How fast does ivan rodriguez throw

Bench led his league three times in caught stealing percentage, Rodriguez nine times. For their careers, Bench had a 43 percent caught stealing rate against a league average of 35 percent. Rodriguez had a 46 percent caught stealing rate against a league average of 31 percent he was over 50 percent the first half of his career.

Worth noting as well: When Rodriguez joined the Rangers in , they had a staff with a reputation of not holding runners on -- Nolan Ryan, for example, was one of the worst ever at that.

In and , the Rangers allowed the second-most steals in the American League and , respectively. But Bench also shut down the opportunities against him. In , the National League average was 87 steals per team; the Reds allowed just In , the league average was 80 steals; the Reds allowed just Bench hurt his shoulder in and runners were more aggressive on him after that, but consider this fear factor: From to , the Reds played 42 postseason games and Bench allowed just two stolen bases while nailing 13 would-be thieves.

Meanwhile, he stole six bases in seven attempts. He stole more bases than he allowed. Overall, Baseball-Reference grades Bench as 97 runs above average on defense at catcher and Rodriguez at plus Then we have to consider longevity. Rodriguez played 20, innings at catcher, Bench 14, A walking tour of the punctilious science that led us some facts regarding how many times Pudge squatted in his big-league career Those bits of information are essential to get an idea of how many pitches Rodriguez caught in his career by "caught" we of course mean manned catcher for that pitch.

Using a basic pitch count estimator , we arrive at a career pitches caught total of That's a lot! It would be easy enough to say Pudge squatted for each and every one of those pitches and call it a day, but if we're going to be inaccurate about something, we're going to be inaccurate about something at great length.

This is where expert video scouting comes into play. First, the author reviewed this brief sequence from very late in Rodriguez's major-league playing career Pudge's routine seems to be to fall to one or both knees for pitches that don't end the at-bat or yield a ball in play or foul that's possibly playable by him. I would call neither of those a squat. To count as a squat -- I'm decreeing this -- you must go from standing position to squatting position, preferably with hips below parallel.

We can term what you see above "holding a squat, mostly," which is also physically taxing, but it's not a full squat. That qualifies as rising up out of squat position. So by counting his career total chances as squats, we'll cover assists, putouts, and errors. Pudge is one of only 10 catchers to have been voted a league MVP.

He played in 14 All-Star games, starting in 12 games as the AL catcher, a record. The AL won nine and lost three in the games Pudge started behind the plate.

He batted. Rodriguez had a. In games won by his team, he hit. Of his career home runs, he hit the most against the Minnesota Twins , His line drive to left off John Burkett got stuck in a seam of the outfield wall padding, giving Rodriguez a ground-rule double, and he then came round to score the go-ahead run as the AL walked away with the game.

A few weeks later Rodriguez had a couple of weeks to remember: On Monday, July 26, he went 4-for-4 in the second game of a doubleheader. In the next game he also went 4-for-4, for eight straight hits, along with an intentional walk in the ninth inning. The following day he was struck in the face by the backswing of Royals batter Hubie Brooks, and broke his cheekbone.

He had surgery the following day, and after being out for just four days, returned to the field. He ended his hitting streak with a groundout, then left the game in the sixth inning with dizziness. Back in the lineup a few days after that, he was behind the plate for a fight between Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura, and admitted he was thinking about his cheek as he ran out to the mound for the fight.

The rave reviews continued to come in, although Rodriguez tried to downplay things. He gets rid of the ball quick, throws it hard and accurate. Rodriguez had caught two no-hitters in the minor leagues, but this was on another level.

To me, calling a great game and helping a pitcher be at his very best is what being a catcher is all about. He also showed his faith on the field every day, which he said he had done since he was a child. He wore a medallion of Jesus under his shirt, and before every at-bat crossed himself and said a prayer. I always ask him to take of myself, to take care of my family. Among other odd quirks, Rodriguez insisted on having a friend or family member accompany him on road trips to help chase away his boredom.

Then he gets up in the morning, takes a shower and watches ESPN again. By the late s Rodriguez was clearly the best catcher in the major leagues. In the spring of Rodriguez entered the last year of his contract with the Rangers.

The Rangers then approached Rodriguez in July to restart talks, in fear that they would lose him to free agency for just a draft pick at the end of the year. Rodriguez agreed to negotiate, and the two sides talked, but were far apart. However, on the morning of July 31, the trade deadline, Rodriguez took matters into his own hands. He listened to me and we did it.

After that season Rodriguez played winter ball in Puerto Rico, as he had done for several years. Now that the Rangers had given him a large contract, they were not happy that he was risking himself in winter ball.

In Rodriguez became the first catcher to have three hits in the All-Star Game, and also played several games as the designated hitter; Oates wanted to keep his bat in the lineup even as he rested from his catching duties.

As had happened previously though, Rodriguez had back spasms and was forced to miss some time late in the season. In Rodriguez broke numerous records.

He displayed his speed with 25 stolen bases, becoming the first catcher with 20 home runs and 20 steals in a season. Rodriguez also had a game hitting streak from May 8 to June 1, the longest of his career. He ended the season with hits, the highest total of his career, going 0-for-4 on the last day of the season.

On April 13 in Seattle, Rodriguez had a career day, driving in nine runs in a win over the Mariners. He had a three-run home run in the first, a two-run single in the second and a grand slam in the third inning. Rodriguez had a shot at the major-league record of 12 RBIs in a game, but flied out with runners on first and second in the fifth inning, singled with the bases empty in the seventh, and was replaced in the eighth by Gregg Zaun, who came up with runners on first and second in the ninth.

Asked if he was disappointed that manager Johnny Oates pulled him with a record in sight, Rodriguez said no. After batting. Rodriguez was just the fifth player to win the MVP without getting the most first-place votes.