Wandy Rodriguez

Wandy E. Rodriguez is a professional baseball player from the Dominican Republic who plays as a starting pitcher. Rodriguez played at the local leagues in his home country before being spotted and subsequently picked up by the Houston Astros. The Astros picked Rodriguez as an undrafted free agent in 1999 and put him through the drills with the affiliate teams.

Rodriguez began his Astros’ career, in 2001, with the Martinsville Astros in the Rookie League. A 4-3 record and a 1.58 ERA later, he moved up to the Low A-Division with the Lexington Legends for the 2002 season. He posted an 11-4 record with a 3.78 ERA in the 28 games he played. With 137 strikeouts in 159.1 innings, Rodriguez was certainly one of the rising stars in the Houston Astros’ organization.

From 2003 to 2005, Rodriguez steadily rose through the ranks, reaching the A-Division, the Advanced A-Division and then the AA-Division. By early 2005, after just a single game for the Corpus Christi Hooks in the AA-League, Rodriguez was called up to the Round Rock Express in the AAA-League. A 4-2 record after 8 games meant that he was considered ready for the Majors and the Houston Astros bought out his contract and gave Rodriguez his debut at the highest level.

Rodriguez had an up-and-down rookie season, going 10-10 with a 5.53 ERA. He struck out 80 batters through the season and had a tough in September when his record actually went for a toss with a 1-4 performance for the month. Rodriguez was also part of the post-season where the Astros went to the World Series against the Chicago White Sox. However, despite a decent performance on his part, with a 2.45 ERA, the Astros would lost 4-0 to the White Sox.

Rodriguez had a poor ERA in 2006 and was subsequently sent down to the Minors. Brandon Backe came off the 60-day disabled list to take his place but Rodriguez was soon back in the roster after Backe was forced to undergo the Tommy John Surgery. Rodriguez had a 5.64 ERA with a 9-10 record for the time he spent with the Astros in 2007.

Rodriguez himself was a regular victim of injuries here and there, but in 2007, he finally got the opportunity to play an entire season without having to worry about spending time in the sick bay. He started all 31 games he played, compiling a 9-13 record and 158 strikeouts at an ERA of 4.58. 2008 again brought injuries to Rodriguez and he was forced to return to the AA-League with the Corpus Christi Hooks in a bid to regain fitness and form. Despite the injuries, Rodriguez greatly improved upon his statistics, ending the season with a 9-7 record and a 3.54 ERA.

In 2009, Rodriguez not only became a regular in the Astros, he moved to second spot in the rotation behind Roy Oswalt. Starting 33 games, Rodriguez was used extensively, pitching in 205 innings and compiling a 3.02 ERA. Rodriguez was ranked 9th in the National League for his ERA while he was ranked 8th for his 193 strikeouts.