Steve Rodriguez
{{Short description|American baseball player and coach (born 1970)}}
{{About||the pitcher|Steven Rodriguez|the skateboarder|Steve Rodriguez (skateboarder)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Steve Rodriguez
|team =
|image = Steve Rodriguez (4665454970).jpg
|caption = Rodriguez with Pepperdine in 2010
|position=Second baseman/Shortstop/Coach
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1970|11|29}}
|birth_place=Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=April 30
|debutyear=1995
|debutteam=Boston Red Sox
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=October 1
|finalyear=1995
|finalteam=Detroit Tigers
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=Batting average
|stat1value=.179
|stat2label=Runs scored
|stat2value=5
|stat3label=Stolen bases
|stat3value=2
|teams=
Player
- Boston Red Sox ({{mlby|1995}})
- Detroit Tigers ({{mlby|1995}})
Coach
- Pepperdine Waves ({{by|2004}}–{{by|2015}})
- Baylor Bears ({{by|2016}}–{{by|2022}})
}}
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).
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, he was selected by Boston in the fifth-round of the 1992 draft out of Pepperdine. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.kwtx.com/_254sports/u/headlines/Baylor-Baseball-Hires-Pepperdines-Rodriguez-307178961.html|title=Baylor Hires Pepperdine's Rodriguez As New Head Baseball Coach|work=kwtx.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614183123/http://www.kwtx.com/_254sports/u/headlines/Baylor-Baseball-Hires-Pepperdines-Rodriguez-307178961.html|archive-date=2015-06-14}} In 2022 Rodriguez joined Texas as a hitting coach until 2024.
Playing career
=High school=
Rodriguez 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.{{cite news |last1=Klein |first1=Gary |title=Rodriguez Opens Eyes at Pepperdine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112573686/rodriguez-opens-eyes-at-pepperdine/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=6 June 1992 |page=C6}}
=College=
A two-time All-American (1991–92), Rodríguez helped his team claim its only national championship in the 1992 College World Series, when he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year and also was a member of the All-Tournament Team. Rodríguez collected a .419 batting average –the third-highest single-season average in school history– and his 104 base hits that season are also a Pepperdine single-season record, 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. Then, in 1992, Rodríguez was named one of the West Coast Conference's Top Fifty Athletes of all time.{{cite web|url=http://www.malibubaseballcamp.com/staff.htm |publisher=www.malibubaseballcamp.com |title=Steve Rodriguez - Staff director |access-date=2008-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628053319/http://www.malibubaseballcamp.com/staff.htm |archive-date=2008-06-28 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://lmulions.cstv.com/genrel/112901aaa.html|publisher=lmulions.cstv.com|title=West Coast Conference Announces Top 50 Student-Athletes in League History|access-date=2008-07-25|archive-date=2008-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201162722/http://lmulions.cstv.com/genrel/112901aaa.html|url-status=dead}}
=Major League Baseball=
In 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/stories/rodriguez.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070615123434/http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/stories/rodriguez.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-06-15|publisher=www.pepperdine.edu|title=Steve Rodriguez Lives the Pepperdine Tradition|access-date=2008-07-25}}
Coaching career
Following 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, to become only the third former Pepperdine player head coach for the Waves in the program's sixty-five-year history.
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=
Below is a table of Rodriguez's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.{{cite web|title=2013 West Coast Conference Baseball Record Book |url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/west/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/baseballrecordbook2013.pdf |publisher=West Coast Conference |access-date=May 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203053641/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/west/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/baseballrecordbook2013.pdf |archive-date=February 3, 2014 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|title=2013 West Coast Conference Baseball Standings |url=http://www.d1baseball.com/conferences/standings_wcc.htm |work=D1Baseball.com |publisher=Jeremy Mills |access-date=May 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606004207/http://www.d1baseball.com/conferences/standings_wcc.htm |archive-date=June 6, 2013 |url-status=dead }}
{{CBB yearly record start | type = coach }}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Pepperdine Waves
| conference= West Coast Conference
| startyear = 2004
| endyear = 2015
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = confboth
| season = 2004
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 30–32
| conference = 19–11
| confstanding = 1st {{small|(West)}}
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = confboth
| season = 2005
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 41–23
| conference = 21–9
| confstanding = 1st {{small|(West)}}
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = confboth
| season = 2006
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 42–21
| conference = 15–6
| confstanding = t–1st
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2007
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 35–22
| conference = 14–7
| confstanding = 3rd
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2008
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 38–21
| conference = 14–6
| confstanding = 2nd
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2009
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 31–23
| conference = 12–9
| confstanding = t–3rd
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2010
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 24–30
| conference = 12–9
| confstanding = 3rd
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2011
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 22–34
| conference = 7–14
| confstanding = 7th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = conference
| season = 2012
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 36–23
| conference = 16–8
| confstanding = 1st
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2013
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 27–24
| conference = 13–11
| confstanding = 5th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = confboth
| season = 2014
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 43–18
| conference = 18–9
| confstanding = 1st
| postseason = NCAA Super Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = conference tournament
| season = 2015
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 32–29
| conference = 17–10
| confstanding = 2nd
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal
| name = Pepperdine
| overall = 401–300
| confrecord = 178–109
}}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Baylor Bears
| conference= Big 12 Conference
| startyear = 2016
| endyear = 2022
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2016
| name = Baylor
| overall = 24–29
| conference = 10–14
| confstanding = 6th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2017
| name = Baylor
| overall = 34–23
| conference = 12–12
| confstanding = 4th
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship = conference tournament
| season = 2018
| name = Baylor
| overall = 37–21
| conference = 13–11
| confstanding = 4th
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2019
| name = Baylor
| overall = 35–19
| conference = 14–8
| confstanding = 2nd
| postseason = NCAA Regional
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2020
| name = Baylor
| overall = 10–6
| conference = 0–0
| confstanding =
| postseason = Season canceled due to COVID-19
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2021
| name = Baylor
| overall = 31–20
| conference = 11–13
| confstanding = 6th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2022
| name = Baylor
| overall = 26–28
| conference = 7–17
| confstanding = 8th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal
| name = Baylor
| overall = {{Winning percentage|197|136|record=y}}
| confrecord = {{Winning percentage|67|75|record=y}}
}}
{{CBB yearly record end
| overall = {{Winning percentage|598|436|record=y}}
}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{baseballstats |mlb=121366 |espn=3154 |br=r/rodrist01 |fangraphs=1011114 |brm=rodrig001ste |retro=R/Prodrs001}}
{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Pepperdine Waves baseball coach navbox}}
{{Baylor Bears baseball coach navbox}}
{{1992 Pepperdine Waves baseball}}
{{West Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Year navbox}}
{{West Coast Conference Baseball Coach of the Year navbox}}
{{Big 12 Conference Baseball Coach of the Year navbox}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Steve}}
Category:All-American college baseball players
Category:American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Category:Baseball coaches from Nevada
Category:Baylor Bears baseball coaches
Category:Boston Red Sox players
Category:Detroit Tigers players
Category:Major League Baseball infielders
Category:Pawtucket Red Sox players
Category:Pepperdine Waves baseball coaches
Category:Pepperdine Waves baseball players
Category:Baseball players from Las Vegas
Category:Texas Longhorns baseball coaches
Category:Toledo Mud Hens players
Category:Winter Haven Red Sox players
Category:Baseball players at the 1991 Pan American Games
Category:Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games
Category:Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in baseball