Francisco Cordero

Francisco Javier Cordero (born May 11, 1975) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher.

Cordero made his first appearance in the Tigers organization with the Jamestown Jammers of the New York–Penn League in 1995, appearing in 19 games, making 18 starts, and pitching to a 4–10 win–loss record with a 5.42 earned run average (ERA) in 108 innings pitched.

Cordero then finished the 1995 season with the Fayetteville Generals of South Atlantic League, going 0–3 with a 6.30 ERA in four starts.

Cordero suffered through an injury plagued 1996 season, as he made only two starts with the Jammers, going 0–0 with a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings pitched, then with the Generals, he appeared in two games, making one start, going 0–0 with a 2.57 ERA in seven innings pitched.

He played the entire 1997 season with the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League, where Cordero was converted into a closing pitcher.

In 50 games, Cordero had an excellent season, going 6–1 with a 0.99 ERA in 54.1 innings pitched, earning 35 saves.

Cordero began the 1998 season with the Lakeland Tigers of the Florida State League, appearing in just one game, allowing a hit to the only batter he faced before moving up to the Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League.

In Jacksonville, Cordero appeared in 17 games, going 1–1 with a 4.86 ERA while earning eight saves.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays, and Houston Astros from 1999 through 2012, often serving as the closer.

He returned to Jacksonville for the 1999 season, as Cordero appeared in 47 games, going 4–1 with a 1.38 ERA while earning 27 saves with the Suns before earning a call-up to the Detroit Tigers.

Cordero made his MLB debut on August 2, 1999, pitching the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Tiger Stadium.

The first batter he faced was Chris Singleton, who grounded out.

After Frank Thomas hit a single, Cordero managed to strikeout both Magglio Ordóñez and Brian Simmons to end the inning.

The White Sox ended up winning the game 6–2.

Cordero earned his first MLB victory on August 31, 1999, in a 14–6 win over the Texas Rangers.

He finished the season with a 2–2 record and a 3.32 ERA in 20 games out of the bullpen.

On September 27, 1999, Cordero transported the home plate of the old Tiger Stadium after the last game played there to Comerica Park along with pitchers Matt Anderson and Jeff Weaver.

On November 2, 1999, the Tigers traded Cordero, Frank Catalanotto, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler, Justin Thompson and Alan Webb to the Texas Rangers for Juan González, Danny Patterson and Gregg Zaun.

Cordero made his debut with the Texas Rangers on April 4, 2000, as he pitched 1 1⁄3 innings, allowing two runs, however, earned the victory as Texas defeated the Chicago White Sox 12–8 at The Ballpark in Arlington.

He finished the season going 1–2 with a 5.35 ERA, pitching 77 1⁄3 innings with the Rangers.

Injuries slowed Cordero down in the 2001 season, as he appeared in only three games with Texas, going 0–0 with a 3.86 ERA.

With the Oklahoma RedHawks of the Pacific Coast League, Cordero appeared in 12 games, going 0–0 with a 0.59 ERA and earning six saves in 15 1⁄3 innings pitched, striking out 20 hitters.

Cordero spent part of the 2002 season with Oklahoma, playing in 11 games, going 0–2 with a 5.84 ERA, while earning two saves.

In Texas, Cordero earned his first career MLB save on June 19, 2002, striking out all three batters he faced in the tenth inning in a 7–4 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

He had a solid season with the Rangers, going 2–0 with a 1.79 ERA, while earning 10 saves.

Cordero began the 2003 season as the set-up man for closer Ugueth Urbina, however, the Rangers traded Urbina to the Florida Marlins in July, and Cordero became the Rangers' closer.

Cordero earned 12 saves during the last two months of the season.

Overall, Cordero was 5–8 with a 2.94 ERA and 15 saves in 73 games pitched.

In 2004, Cordero was the Rangers closer for the entire season for the first time in his career, and he had an all-star season, going 3–4 with a 2.13 ERA and earning 49 saves, second only to Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees in the American League, who had 53 saves.

Cordero was named to the 2004 MLB All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, but did not appear in the game.

Cordero had another solid season in 2005, going 3–1 with a 3.39 ERA and 37 saves for the Rangers in 69 games pitched.

He began the 2006 season as the Rangers closer, however, Cordero struggled early in the season, as at the end of April, despite a 3–2 record, Cordero had an ERA of 11.45.

He lost his job as the closer to Akinori Otsuka, and on July 28, 2006, Texas traded Cordero, Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix and Julian Cordero to the Milwaukee Brewers for Nelson Cruz and Carlos Lee.

Cordero had a 7–4 record with a 4.81 ERA and six saves at the time of the trade.

Cordero made his Brewers debut on July 28, 2006, pitching the ninth inning in a 4–3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Miller Park.

On June 1, 2011, Cordero recorded his 300th career save with the Reds, becoming only the 22nd player to reach that mark.

He completed his major league career with 329 saves and is a three-time MLB All-Star.

Cordero is frequently referred to by his nickname, CoCo, which is a combination of the last two letters of his first name and the first two letters of his last name.

Cordero's arsenal featured a mid-90s fastball and wipe-out slider.

He attended Colegio Luz Arroyo Hondo High School in the Dominican Republic.