Eladio Yanked

After being signed by the Yankees last autumn, only to be bounced around among the Yanks' various minor league affiliate teams depending on which other catchers were injured, IBL star Eladio Rodriguez has finally been let go.

Eladio, affectionately if unimaginatively known by fans as E-Rod, didn't rack up the greatest batting stats with the Yankees clubs. Then again, with just 45 at-bats among three teams, it may not be fair to judge him.

Rodriguez expressed his frustration in an interview with fan blogger Mike Ashmore:

Eladio Rodriguez - Is bouncing around among levels with limited playing time tough to deal with, or do you get to work on things and stay motivated? How do you see your future in the game?

“It’s very different. Sometimes, I feel bad because they say to play in Tampa or play in Trenton or play here or there. But where the Yankees need my services, I’m going. It’s hard, but I understand the situation. It’s very difficult for me, because I want to play. But when I get my chance, I play hard.”

Hopefully he'll get that chance with the other AL team he claims he's been talking to. Another Yankees minor league blogger thinks he will.

Easy come, easy go...

After his one day in the sun, Eladio has apparently been sent down to the Staten Island Yankees, a class A team which plays in the New York Penn League. The season doesn't start until mid-June, so Eladio will have plenty of time to warm up.

Eladio fans, listen live (or watch for a fee)

Head on over to the website of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, and you can listen to live or archived games for free with registration. (Video is available with a paid subscription.)

Eladio Rodriguez's debut game was April 29 against the Buffalo Bisons.

The Adventures of Eladio in Yankeeland

Congratulations to Eladio Rodriguez, formerly of the Modiin Miracle, on becoming the first IBL alumnus to play AAA ball in the minor leagues!

With the Yankees' current catcher woes, they brought up Chris Stewart from their AAA team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. To fill the roster spot in Scranton, who should turn up out of nowhere but Eladio, who was signed by the Yankees last autumn along with Jason Rees (who didn't make it through spring training). After Eladio missed spring training due to visa problems, having him show up behind the plate in Scranton was a pleasant surprise.

Even pleasanter, on his first day he went 1 for 3, with a double and two walks (.600 OBP). A great start. Let's see if he can keep it up.

Way to go, E-Rod!

IBL stars in the Dominican Winter League

The latest IBL press release reports glowingly: "IBL stars playing well in the Dominican Republic"

It continues:

Juan Feliciano, winner of the IBL's most valuable pitcher award and Eladio Rodriguez co-winner of the IBL's Most Valuable Player Award are teammates on the Santiago Aguilera's of the Dominican Winter Baseball League.

Juan Feliciano, who played for the Hiroshima Carp of Japan's major leagues before signing with the IBL has appeared in six games for the Santiago Aguilera's. In nine and two thirds innings of work Feliciano has yielded only five hits while striking out eight and has a 3.78 ERA.

Eladio Rodriguez, who has been signed by the NY Yankees after his superb performance in the IBL this past summer, has been to bat five times and has two hits including a double giving him a batting average of .400.

Now, it's nice to see that Juan and Eladio are keeping their skills up in the offseason. And it's nice to see that the IBL is following the careers of its leading alumni.

But c'mon! Two for five over three games? Nine and two-thirds innings pitched over six games? Those are good performances, yes, but over such small samples that to draw any conclusions from them would be absurd. Let's see how their playing holds up after dozens of at bats or innings, and then we'll have some idea how good they are.

The full stats lines can be found here, in Spanish, at the team's website. (It actually gives Feliciano's ERA as 3.72, not 3.78.) Hey! Eladio's leading the team in batting average! Just like in the IBL!

Not. At least not yet.

More on Rodriguez and Rees

As long as I was discussing Eladio Rodriguez and Jason Rees, I should have pointed out that they were also apparently effective fielders. I say apparently because the only fielding stat I currently have available is errors, and those are known to be only a partial reflection of fielding skill. Rees was charged with two errors over the season in this error-prone league, while Rodriguez, a catcher, was charged with one error and two passed balls. Since catcher is the most challenging defensive position after pitcher, that may give Eladio an edge in his career; catchers aren't expected to be good hitters too.

Also noteworthy is that neither player stood out for stealing bases. Rees was successful enough, stealing 14 (and caught twice), putting him in a four-way tie for ninth place and placing him eleventh for his rate of bases stolen per times on base.
Rodriguez, however, stole just one base the entire season.

So, IBL fans, remember where you stashed those autographed game balls, caps, programs, tickets and Burgers Bar hamburger wrappers. Maybe they'll be worth something some day. Maybe.

What do the Yankees see in Rodriguez and Rees?

While the Red Sox were clobbering the Rockies the other day, IBL fans were treated to a smile when the Yankees announced the signing of IBL batting stars Jason Rees and Eladio Rodriguez, the first IBL position players to sign pro contracts and the first IBL alumni to sign with MLB farm systems.

Congratulations to Jason and Eladio, as well as to the league for giving them the platform from which to get noticed by the big leagues.

But don't expect to see Rees and Rodriguez in Yankees uniforms any time soon. They were signed to minor league contracts, and both have a long way to go before they're likely to make the majors.

Eladio has minor league experience already, having been signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1998. His (incomplete) record in the minors shows him having played in leagues at the A- and A+ levels, playing variously as catcher, outfielder and pitcher. most recently in 2004. Before the IBL, he played in the Dominican Republic Winter League, where he apparently only had seven at bats in as many games in the 2006-7 season. At 28 years old, typically the peak of a ballplayer's career, he would seem to be a long shot for a major league roster.

Update: Eladio's complete minor-league record is here.

Rees's baseball resume is even thinner. He's played college ball, and not even at the higher levels. And he's played in Australia. None of which is to say that he doesn't have what it takes to make it in the big leagues, but neither is it much evidence that he does. He is only 23, however, and his best years may yet be ahead.

So why Rees and Rodriguez? Most obviously, the two were the IBL's home run leaders. Rees led the league with 17, followed closely by Rodriguez at 16. But Rodriguez was injured for about a week of the season, and he actually hit home runs at a faster pace than Rees when he played: 6.4 at bats per home run, compared to 7.6 for Rees.

Beyond that, how did the two do in the IBL? Let's see how they ranked among the 50 batters with at least 80 plate appearances (that's about 2 per game).









As you can see, despite Rees's higher home run total, Rodriguez was a substantially better hitter over his 34 games than Rees over his 41. Rees also walked less often (9.7% of plate appearances vs. 13.6% for Rodriguez) and struck out more (15.3% of PAs vs. 12.7%). And there were several other batters with better overall stats than Rees.

Considering the short season and the small sample size (remember, about one-fifth the length of a major league season), it's hard to see why the Yankees would sign Rees just on the strength of his home runs rather than, say, Gregg Raymundo (12 HRs), Johnny Lopez (14 HRs) or Adalberto Paulino (11 HRs in just 92 PAs). Though of course I'm not privy to any of their personal plans, and perhaps none of them were available or the Yankees turned them down for other reasons.

On the face of it, it looks like the Yanks just signed the IBL's two home run leaders without thinking any further. If that's the case, this may turn out to be more a PR move than anything else in a city with America's largest Jewish population.

Still, it will be good to see how the two hold up in the minors. We'll have two more data points for assessing the IBL's league quality.