Midwest League Profile

Making a Career in the Minors

Eduardo Rodriguez graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1977 and was drafted by the Orioles in January of 1978 (baseball was running several annual free agent drafts at the time). A slick-fielding shortstop, he reported to Bluefield in June of 1978. Cal Ripken also made his first minor league appearance at Bluefield that summer, so Eddie played second base with the Bluefield Orioles.

Baltimore promoted Eddie to Miami (home!) in 1979. He returned to Miami in 1980 before the O's traded him to the California organization; he finished that season at Redwood City. The Angels assigned him to Holyoke in the Eastern League for 1981; by season's end it was clear that he wasn't going to become a strong hitter and the Angels offered him a coaching position.

Rodriguez was on the coaching staff of the Peoria Suns, newly moved from Danville, in 1983. In 1984 he had one last playing fling, again with the Angels in the Eastern League, but at Waterbury. He returned to coaching in 1985, and spent well over a decade in player development for the Angels.

The Angels assigned him to the Quad City coaching staff in 1985, and returned him to QC in 1986. (Eddie played a few games at second this summer, probably as a stopgap). For the next three years, Rodriguez was Quad City's manager, compiling a 179-233 (.434) record with the Davenport squad. The next year he managed Midland to a 56-80 record.

Enough managing....

The Angels made Eddie a roving infield instructor at this point. From 1991 to 1997 he worked in this role, often with additional front-office responsibilities (his other title was Coordinator of Instruction).

Eddie left the Angels organization after the '97 season. He managed for a couple years in the Blue Jays organization.

He's now on Bob Brenly's major league staff for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Minor league stories sometimes end with success.

Eddie's managerial record is available on this site.

Obscure players with common names are a plague to baseball researchers.

Jerry Jackson's master list of manager careers didn't agree with my information about several managers named Ed Rodriguez, so one day I dragged out a bunch of books and charted their collective careers. Three individuals seem to be involved, and I'm quite certain that Jerry and I both had mistakes on our lists. I shared those details with Jerry.

Pat Doyle's player database, with even more folks named Ed Rodriguez, also had an error, which I passed along to him. This is hard stuff to get right, unless you have lots of time and lots of resources.

This profile originated as the November 24, 2001, Midwest League Tidbit on the Midwest League Mailing List.