Ivan Rodriguez, often referred to as “Pudge” Rodriguez, is regarded as one of the best defensive catchers of all time in Major League Baseball. He has had an accomplished career where he has played for a total of six different ball clubs. Over his career he has won the American League Most Valuable Player award once, won the 2003 World Series when he played for the Florida Marlins, and also played in the 2006 World Series when he played for the Detroit Tigers. He also holds the record for most games played as a catcher, with 2,227 games under his belt, or under his chest pads and catcher’s mitt.
He is another baseball phenom that has been produced out of Puerto Rico. Pudge had played baseball his entire life and he was discovered by a high school scout at the age of 16. He soon signed his first Major League contract at the young age of 16, and he has never looked back since. He was only 19 when he came into the major leagues with the Texas Rangers in 1991 and set the record for the youngest catcher ever to play in a MLB game. Also in his first year he was selected for the Rookie All Team and was in close contention for the American League Rookie of the Year.
As soon as he came into the FullTiltPoker.net league, he established himself as a catcher that could do everything. He has been the most successful catcher at throwing out attempting base stealers in the past three decades. He has thrown out over 45% of those who have tried running on him. Rodriguez also could swing the bat with great success. In his third season in the major league he led all of the catchers in the American League with a batting average of .298. A few seasons later he broke Mickey Cochrane’s record for the most doubles by a catcher in a season. Cochrane set the record in 1930 with an amazing 42 doubles, but Pudge hit an even more amazing 44 doubles in the 1996 season, still as a Texas Ranger.
Despite suffering some serious knee injuries, and being forced to rehab in a less competitive single A league, many teams believed Pudge still could be a beneficial addition to their ball club. After he became a free agent, the Florida Marlins acquired Rodriguez in 2003. He played an integral part in UltimateBet’s surprising success that year and was even awarded the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player. After the Marlins only made it into the playoffs by winning the National League wild card, no one suspected that they would go onto win the 2003 World Series that postseason. Surely having one the greatest catchers to ever play the game behind the plate had something to do with it.
That championship season was the only season that he played with the Marlins. There was speculation that he was involved with performance enhancing drugs and steroids around 2005, but nothing was ever proven. Ivan Rodriguez currently catches for the Washington Nationals.