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Rangers promote Guilder Rodriguez after 1,095 games and 13 seasons in minors

Big League Stew

 

To look at his batting statistics, it would be hard to figure the Texas Rangers promoting Guilder Rodriguez this September. He's a 31-year-old infielder with a career .256 batting average, and a .621 on-base plus slugging in 4,095 career plate appearances in the minor leagues. This season, his numbers between Class AA and Class AAA are typical for him.

But there's obviously something that isn't obvious to outsiders about Rodriguez's qualities as a teammate, because the Rangers announced Sunday that Rodriguez has been called up to the majors for the first time in his career after 1,095 games and 13 seasons down below. He had spent more time in the minors without getting called up than any other current player after starting with the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2002.

This is big news back home in Venezuela for Rodriguez, whose first name is pronounced HWEEL-dair.

 

 

Rangers manager Tim Bogar said Rodriguez took the news hard — but in a beautiful way:

 

Here's what Adam J. Morris of the Rangers blog Lone Star Ball says about what makes Rodriguez special:

 

He's been credited with having a huge influence on the careers of guys like Martin Perez and Rougned Odor, and being an 80 character guy who is the type of person you want in your organization.

 

By "80," Morris refers to a scout's grades — 80 is the highest rating possible in their language. Promoting him is not only a reward, but something the Rangers do because Rodriguez can wield influence at the major league level, even though he's just a rookie again. Rodriguez also seems like someone who will coach someday, even though it sounds like he's already been coaching.

Big BLS H/N: CBS Eye on Baseball

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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rdbrown@yahoo-inc.com and follow him on Twitter!

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