With Spring Training right around the corner there will be a
ton of new faces in Yankees camp this year including Eddy Rodriguez. Rodriguez
was born in Villa Clara Province, Cuba on December 1, 1985 to Edilio and Ylya
Rodriguez. Rodriguez comes from farming and fisherman parents who defected from
Cuba on his father’s fishing boat when he was eight years old. Rodriguez spent
his college career playing college baseball at the University of Miami before
entering the major leagues.
During the defection the boat Rodriguez and his family were
on nearly capsized before the family ran out of food. The family resorted to
eating ground up coffee beans before being discovered by the United States
Coastal Guard. The hardship led to Rodriguez being drafted by the Cincinnati
Reds in the 20th round of the 2006 MLB First Year Players Draft
where stayed until the 2009 season. Rodriguez left the Reds after reaching
Double-A and began playing baseball in the Independent League.
Rodriguez stayed in Independent League baseball until the
2011 season signing a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres where he got
his first cup of coffee in the major leagues. August 1, 2012 Rodriguez was
called up and by August 2nd he made his major league debut replacing
injured starting catcher Yasmani Grandal. Rodriguez responded by hitting a home
run off Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto in his first major league at bat. Rodriguez
was subsequently sent back down to Triple-A on August 9th of that
season before being designated for assignment that September.
Rodriguez signed a new minor league deal with San Diego for
the 2013 season and signed a minor league deal with the Tampa bay Rays in 2014
before signing his minor league deal with New York this season. Rodriguez has
been invited to minor league spring training camp and looks to either back up
or replace Yankees catcher Austin Romine in Scranton if he is put on waivers,
designated for assignment or is traded by Opening Day.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)