| Steve Rodriguez | |
| Position: | Second baseman/Shortstop/Coach |
| Birth Date: | 29 November 1970 |
| 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
Coach
|
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.[1] In 2022 Rodriguez joined Texas as a hitting coach until 2024.
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.[2]
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.[3] [4]
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.[5]
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,[5] to become only the third former Pepperdine player head coach for the Waves in the program's sixty-five-year history.[5]
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.
Below is a table of Rodriguez's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.[6] [7]