Our catcher, Big Rod, turns 33 today. Rod's season has been taking wild swings from terrible terrible slumps to great hot streaks but all in all he's having one of the best seasons of his career. Born in Ontario, CA it is kind of fitting that he plays now in Ontario, Canada.
Rod was undrafted but signed with the Diamond Backs as an amateur free agent in January 1996. He got to the majors for a cup of coffee in 1999 and 2000 then was a backup catcher for the Diamondback thru the 2003 season then signed as a free agent with the Rangers and played there for 3 seasons. After almost signing with the Jays before the 2007 he instead signed with the Phillies and had a terrible season with them and then signed with us for this year.
Bill James did a little study on how players do on their birthdays and they seem to do very well, so maybe we can hope for a couple of big hits from Rod today. I'm sure we'll be able to use them, we've had a terrible time against the Rays this year. Happy Birthday Rod, let's get a win as a present.