Francisco Rodriguez
K-Rod owned the ninth inning like few closers ever have. Francisco Rodriguez's 2006 season remains one of the most dominant relief performances in baseball history — that 1.73 ERA represented an ERA+ of 261, meaning he was nearly three times better than the average pitcher that year.
The Venezuelan fireballer struck out 11.5 batters per nine innings over his career, a rate that would make modern flamethrowers jealous. His 156 career ERA+ tells the story of sustained excellence across 16 seasons, even as he bounced between multiple teams after his Angels heyday.
Rodriguez saved 437 games in his career, but the raw numbers don't capture his peak dominance. From 2002 to 2009 with Anaheim, he was virtually unhittable in high-leverage spots, turning the ninth inning into appointment television with his slider-fastball combination.
Career · Pitching
16 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | LAA | 5 | 5.7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — | 13 | 0.882 |
| 2003 | LAA | 59 | 86.0 | 8 | 3 | 3.03 | 145 | 95 | 0.988 |
| 2004 | LAA | 69 | 84.0 | 4 | 1 | 1.82 | 245 | 123 | 1.000 |
| 2005 | LAA | 66 | 67.3 | 2 | 5 | 2.67 | 160 | 91 | 1.144 |
| 2006 | LAA | 69 | 73.0 | 2 | 3 | 1.73 | 261 | 98 | 1.096 |
| 2007 | LAA | 64 | 67.3 | 5 | 2 | 2.81 | 159 | 90 | 1.248 |
| 2008 | LAA | 76 | 68.3 | 2 | 3 | 2.24 | 193 | 77 | 1.288 |
| 2009 | NYM | 70 | 68.0 | 3 | 6 | 3.71 | 116 | 73 | 1.309 |
| 2010 | NYM | 53 | 57.3 | 4 | 2 | 2.20 | 185 | 67 | 1.151 |
| 2011 | NYM | 73 | 71.7 | 6 | 2 | 2.64 | 149 | 79 | 1.298 |
| 2012 | MIL | 78 | 72.0 | 2 | 7 | 4.38 | 92 | 72 | 1.333 |
| 2013 | MIL | 48 | 46.7 | 3 | 2 | 2.70 | 143 | 54 | 1.200 |
| 2014 | MIL | 69 | 68.0 | 5 | 5 | 3.04 | 123 | 73 | 0.985 |
| 2015 | MIL | 60 | 57.0 | 1 | 3 | 2.21 | 179 | 62 | 0.860 |
| 2016 | DET | 61 | 58.3 | 3 | 4 | 3.24 | 129 | 52 | 1.131 |
| 2017 | DET | 28 | 25.3 | 2 | 5 | 7.82 | 56 | 23 | 1.658 |
| Career | 948 | 975.9 | 52 | 53 | — | — | 1142 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.