 saves and one of two players to have reached the 600 save mark. Relief pitchers have a tough time getting in but he was a trailblazer at the position. May Never Get In (But Still On My Ballot) Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling Bonds and Clemens are two of the greatest players of all-time but the steroid cloud continues to haunt them. They are each making big jumps on the 2017 ballot so it will be interesting to see what will happen in the years to come. Martinez is one of the best designated hitters in history but the voters also seems to be holding his lack of defense against him. Mussina has been one of the last names on my ballot in each of the last two seasons. He was a good pitcher for a very long time but it might not be enough to find a place in Cooperstown. Schilling is losing votes very quickly. His outspoken nature since he has retired have hurt his chances. He is still one of the best post-season pitchers in history so I would put him on my ballot strictly for his play on the field. So who do you think gets in? Who else should have been on my ballot? Who should have been left off? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. Here is the official list of players available to be voted for by the BBWAA . Who makes your list? Click here to view the article

The Twins clearly have made a concerted, focused effort in Puerto Rico in recent years. It's a good thing as the island with about 3.6 million people has really produced a lot of baseball talent. Hiram Bithorn became the first Puerto Rican-born player in Major League Baseball when he debuted for the Chicago Cubs in 1942. He went 27-26 with a 3.04 ERA over those two seasons before spending two years fighting in the Navy in World War II. He returned and spent parts of two more seasons in the big leagues. The stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital, is named in his honor. Here is a look at history of players from Puerto Rico in MLB since then with a focus on those in the Twins organization.Since Bithorn joined the ranks of big leaguer in 1942, a total of 257 players from Puerto Rico have spent time in Major League Baseball. The Twins have had quite a few players from there as well. A list of players from Puerto Rico is quite impressive. There are been three players from Puerto Rico who are currently in baseball's Hall of Fame with a couple more who either will be shortly or at least deserve strong consideration. The most recent inductee is the great Roberto Alomar. Orlando Cepeda had a tremendous playing career. But if you talk to people from Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente is the greatest player from the island. Clemente passed away in a plane crash delivering relief goods to Nicaragua on New Year's Eve of 1972. He was just 38-years-old and had a couple of years remaining in a career. He had reached the 3,000 hit club in his final game. Players from the country have frequently made attempts to get Clemente's Number 21 retired. Ivan Rodriguez is one of the greatest catchers of all-time and should join those three in the Hall soon. 2017 is his first year of eligibility. Sandy Alomar, Jr., and Benito Santiago were a couple more catchers who had great careers. Speaking of catchers, Bengie, Jose and Yadier Molina are all from Puerto Rico too. Carlos Delgado is the all-time leader in home runs for a player from Puerto Rico. He hit 473 in his career and drove in 1,512 runs. Juan Gonzalez hit .295 with 434 home runs and 1,404 RBI in his career. Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada were huge parts of those strong Yankees teams in the 1990s. Ruben Sierra had a terrific career, hitting over 300 home runs and playing 20 years. Javier Vazquez's 165 wins is most in MLB history by a player from Puerto Rico. Juan Pizarro won 131 games over his 19 season MLB career. Willie Hernandez won a Cy Young and MVP for the Tigers in 1984. Jose Cruz (and Jose Cruz, Jr.). Danny Tartabull. Jose Vidro. Mike Lowell. Jose Oquendo. Juan Beniquez. Carlos "Boom Boom" Baerga. Carlos Beltran just completed his 19th season in the big leagues. He has hit .281/.354/.492 (.845) with 536 doubles, 78 triples, 421 home runs, 1,536 RBI and 1,522 runs scored. He won the Rookie of the Year award as a Royals outfielder in 1999, has played in nine All-Star games, won three Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards. After two years of construction, the Carlos Beltran Academy, a high school for kids in Florida, Puerto Rico. The academy accepts kids ages 14 to 18, and kids get instruction from MLB players. Its first graduating class was in 2013, and since then, several players have been drafted by MLB teams. Some of today's brightest young stars are from Puerto Rico. Carlos Correa, Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor grew up in Puerto Rico. Two of the top pitching prospects in baseball, Jose Berrios and Jose De Leon, are also from the island country. TWINS IN PUERTO RICO The Twins have had many players from Puerto Rico. Some of been good. Others, maybe not so much. THE PAST For instance, lefty reliever Juan Agosto posted an 8.86 ERA in 17 games for the Twins in 1986, but it was just a blip in his 13 seasons in MLB. Here are more players from Puerto Rico who spent time in a Twins uniform: Orlando Merced - 13-year career, signed with Twins before 1998 season. Traded at July deadline for Matt Kinney and more.Jose Morales - Catcher who spent parts of three seasons with the Twins, mostly as a backup.Vic Power - Already had four All-Star appearances and won some Gold Gloves before coming to the Twins in 1962. Spent the next three seasons with the Twins and won Gold Gloves all three seasons.Rene Rivera - Played 53 games for Seattle from 2004 to 2006. Resurfaced in the big leagues as Twins backup catcher in 2011. Still just 33, he is a well-respected backstop who has caught over 100 games two of the last three years.JC Romero - Came up with the Twins as a starter in 1999. Shifted to bullpen in 2002 and went 9-2 with a 1.89 ERA in 81 innings. Seven of his 14 seasons were with the Twins.Javier Valentin - Debuted in September of 1997 before backing up Terry Steinbach for the Twins the next two seasons. Then didn't play for the Twins (four games) three years later. Went on to play six more seasons in the big leagues. He is now a coach for the GCL Twins.Junior Ortiz - He wore the number zero. Just two of his 13 MLB seasons were with the Twins, but he was Scott Erickson's personal catcher in 1990 and 1991.Jesus Vega - Had 41 at bats in 16 games for the Twins in 1979 and 1980. He hit five homer runs in 71 games for the Twins in 1982.THE PRESENT The present also looks a lot like the future. Kennys Vargas burst on the scene with a strong power display the last two months of 2014. He struggled in 2015. In 2016, he got another chance and had a very strong July. He's out of options, so he'll likely make the Twins roster in 2017.Eddie Rosario was a surprise April call up in 2015, but he stayed, and he played very well. He filled out the stat line with double figures in doubles, triples, home runs, and he led the league in outfield assists. 2016 was a struggle for the free swinger.Juan Centeno came to the Twins as a minor league free agent before the 2016 season. He spent most of the season as the Twins backup catcher.Jose Berrios is a big part of the Twins future. He debuted in 2016 to mixed results. We saw glimpses of what could be through a lot of thestruggles.THE FUTURE There are several minor leaguers in the Twins system from Puerto Rico. OF Edgar Corcino split 2016 between Ft. Myers and Chattanooga.JJ Fernandez was drafted as a catcher, but he has transitioned to the outfield in Cedar Rapids.Lean Marrero was drafted as a 17-year-old outfielder in 2015. He's spent these two seasons in the Gulf Coast League.IF Nelson Molina started 2016 in extended spring training, but he came up to Cedar Rapids and had a very nice full-season debut.Jose Miranda was one of two Twins supplemental 2nd round pick this year. The shortstop debuted in the GCL.Dereck Rodriguez is the son of Ivan Rodriguez. He was drafted by the Twins and spent three seasons as an outfielder before moving ot the mound. He struggled early in 2016 with the Kernels, but the light appears to have switched on. He ended the season pitching well in Ft. Myers.The players from Puerto Rico that I have talked to are all so proud of their country and their countrymen. Jose Berrios takes pride in what his friends Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor are doing this postseason. Nelson Molina and JJ Fernandez talked about how much it meant to them when Kennys Vargas, Eddie Rosario and Jose Berrios were called up to the big leagues. That kind of pride is infectious! Residents of Puerto Rico are US citizens. It has been a territory of the United States since 1898, the Spanish-American War. It's a small island. In fact, the widest spot across the island is approximately 40 miles wide. In addition to tourism, he island exports many products, but may be best known for its rum. And its baseball players. Great baseball players. Click here to view the article