Johnathan Rodriguez Named 2024 IL Most Valuable Player

Rodriguez & Kyle Manzardo are International League All-Stars

October 2, 2024

Minor League Baseball™ (MiLB™) today announced the league awards and All-Star teams for the two leagues that make up the Triple-A classification. Columbus Clippers outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez is the 2024 International League Most Valuable Player. Rodriguez led Columbus to the postseason while pacing the IL with 94 RBI. He was

Minor League Baseball™ (MiLB™) today announced the league awards and All-Star teams for the two leagues that make up the Triple-A classification.

Columbus Clippers outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez is the 2024 International League Most Valuable Player. Rodriguez led Columbus to the postseason while pacing the IL with 94 RBI. He was also among the League leaders in several other offensive categories for the season, including batting average (5^th - .301), home runs (2^nd - 29), hits (T-7^th - 132), on-base percentage (3^rd - .390), slugging percentage (2^nd - .540), total bases (T-2^nd - 237), and runs scored (T-5^th - 84).

Rodriguez was also honored as an outfielder on the International League All-Star Team. Twice this season he was named the International League Player of the Week. The first weekly award came in early June, when Rodriguez hit .483 with four home runs, and 16 RBI, highlighted by his first-ever three-homer game and a career-best 9 RBI in a 23-5 victory at Indianapolis June 6. He did it again in mid-September, hitting .480 with four long balls and 9 RBI in the Clippers’ final homestand of the season.

Johnathan Rodriguez is the 9^th player in Columbus Clippers franchise history to claim the League MVP award. Since the Clippers franchise began play in 1977, Columbus has received the most MVP honors of any team in the circuit. Rodriguez is the first IL MVP for the Clippers since Fernando Seguignol in 2003. The most recent Columbus outfielder on the IL All-Star Team was Will Benson in 2022.

MLB.com rates Rodriguez among the top prospects in the Guardians farm system. He made his Major League debut earlier this season for Cleveland, seeing action in 13 games.

Kyle Manzardo is the International League All-Star first baseman for 2024. In 83 games for the Clippers this year, Manzardo hit .267 with 20 homers, 20 doubles, and 49 RBI. He is currently with the Guardians preparing for the MLB playoffs after hitting .234 with five home runs and 15 RBI in 53 games for Cleveland in his first career big league season. Prior to Manzardo, the last Clippers first baseman on the IL All-Star team was Mitch Jones in 2005.

The 2025 season will begin on Friday, March 28 in Toledo, Ohio when the Clippers will battle the Toledo Mud Hens. The Columbus home opener is Tuesday, April 1 at 6:15pm against the St. Paul Saints with the world famous Tansky Tuesday Dime-A-Dog Night. For more information, visit ClippersBaseball.com.