Victor Rodriguez deserves a ton of credit for improving the hitting numbers and plate discipline of the current San Diego Padres.

The 2023 season was frustrating on so many levels for the San Diego Padres.

With a loaded roster, including N.L. Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and all-everything young phenom outfielder Juan Soto, the Padres failed to make the playoffs. And it wasn’t even really close.

Even though San Diego finished two games from an N.L. Wild Card spot: they played horribly in 2023. It took a five-game winning streak and an 8-2 record in their last ten games for the team to get within striking distance after game 162. It’s too bad the season was nearly over before the unit played with any cohesiveness.

Two games from achieving your goal was a rough pill to swallow for Padres fans, as the hype and expectations for the 2023 Padres were through the roof.

A lot of the blame for the failures of 2023 came down to offensive production.

A change in philosophy was needed for sustained success.

Enter- Victor Rodriguez. The coach was hired away from the Guardians (just like Ruben Niebla) to be the Padres’ new hitting coach.

Under Rodriguez’s tutelage, it is like night and day for the Padres in 2024, as the team is making drastic improvements in virtually all offensive categories.

Hitting with runners in scoring position killed the Padres in 2023, but the 2024 unit consistently puts the ball in play, and they always seem to put in a quality at-bat with runners on base. With virtually the same roster, Victor Rodriguez deserves a lot of praise for implementing a new hitting philosophy. Adding Luis Arraez helps, but Rodriguez is getting positive results from players who struggled last year with the Padres. Jake Cronenworth, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Manny Machado all improved on their .OPS from the season before.

This is an amazing feat for a franchise that hasn’t had a successful hitting coach since the days of Merv Rettenmund.

Multiple coaches attempted to overhaul the thought process of hitting at Petco Park, a notorious pitcher’s ballpark. The Padres even used multiple hitting coaches at one time. They all failed. For whatever reason, the unit would not buy into the philosophy, and success eluded the San Diego Padres’ hitters.

But who is Victor Rodriguez? How did he get results?

The native of Puerto Rico, via New York City, was considered a phenom in the game when the right-handed hitter signed with the Orioles at the age of 15. Yes, he was a modern-day Leodalis De Vries. The Padres inked De Vries, a 17-year-old (at the time) out of the Dominican Republic. Can you imagine? Rodriguez signed two years earlier than De Vries and played in 53 games at the Rookie Ball level in 1977 with the Orioles.

Victor Rodriguez played a total of 19 seasons in the minor leagues.

At one point after the 1984 season, Rodriguez was traded to the San Diego Padres. He played for the Las Vegas Stars.

On February 7, 1985, the Padres traded Fritzie Connally (who the Padres acquired along with Craig Lefferts and Carmelo Martinez from the Cubs in 1983) for 23-year-old second baseman Victor Rodriguez. Connally was a Triple-A third baseman with some promise, but the Padres coveted help and insurance in their middle infield.

Rodriguez played the entire 1985 season with the Stars. With hopes of debuting with the Padres.

He was a teammate of Padres’ greats John Kruk, Greg Booker, Lance McCullers, and Mark Parent that season. He also played alongside Edwin Rodriguez, who you may remember was the Lake Elsinore Storm manager. For Las Vegas, Victor Rodriguez put up a .802 OPS and hit .312 in 127 games. Despite the excellent numbers, he was never promoted and hit free agency in the winter, landing in the Cardinals organization.

The right-handed hitter earned a promotion to the majors twice in his career (1984 Baltimore/1989 Minnesota) but only played in 17 games at the major league level and recorded 28 plate appearances. He achieved his goal but never gained sustained success.

He played in over 1,700 games in the minors and ended with a .295 batting average. In 13 of those seasons, Rodriguez played Triple-A baseball and averaged a .290 batting average. The Puerto Rican infielder was a very respectable player. He just never earned a chance to play in the majors. Rodriguez was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. A lot of the success in the game has to do with timing, both on the field and with opportunities given.

Because he had grinded for 19 years in baseball, Rodriguez has the respect of the players he coaches.

Players recognize Victor Rodriguez grew up in the game, and the information he provides is worth listening to. The bi-lingual teacher is a baseball guru, and his hitting philosophy of putting the ball in play is contagious. It’s not as though there is a drastic change in the number of times the Padres hitters go down by way of strikeout; it is the fact that when the game is on the line, they are putting in quality at-bats. When it is time to bear down and get the job done- they are doing it.

Victor Rodriguez is a baseball lifer. He has been in the game for 48 years. The man has seen it all, and his experience is a big reason why the Padres are enjoying success in 2024.

James Clark

James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.