Francisco Rodríguez (Venezuelan pitcher)

Francisco José Rodríguez Sr. (born January 7, 1982), nicknamed "Frankie" and "K-Rod", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers.

Rodríguez signed as an undrafted amateur free agent in 1998.

Rodriguez pitched for the Angels from 2002 to 2008, and the Mets from 2009 to midway through the 2011 season.

He served as the closer for both teams.

Originally a starting pitcher, Rodríguez moved to relief pitching in 2002 after elbow and shoulder injuries shortened his 2001 minor league season with the Lake Elsinore Storm.

In 2002, he made his major league debut.

At the time, he was the youngest pitcher in the American League.

Because of the multiple injuries to the Angels bullpen, the club brought him up during the middle of September.

He emerged as a postseason relief hero, winning five postseason games despite never having won a Major League game before.

Although he threw a lively fastball, his sharp-breaking curveball was his most effective pitch, made even better in 2002 by his late season emergence and hitters lack of experience seeing such a huge 12 to 6 late break from a pitch with fastball velocity.

The pitch was almost unstoppable in the 2002 postseason.

Because Rodríguez had played very little in the major leagues, hitters in the postseason had very little idea what to expect from him, a situation that often favors the pitcher.

The combination of high 90's fastball, the previously unseen high velocity late breaking curve, and the very occasional change up was too much.

In the 2002 American League Division Series against the New York Yankees, he got two victories (with 1 win resulting from a blown save).

The Angels won the division series against the Yankees in 4 games.

During the 2002 American League Championship Series vs the Minnesota Twins, he went 2–0 with seven strikeouts in 4 1⁄3 innings.

The Angels won the series in 5 games.

During the 2002 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, he had a 1–1 record with 13 strikeouts in 8 2⁄3 innings.

At 20 years, 286 days old, he became the youngest pitcher ever to win a World Series game.

The Angels won the World Series in 7 games due in large part to a rookie set up man that was scheduled for and delivered 3-6 high pressure outs a game.

In 2003, Rodríguez became a setup man.

He gave up an earned run in 9 of his first 15 games, but rebounded to only allow 9 in his last 44 appearances.

For the 2003 year, Rodriguez made 59 appearances going 8–3 with a 3.03 ERA.

In 2004, Rodríguez was selected for the All-Star Game.

On August 24, 2004, he became the sixth pitcher in the Angels' 44-year history to strike out at least 100 batters in a season without starting a game — joining Mark Clear (105 in 1980), DeWayne Buice (109, 1987), Bryan Harvey (101, 1991), Troy Percival (100, 1996), and Scot Shields (109, also in 2004).

He finished the 2004 year 4–1 with 123 strikeouts and a 1.82 ERA in 69 relief appearances.

During the 2004 American League Division Series, Francisco Rodriguez had two losses as the Angels lost the division series to the Boston Red Sox in three games.

He is a three-time league leader in saves (2005, 2006, and 2008) and a six-time All-Star.

Rodríguez is one of only eight Major League pitchers to accumulate a total of 400 or more saves in his baseball career.

Entering the 2005 season, veteran Angels closer Troy Percival departed as a free agent which allowed Rodriguez to become the Angels' full-time closer.

Rodríguez ended the season 2–5 with a 2.67 ERA in 66 relief appearances and tied the American League lead in saves with 45.

Rodriguez got his first two 2 career postseason saves during the 2005 American League Division Series as the Angels won the division series against the Yankees in 5 games.

He got one save in the 2005 American League Championship Series, which the Angels lost to the Chicago White Sox in 5 games.

Rodriguez improved on his share of the 2005 American League saves title by leading the Majors in 2006 with 47 saves, one more than the National League leader Trevor Hoffman and six more than American League runner-up Bobby Jenks.

On September 10 against the Toronto Blue Jays, he became the youngest closer in Major League Baseball history, at the age 24 years and 246 days, to accumulate 100 career saves.

Rodríguez holds the major league record for saves in a single season, with 62, set in 2008 while pitching for the Angels.

Rodriguez then pitched for the Brewers until July 2013, mostly in a setup role, and for the Orioles for the rest of 2013 before returning to the Brewers for 2014 and 2015, this time as the team's closer.

He was then traded to the Detroit Tigers in 2016, and became the Tigers' closer.

In his rookie season, Rodríguez tied Randy Johnson for the record for most victories in a single postseason, recording five wins en route to the Angels winning the World Series; Stephen Strasburg (2019) and Nathan Eovaldi (2023) later accomplished this feat as well.