Steven James Rodríguez (born November 29, 1970) is an American baseball coach and former second baseman/shortstop. He played college baseball for the Pepperdine Waves from 1991 to 1992. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 1995 season. He served as the head coach of the Pepperdine Waves (2004–2015) and the Baylor Bears (2016–2022).
| Steve Rodriguez | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rodriguez with Pepperdine in 2010 | |
| Second baseman/Shortstop/Coach | |
| Born: November 29, 1970 Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 30, 1995, for the Boston Red Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 1, 1995, for the Detroit Tigers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .179 |
| Runs scored | 5 |
| Stolen bases | 2 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| Player
Coach | |
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, he was selected by Boston in the fifth-round of the 1992 draft out of Pepperdine.[1] He would play briefly for the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers during the 1995 season. Rodríguez was hired as the 19th head coach of the Baylor University baseball team on June 12, 2015.[2] In 2022 Rodriguez joined Texas as a hitting coach until 2024.
Playing career
editHigh school
editRodriguez attended Valley High School in Winchester, Nevada. Prior to being recruited by the Pepperdine Waves baseball team, he had never heard of Pepperdine University and did not know where Malibu was. Nonetheless, he was won over by handwritten letters from coach Andy Lopez.[3]
College
editA two-time All-American (1991–92), Rodríguez helped his team claim its only national championship in the 1992 College World Series,[4] when he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year and also was a member of the All-Tournament Team.[4] Rodríguez collected a .419 batting average –the third-highest single-season average in school history–[1][4] and his 104 base hits that season are also a Pepperdine single-season record,[4] as he finished with a .382 average in the round-robin phase of the 1991 Pan American Games for the Bronze Medal USA baseball team, earning Player of the Series honors against Mexico and Cuba.[1][4] Then, in 1992, Rodríguez was named one of the West Coast Conference's Top Fifty Athletes of all time.[1][4][5]
Major League Baseball
editIn an 18-game major league career, Rodríguez was a .179 hitter (7-for-39) with five runs, two doubles, and two stolen bases without home runs or an RBI. He also played in the Red Sox, Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Montreal Expos minor league systems from 1992 to 1998, hitting .263 with 16 home runs and 205 RBI in 613 games.[1]
Coaching career
editFollowing his playing career, Rodríguez served as an assistant coach at his alma mater from 2000 to 2003, and was the head coach from 2004 to 2015. He was hired as the sixteenth head coach in the history of the Pepperdine baseball program in June 2003,[1] to become only the third former Pepperdine player head coach for the Waves in the program's sixty-five-year history.[1]
Taking over a young team in 2004, Rodríguez guided Pepperdine to the WCC Championship where the Waves swept conference rival Loyola Marymount University in the best-of-three WCC championship series.
In 2015, Rodriguez was hired to be the head coach at Baylor.
On July 7, 2022, Rodriguez joined the staff of the Texas Longhorns as the team's hitting coach.
Head coaching records
editBelow is a table of Rodriguez's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.[6][7]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperdine Waves (West Coast Conference) (2004–2015) | |||||||||
| 2004 | Pepperdine | 30–32 | 19–11 | 1st (West) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2005 | Pepperdine | 41–23 | 21–9 | 1st (West) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2006 | Pepperdine | 42–21 | 15–6 | t–1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2007 | Pepperdine | 35–22 | 14–7 | 3rd | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2008 | Pepperdine | 38–21 | 14–6 | 2nd | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2009 | Pepperdine | 31–23 | 12–9 | t–3rd | |||||
| 2010 | Pepperdine | 24–30 | 12–9 | 3rd | |||||
| 2011 | Pepperdine | 22–34 | 7–14 | 7th | |||||
| 2012 | Pepperdine | 36–23 | 16–8 | 1st | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2013 | Pepperdine | 27–24 | 13–11 | 5th | |||||
| 2014 | Pepperdine | 43–18 | 18–9 | 1st | NCAA Super Regional | ||||
| 2015 | Pepperdine | 32–29 | 17–10 | 2nd | NCAA Regional | ||||
| Pepperdine: | 401–300 | 178–109 | |||||||
| Baylor Bears (Big 12 Conference) (2016–2022) | |||||||||
| 2016 | Baylor | 24–29 | 10–14 | 6th | |||||
| 2017 | Baylor | 34–23 | 12–12 | 4th | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2018 | Baylor | 37–21 | 13–11 | 4th | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2019 | Baylor | 35–19 | 14–8 | 2nd | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2020 | Baylor | 10–6 | 0–0 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | |||||
| 2021 | Baylor | 31–20 | 11–13 | 6th | |||||
| 2022 | Baylor | 26–28 | 7–17 | 8th | |||||
| Baylor: | 197–136 (.592) | 67–75 (.472) | |||||||
| Total: | 598–436 (.578) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "Steve Rodriguez Lives the Pepperdine Tradition". www.pepperdine.edu. Archived from the original on June 15, 2007. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
- ^ "Baylor Hires Pepperdine's Rodriguez As New Head Baseball Coach". kwtx.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2015.
- ^ Klein, Gary (June 6, 1992). "Rodriguez Opens Eyes at Pepperdine". The Los Angeles Times. p. C6. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "Steve Rodriguez - Staff director". www.malibubaseballcamp.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2008. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
- ^ "West Coast Conference Announces Top 50 Student-Athletes in League History". lmulions.cstv.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
- ^ "2013 West Coast Conference Baseball Record Book" (PDF). West Coast Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
- ^ "2013 West Coast Conference Baseball Standings". D1Baseball.com. Jeremy Mills. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
External links
edit- Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet