T-Rat Talk: Ramόn Rodríguez
Ramόn Rodríguez has been in professional baseball since 2016. He has brought both his on-field and off-field experience to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2024. Kyle Lobner has the story in the latest edition of T-Rat Talk.
Ramόn Rodríguez has been in professional baseball since 2016. He has brought both his on-field and off-field experience to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2024. Kyle Lobner has the story in the latest edition of T-Rat Talk.
Timber Rattlers catcher Ramón Rodriguez has learned a lot across eight professional seasons and over 400 games, and this season Wisconsin has been the beneficiary of that experience.
Rodriguez was still only 17 years old in 2016 when the Dodgers drafted him out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, a facility that also produced former #1 overall pick and longtime MLB star Carlos Correa, former Brewers catcher Victor Caratini and former Timber Rattlers pitcher and coach and 2013 Brewer Hiram Burgos. He made his professional debut later that same summer with an Arizona Complex League team loaded with future stars: 19 of the 49 pitchers to play for that team that season went on to play in the majors, including Dodgers mainstays Dustin May and Walker Buehler.
The path that followed has been long and winding and Rodriguez has often had to wait his turn for playing time. Rodriguez spent four seasons in the Dodgers organization and three more with the Orioles, and during that time he’s been on the same teams with 13 players who went on to catch in the majors. The list includes several active big league regulars: Adley Rutschman of the Orioles, Keibert Ruiz of the Nationals, Connor Wong of the Red Sox and Cam Gallagher of the Guardians.
Despite often moving between teams and sometimes seeing irregular playing time, Rodriguez is a career .256 hitter in the minors with a .326 on-base and a .371 slugging percentage. He’s routinely outperformed the minor league averages for catchers while moving across all levels of the game, including a 2023 season where he won a championship at the AAA level with the Norfolk Tides.
Throwing that 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YGRCiPTjJ3
— Orioles Player Development (@OsPlayerDev) February 19, 2023
Still only 25 years old, 2024 is Rodriguez’s first year in the Brewers organization and with the Timber Rattlers he’s getting more opportunity to play than he’s ever seen before. He’s already set career highs for plate appearances (259), home runs (eight) and RBI (33). He’s splitting time behind the plate nearly evenly with Matt Wood but is also regularly tabbed to serve as the designated hitter when he’s not catching. His .736 on-base plus slugging is 60 points better than the Midwest League average for catchers and nearly 50 points better than the league average for all hitters. He’s also thrown out 29% of opposing base stealers, about a third better than the average catcher at this level.
“I think I’ve been really good at making my adjustments, not only on the offensive side but definitely on the defensive side. And I’ve been trying to be a leader for my teammates and try to help them with everything they need,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez’s experience makes him a clear candidate for that leadership role. Between his eight years in affiliated professional baseball and parts of three seasons playing in fall and winter ball Rodriguez has caught more than 3100 innings across eleven teams in ten different leagues. The value of that experience is not lost on his manager.
“It’s good because guys like him, and Woody (Matt Wood) is also learning a lot, they always take care of the pitchers. It’s huge when you have a guy behind the dish with experience, it always helps all of the pitching staff. It’s always huge to have a catcher like that,” Victor Estevez told the Timber Rattlers Review podcast after Wednesday’s game.
🔥Bats are ON FIRE🔥
— Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (@TimberRattlers) August 4, 2024
Ramon Rodriguez hits the Shantymen's 3rd HR of the day!
Bot 7
Cubs 8 | Shantymen 10#TRatNation x #Shantymen pic.twitter.com/ikey7U2N5R
Turning that experience into success for his pitchers can be a process, but Rodriguez said his focus is on making their preparation and outings as easy as possible.
“I just want to make it simple, help them with everything they need me to do. Pregame stuff like studying hitters, or helping them feel comfortable that I’m going to help them out there and have their backs,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is also bilingual, a highly valuable skill when working with both English and Spanish speaking pitchers, and often translates for teammates.
“Sometimes it’s a little tough because I need to translate everything from English to Spanish and vice versa in my mind before saying something, but I really like it. I think every day I learn something new in English and I just want to keep getting better at it,” Rodriguez said.
After long tenures in the Dodgers and Orioles organizations, Rodriguez has caught lots of pitchers who have gone on to big things. When asked about some of his favorite players to catch over the years, however, Rodriguez highlighted one of his current teammates.
“There’s a lot of really good guys, but especially here on this team we’ve got a lot of pitchers that throw gas or do something really good. I really like Yerlin Rodriguez, the way he prepares himself to play in the baseball game is really special,” Rodriguez said.
In addition to his baseball experience, Rodriguez also has a different set of life experiences from many of his teammates. He’s married and has children and, while they have been able to visit at times during the season, he’s had to spend much of the year away from his family.
“Sometimes it’s a little tough,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously I don’t have my kids around me or my wife, they came here for a little bit but some days I miss them, obviously. But it’s my job. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just want to keep doing it, and hopefully I can have them with me along the way later in my career.”
This week, for the first time his career, Rodriguez’s baseball travels will take him back to another place he used to call home. The Rattlers are visiting Great Lakes in one of their final road trips of the season, and Rodriguez played there as a member of the Loons in 2017 and 2018.
“Especially something that I really remember is that their manager right now, Jair (Fernandez), was the hitting coach at the time. He really helped me a lot with my swing, swing decisions and everything. Now they’re a really good baseball team that we want to beat,” Rodriguez said.
Looking further ahead, Rodriguez also has at least part of his offseason planned out: He’s played the last three years with the Indios de Mayagüez in Puerto Rico’s Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente and will return this year with a new team, the Senadores de San Juan.
“I’m excited for what this new year will have in the books, and I’m ready to go,” Rodriguez said. “(The best part is) the fans, for sure, and playing for all your family. That’s something that I really take pride in.”