There are a lot of Chris Rodriguezes in the world. That is not a metaphor. That is a real, searchable, algorithm-breaking fact. Here are some name stats:
9th most common surname in the U.S.
1,094,000+ surname occurrences
Christopher is the 10th most popular name in the U.S.
We don’t have an official name count of Chris Rodriguez - but between the surname, the first name, and the fact that there is also an NFL player named Chris Rodriguez, a famous session musician, and a muralist… the name collision was not exactly a statistical miracle.
So when I sat down with professional pitcher Chris Rodriguez - Angels, White Sox, big league arm, Miami baseball guy, now coaching at The Compound Sports - there was only one honest place to start.
I’m Chris Rodriguez. He’s Chris Rodriguez. Somewhere out there, another Chris Rodriguez is getting tagged in the wrong birthday post.
But once we got past the name thing, the conversation turned into something much better than a novelty bit. It became a real conversation about what happens when talent, injury, pressure, family, humor, and identity all live inside the same arm.
Rodriguez’s path was never clean, like so many others. He reached the big leagues without pitching above High-A. He dealt with stress fractures, surgery, shoulder pain, rehab, and the strange mental math of trying to compete while your body keeps pulling you into the training room. He made an Opening Day roster when he wasn’t even thinking about making the team. He struck out Yoán Moncada in his first big league at-bat and says he barely remembers it because his best outings happen in a blackout, flow-state kind of place.
Now, while taking time away from playing professionally, he’s coaching in Miami, throwing with kids, playing softball, being a dad, and trying to enjoy the game again without letting the game swallow him whole.
This is Chris Rodriguez… Or, in baseball terms: crod.
9inningnomad: First thing I want to ask you about: I’m Chris Rodriguez. You’re Chris Rodriguez.
Chris Rodriguez: It’s a great name, man.
9inningnomad: I know, right? Very popular. What do people call you — Chris, crod? What is it in baseball?
Chris Rodriguez: In baseball, crod. My friends, they’ll call me Chris. So it’s actually pretty funny because I’m so used to people calling me crod in baseball that when I get home and they call me Chris, and maybe one of them slips up and says crod, I’m like, “What did you just call me?” But when it comes to the guys on the field, they always call me crod. It’s just a lot easier.
9: If you’ve got two people with the same name, I’ve run into that a million times. If you tell somebody, “Find me on the internet,” good luck. You might be a little easier to find than me, but there are like six million other Chris Rodriguezes. (1,094,000-actually)
crod: Exactly. It doesn’t help now that there’s an NFL player too, whose name is Chris Rodriguez, also. So it’s like, dude, I tell my parents all the time, like, you couldn’t just pick a little bit of not so much a common name, please.
9: How many other Chris Rodriguezes have you met in baseball?
crod: Actually, in baseball, I met, I’ll say two. Two actual Chris Rodriguezes, but one of them was actually a strength coach. He was a Dominican strength coach with the Angels. So every time they would say Chris Rodriguez, sometimes I’m like, “What?” But he went by more Christopher Rodriguez, even though Christopher is my name, but I knew nobody really knew that. He’s the main one. I think there was another one that was a player that might have went by Christian Rodriguez.
But besides that, not many, which is kind of shocking.
9: Have you ever been mixed up with another Chris Rodriguez?
crod: No. Actually, no. More in high school. Never in baseball.
9: Have you ever been tagged in the wrong post or the wrong stat line somewhere?
crod: Not a stat line, but it was more just like it’ll be a random post about a birthday party for Chris Rodriguez and they would tag me and I’m like, “You definitely got the wrong one.” But I was like, “Okay, I’ll take it. Thank you.”
Happy birthday.
High-A to the big leagues: “I had tears in my eyes.”
9: Let’s jump into your baseball story. Everybody has a different, weird, nonlinear path, but yours is really interesting — going to the majors without pitching past High-A. What do you remember about getting that call?
crod: It was actually crazy. I dealt with injuries. Even in the past, even when I was in the big leagues, I’ve always dealt with injuries.
In the minor leagues, in 2018, I was out the whole year with a stress fracture on my left side of my back. Then 2019, I pitched 11 innings in High-A, and the right side of my back started hurting a lot. I’m like, “What’s going on?” Got an MRI. Turns out my fracture went from left to right. So I actually got surgery in 2019.
After the surgery, I felt great. Everything felt good. Then COVID had hit. I was fortunate enough to go to the alternate site, which was in Long Beach, California, for the Angels. Being able to talk to those guys and be able to kind of gain some knowledge, because at the end of the day, I hadn’t pitched a lot in the minor leagues - being able to talk to those guys, getting my innings in there.
When spring training rolled around in 2021, my mindset wasn’t even trying to make the team. I was just like, “All right, I’m going to give it the best I got. I got nothing to lose. I just want to pitch. I want to stay healthy.”
Fast forward to the end of spring training, the Freeway Series. I guess the last two games, the Angels play the Freeway Series with the Dodgers. They brought me in, and they had finally told me, “Look, you’re making the Opening Day roster.”
And I was like, “What?”
Man, I had tears in my eyes. I just couldn’t believe it. I was like, “Man, this is a big jump.” But I was excited for it. Went out there that night, pitched first to the Dodgers in that Freeway Series, did well.
I was just excited. There’s just no words to explain it. And the best part about it was I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t have any expectations. I just went in there, and I just wanted to compete, and that was the biggest thing.
So yeah, I can’t even put it into words, to be honest with you.
9: Obviously, you were chasing the dream and the goal of getting there, but did not having that expectation - just letting whatever happens happen - help you?
crod: One hundred percent. A lot of players that deal with injuries, a lot of times they’ll go out there, and it’s funny — not funny, but they’re in pain — and sometimes they have their best outings that time because the mental side of baseball is very hard.
When you’re thinking about trying to get an outcome, odds are you’re not going to get that outcome. Baseball is a game of failure, right?
But when they’re hurt, they’re not thinking about the outcome. They’re just thinking about, “Let me just get through this.” They’re more concentrated on the pain that they have versus executing a pitch. And what’s funny, not funny, but they end up going out there and having one of the best outings of their lives because they’re not thinking about anything. They’re just like, “Look, let me just get through this. Let me throw.” They’re not trying to force anything. That happened to me a lot.
When I got to the big leagues, it was the same thing. It wasn’t that I was scared of pain. It was more like, hey, let me just do what I got to do. Let me throw. I’m thankful that I’m healthy. Let me go out there. Let me pitch. Whatever happens happens.
At the end of the day, I was in High-A two years ago. I’m in the big leagues now. Let me just compete. Let me do my best to compete.
That’s kind of where I was at. So for sure, the injury road and not pitching a lot actually benefited me in the big leagues because you get into the big leagues and you’re seeing these guys that you idolize, but the biggest thing is you’ve got to push that aside because now they’re in the same exact place as you are.
That competitive edge starts kicking in where you’re just like, all right, I’m here. Same spot as you. Now it’s time to compete. Let’s see who wins.
9: Just another dude, right?
crod: Just another dude at the end of the day.
The first big league strikeout and the blackout outings
9: Yoán Moncada was your first big league at-bat, and you struck him out. What was that like? Was it insane? Was it, “Yeah, that’s supposed to happen”? Or did you just black out and not remember anything?
crod: That’s the thing. I blacked out.
You’ll hear me say in a bunch of interviews that I really did black out, and I’m not kidding you. My best outings, I black out. The ones I remember are not good outings. The ones I don’t remember are the best outings, because like I said, it’s just getting into that flow state where you’re trusting everything. You’re having faith that all the work you put in is finally being present, and that’s kind of the biggest thing. That’s what it felt like.
Luckily, that big league spring training before that, I think the second batter I faced was Joey Votto. When I struck him out - and mind you, it’s spring training, so it’s not a huge accomplishment or anything because he’s working on stuff - but at the end of the day, when I struck out a big name, it was just like, damn, I can do this. This is good.
So that whole entire spring training, that’s when I pushed aside, okay, you’re just a hitter in the box. I don’t care what your name is. When Moncada came up, in the bullpen, I was just like, look, I’m going to throw my best stuff. You hit it, good for you. If not, all right, I win.
That’s kind of the mindset I had. I was just in there and trying to compete, get everything in the zone, not walk guys. That was honestly awesome. And it was cool that it was him too because the guy’s a great player. Coincidentally, he’s with the Angels now, I believe. So it’s just a crazy turnaround.
“The mental side of the game is the hardest part.”
9: Baseball can look simple from the outside. Catch the ball, hit the ball, throw strikes, score runs. But to actually succeed, to stay in that black-and-white approach and not drown in all the gray area — how hard is that?
crod: That right there is the hardest part of the game. We’re getting into the mental side of the game, and that is the hardest part of the game.
You see the talent in the minor leagues. That talent is just as good, if not even better, than a lot of big leaguers. But what separates the big league guys from the minor league guys is the mental aspect of it.
For pitching, when I had confidence, and I knew that I could do it, and I didn’t care about the results, I just cared about the process, that’s when I did my best. Versus when you’re not getting your results, what happens is you start going into this black hole of, " What am I doing wrong? What do I need to do? I got to do this. I got to do that.” That’s when you’re trying too much. You’re not trusting your own stuff.
I’m not a hitter, obviously, but I was able to be on a team with a couple of good hitters. When I would ask them about their approach, man, I couldn’t believe the simplicity of their answers. It was, “See the ball, hit the ball.” I was like, “No, no. That can’t be your approach. What’s your approach?” “No, see the ball, hit the ball.”
I would sit there and think about it, and it started going in my mind. I’m like, wow, maybe it is that simple. Maybe the issue is a lot of guys just overcomplicate this game, and this game’s too hard to overcomplicate it. Maybe you just have to trust your stuff. And as a hitter, just trust everything you’ve done before. You’re going in there, and you’re competing at the end of the day.
As a pitcher, it’s definitely that mental aspect that is the hardest part. Whether it’s injury-related, whether it’s a pitcher not throwing strikes, or whether it’s just a pitcher not getting any swings and misses, the biggest thing is you’ve got to trust the process and really just enjoy the process.
You’ve got to take your wins, not your losses. There are so many losses in baseball that if you can just take those little wins and keep adding them and stacking them, now you’re putting yourself in a positive mindset, and that’s what’s going to set you apart.
9: It sounds simple, but it’s a lot harder than people think.
crod: Yeah. It’s a lot harder than people think. It’s not black and white, like you said. Once you make it black and white, man, you just feel so free, and you’re able to play. It’s when you complicate the game that’s when it gets really, really, really hard.
And it’s not about how much hard work you put in either. It’s not like not putting in any hard work. But in practice, that’s when you can think. When it’s game time, it’s like, okay, everything I did in practice, everything I did in my workouts, and everything I did beforehand, that’s when it comes to play. You have to trust the process. When you’re in the game, you’ve just got to let it flow. Trust that everything you did beforehand is what got you there today, and you can just go out and compete.
Parents, ping pong, and delusional confidence
9: Who was the most influential person to you, when you were younger?
crod: I would have to say, honestly, just my parents. That’s such a corny answer, but it really was. My dad was a guy that he was just like, if I ever told him, “Oh, I’m not doing this anymore,” he’d be like, “All right, pick up ping pong. There you go.”
It was that mindset of, okay, he’s not giving me any backlash. He’s not trying to fight for me, saying, no, you have to be in baseball. He’s just like, no, you’re doing whatever you want to do. If you don’t want to do it, I can’t force you to do it. If you want to go play ping pong, go play ping pong.
In my mind, it was always on me to really get better, on me to do the right things to set myself up for success.
And then with my mom, it’s the confidence she had in me. It’s unbelievable to the point where recently, when I told her, “Hey, I’m going to take the year off of playing. Possibly it might be my retirement. I’m going to be done.” She was like, “No, no, no. It’s going to happen at some point.” I’m like, this woman’s delusional.
9: You need that delusion, though.
crod: Hey, but you know what? It is that confidence that they have. In players in general, we’ve got to have that same confidence.
That’s why you look at all these players and such different personalities, right? Some people get mad at these personalities, whether they’re too cocky or too this, too that. But at the end of the day, that’s what makes them good.
Everybody has that person. Some guys are calm and collected, but that’s what makes them good. So to change that, you’re almost changing the way they play. I don’t truly believe in that because I feel like everybody has their mindset that got them to where they were. Now it’s just, hey, let’s keep that mindset. Let’s not change it.
Obviously, out of the clubhouse, out of the game, let’s turn it down a little bit or whatever, if you’re getting some hostility in there. But the fact that they were able to support me and instill a work ethic in me, and also the delusional confidence that they had, that’s what honestly really helped. So yeah, definitely my parents.
Travel ball, training, and the part parents miss
9: Your parents sound different from some of the travel-ball stories you hear now, where parents are living through their kids or making it feel like a job.
crod: That happens, though. That definitely happens. And my parents still had that, where it was just like they invested so much money in travel ball, so they wanted it to work. But the way they did it was a little different. It was more of the old-school mindset of, hey, you’ve got to go out and do what you’ve got to do. My parents didn’t have the money for lessons. They were just like, hey, you’ve got to want it. I’m not taking you to a lesson. Go and do whatever you’ve got to do.
My dad, for sure, wasn’t the nicest, like, “Oh, it’s okay, you went 0-for-3. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just have fun next time.” No, it was the opposite. He would get pissed if I went 0-for-3 hitting. But it would be like, well, that’s what you get for not working hard. There you go. Now you deserve that 0-for-3. So it’s definitely still there. We played a lot of travel ball, especially in Miami. It’s year-round.
I look back at it, and I really do wish I trained more than I played, because it catches up to you so fast. Thankfully, I caught up in high school. But there was a point in time where I was really good as a young kid. Then that middle ground, when you’re getting into middle school and high school, a lot of guys caught up. If not caught up, they were way past me. They were way better than I was.
It wasn’t until high school where I kind of started going and working hard and figuring this thing out.
Man, I wish travel ball, as much as I love it, and I love the competitiveness, I wish parents would realize that that’s a small piece of it versus actually training, actually getting on programs to do the right things and stuff like that.
9: Did you play different sports when you were young, or was it just baseball?
crod: It was just baseball. I played soccer growing up when I was really young, but when I turned 12, my parents basically told me, “Look, this is expensive, so you’ve got to pick one.”
On top of that, too, in soccer, they’re at such a young age where they’re wanting kids to get into academies and stuff like that. So I chose baseball because my brother and my sister both played baseball and softball, so I was like, I’m going to choose baseball.
That’s about it. Here in Miami, you don’t see - there’s a few of them for sure that play multiple sports, but not many. A lot of them just stick to that one sport and ride it out because they’re able to play that sport year-round.
Coaching at The Compound Sports
9: You’re a pitching coach now. Where are you coaching?
crod: I’m currently coaching at a facility down here in Miami, South Miami. It’s called The Compound Sports.
Here in Miami, we don’t have a lot of one-stop shops where you’re able to hit, pitch, field, and train in the weight room or speed and agility. We have a couple of places, but Miami is a big area.
When they had built this one, and they told me about it, I came over, I checked it out, and man, I showed you earlier, it’s a nice spot. We’re really diving in and trying to develop these players.
I tell parents all the time, look, I’m not a salesman. I don’t like selling you guys on me or anything like that. My thing is just give me a month and get your kid, especially if he’s in high school, in a program, and watch how much more he develops versus going and playing tournaments every single weekend and not being able to work during the week.
That’s when it gets tricky. Versus now, hey, get one tournament in a month and train the rest of the month. Your kid’s going to be so much further along. He’s going to be able to recover because that’s what those programs are.
He’s not going to go from not throwing a whole entire week to throwing a tournament, which leads to a lot of injuries. Also, he’s not blindly just throwing, because if you tell a kid to throw every day, what he’s going to do is he’s going to throw as hard as he can every single day.
I was really excited to come here and be a part of this because it seems like we’re really big on player development and trying to keep Miami as a very good spot for South Florida players. So yeah, I’ve been excited.
Learning the hard way: “I was doing a little too much.”
9: You’ve gone through injuries yourself. Do you think that helps you relate to kids and warn them about what can happen?
crod: One hundred percent.
9: With your stress fractures, was that from something specific you were doing, or did it just pop up out of nowhere?
crod: It just kind of popped up out of nowhere.
I didn’t really lift in high school. I started lifting in pro ball. There’s really no one to blame. A lot of times, it was just that I was throwing hard. I was working hard, maybe a little too hard. That’s always been my issue, where I always did a little too much.
Sadly, I had to learn the hard way. Between my back hurting, then figuring out my back, everything felt good. Then, when I hurt my shoulder in the big leagues, not rushing anything, not overdoing anything, that was a very hard concept for me to learn.
But by the grace of God, I was able to learn through it and grab that knowledge, soak it all in instead of being mad about it or thinking, oh, I should have done this differently or this differently. I just almost thought of it as a blessing, where it’s like, you know what, you learn from this. You know exactly what you did wrong.
Sometimes injuries are just a part of the game, too. There’s nothing you can do right or wrong. But everything I believe that would have been wrong, I was able to soak that all in.
Now, as I train these kids or even train myself, I can have that knowledge of having a more controlled approach to really be able to develop and be able to develop safely.
Stepping away without giving up
9: You’re coaching now and taking some time away from playing. When did you feel like that was the right move?
crod: I was in the offseason. I was throwing pens, and my biggest thing this offseason, specifically, was that my body was just not recovering the right way.
I sat there and thought of it. Every single year after my surgery, it’s been like, “Chris Rodriguez has good stuff, but he gets hurt in the middle of the year.” I just didn’t want that to happen this year. I didn’t want that to be a trend.
It was a hard decision. I spoke to my wife, and we sat there and were like, “Look, whatever makes you happy.” I was just like, man, I really think it would be good to do something I haven’t done in a long time, and that’s step away from the game, step away from the rehab, the PT, and really just start something new.
It’s funny, ever since I did that, now I’ll mess around. I’ll throw a little bit. I’ll stay active, and my shoulder’s feeling good. It’s because I’m not overcomplicating or overdoing anything. I’m keeping everything simple, and I’m keeping everything fun again and athletic.
That’s a big thing I preach to these young guys. Athleticism is such - people say all the time, “Oh, pitchers aren’t athletic.” But man, to throw hard and to stay healthy, you’ve got to be athletic. You’ve got to be able to repeat the delivery and do all this stuff. I wasn’t able to do that the past few years because I was so fixated on, man, my shoulder really hurts. Some nights I couldn’t even brush my teeth.
It was one of those things where I told myself, I have a daughter. I want to be able to carry my daughter. I want to be able to live life with my daughter. If she wants to play softball or golf or whatever, I want to be able to do those activities, and I don’t want to be limited by my shoulder. So that’s when I made the decision. I was like, you know what, let me definitely just take some time off.
Now, if I pick up a baseball again and I want to get off the mound and I want to pursue it again, luckily, well, luckily, the game’s getting young, but I’m still 27. So if I can, I would. I will.
But with that being said, right now I’m just really concentrated on enjoying it, enjoying the time off, and really just enjoying throwing again. Being able to throw with these kids and do stuff like that, it’s keeping me athletic. It’s keeping my arm moving, and it’s keeping me athletic. That’s the biggest thing.
9: When did taking time off feel real?
crod: It was one of those things that’s always felt real.
A lot of people are like, “Oh my God, I shouldn’t have done this. I regret this.” But I had no regrets because, for me, I’m picturing it as almost like a break.
Now, if it is done, if I retire fully, that is what it is. I’m very happy. I’m content with it. The way I looked at it was, look, it’s not that I didn’t have the talent to be back up in the big leagues or stay in the big leagues. It was just injury.
Until I have that mindset to free up everything and free up my mechanics and be able to repeat my delivery and all this stuff, until I have that, I’m just going to keep following this trend of possibly getting hurt in the middle of the year.
For me, it’s always felt real, but it’s been graceful. I’ve been thankful in where I’m at, and I’ve been very good with it. It wasn’t a struggle because it wasn’t like, oh man, I’m playing in AAA, in the big leagues, then getting sent to High-A, and I’m not going to do this anymore, and I just quit.
It wasn’t that. Not saying that’s bad. That’s a tough situation for sure. But it was more like, look, your shoulder’s just not acting right. You can’t do anything with it. And if you go to a PT or anybody else, they’re going to say, “Hey, just stop throwing.”
So either way, the best thing to do is just step aside a little bit, really take care of your body, continue working out, and just find what works for you. That’s kind of what I’ve had.
Missing the guys, staring at the mound, and slow-pitch softball
9: What’s been the hardest part of stepping away for this time?
crod: Just competing. It’s competing and being around the guys.
I have a lot of friends, and I hope everybody that has played with me would say, “Chris likes to have fun. He’s always messing around.” Obviously, when game time comes, or anything serious comes, I’m very serious, and I’m very there. But I like the camaraderie of my teammates and being around them and building a good culture wherever I’m at. I hope I have done that.
That’s what I miss the most, just being with the teammates. I miss competing and, honestly, just getting off the mound. Sometimes I stare at this mound over here at the facility. I’m like, I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it. It’s calling me.
Definitely the competing part and being around the guys. You can’t take that for granted. That’s something I never did, was take that for granted.
Now the only time I get to compete is I play slow-pitch softball, and it’s a blast, dude. It’s such a blast. As stupid as it sounds, and some people take it really seriously - look, I want to win. I take it seriously. But it’s also fun because, as a pitcher, I never got to swing the bat. I was like, " Hey, I get to swing the bat. I’m not bad at it. This is great.
9: What’s the scouting report on Chris Rodriguez, the hitter?
crod: There is no scouting report. You just got to get lucky and be in the right place, man. I’m just a jack of all trades, man. I place it where I want it to. No, I’m just kidding. Softball is just a flip of a coin. I’m going to just try to hit it hard, man. Wherever it lands, it lands.
Home, fatherhood, and the thing pro ball doesn’t always give you
9: What do you enjoy now that you’re not in that pro grind anymore?
crod: Honestly, just be home.
Obviously, now that I’ve stopped playing for a little bit, I get to play softball. That’s another thing. But the main thing absolutely is being able to be with my daughter every single day at home. Being with my wife every single day.
During the season, it’s kind of like a travel thing where my wife would come visit, or if she stays with me, it’ll be for a couple of months, and she has to go visit back home, and vice versa.
Just being able to be a dad and really just seeing my daughter grow up, man, it’s the biggest blessing I can ask for. She’s awesome. She’s a year old now, and I couldn’t be more happy with just kind of hanging out with her as much as I can.
That’s honestly a big blessing for sure.
9: Did it take your wife any time to get used to you being there more often?
crod: No, she was more worried about me.
She was just like, “Look, I love you here, but are you sure you’re going to be okay with being with me 24/7 at home in Miami?” I was like, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
But she was totally okay with it. She was super supportive. If anybody knew what I was going through as far as injury stuff, it was her. She saw the pain I would go through and she saw how much I cared about it, how much I would work hard, and how much I wanted to get better.
So when I told her what I wanted to do, she was really content with it and very supportive. Having her by my side has been a dream come true, and it’s honestly helped this process a lot better.
9: What’s one thing you get to do now that you never had time for before?
crod: I don’t have — because when I was playing, I was still able to golf every once in a while. I’d still play video games at night on travel days, or if we had an off day, I’d play video games with my boys back home.
The only thing I can say, the one thing I get to do that I never did, was just softball. Being able to swing a bat. Before, you were scared to swing the bat. It’s just like, oh my God, if I hurt my back or if I hurt myself, I’m screwed. And now it’s like, screw it. Let me play. I get to play outfield. I get to track balls down. It’s fun.
As boring as that sounds, that really is one thing I can do.
9: How does the rest of the team feel about having a major leaguer on the roster?
crod: They treat me even worse.
The guys that I play with, some of them are my best friends, and some of them just got to know me. I’m pretty easy when you first meet me. I engage you, talking crap. I love it. If you’re talking crap to me, it means you’re comfortable with me. That’s the biggest thing. Versus if you’re silent and not really talking to me, then I’m just like, okay, I get it. I’ll give you space. They don’t think about that at all. If anything, they make fun of me for it.
9: Any good things somebody has stung you with when they’re ribbing you?
crod: They’ll just mess around. I’ll say something like, “Hey, you’re hitting terrible.” And they’ll be like, “Yeah, but I’ve never been cut,” or, “I’ve never got released.”
Technically, I didn’t get released. I got put on waivers one time.
But they’ll be like, “Oh, at least I don’t get injured,” or something. Little jabs here and there. But I love it. It’s all fun. Like I said, I love the batter and the chit chatter. It’s awesome.
Watching baseball after playing baseball
9: Do you still watch baseball on TV?
crod: I do. I do to stay around the game, but now when I watch TV, I watch the boys that I’ve played with. I like to see them really go out there and do the best things that they can do, and I cheer them on.
I can’t say there’s a team I watch and I’m like, “I’m going for this team. I’m going for that team.” If baseball’s on and we have TVs at the facility, they’ll be on. I’ll watch some of the guys that I’ve played with, and I’ll be rooting for them.
But besides that, on my daytime, it’s usually just hang out with my daughter. If I’m on the TV and baseball’s on, I’m watching baseball. Absolutely.
9: Are you overanalyzing, or just watching as a fan?
crod: I watch as a fan, but I also like knowing the game. I’ll play scenarios in my head and be like, " Oh, 0-2, this guy’s going to throw this.”
I like messing with that too, to see what I can get right. And being there, I’m not also one of those guys watching and being like, “Oh my God, why would you throw that? You suck.” I don’t want to do that either because I’ve been in that scenario.
The most “only in baseball” thing he has ever seen
9: What’s the most “only in baseball” moment you’ve ever witnessed or experienced?
crod: Shohei Ohtani.
That guy, besides him being such a professional, being able to hang out with him and just talking to him, he’s a good dude. Seeing what that man does on a field is - I don’t think it’s underappreciated because everybody’s starting to realize, wow, this is great.
But the fact that that guy can throw 100 off the mound with great stuff, and then he goes and hits 50 home runs a year or 40, 50 home runs a year with stolen bags and he’s doing everything - that is the most awe-inspiring moment. Just watching him play is just like, holy crap. This is legit.
9: There’s almost Shohei oversaturation because he’s everywhere, but I don’t care. And calling him “Unicorn” isn’t good enough anymore.
crod: It’s not. He’s doing something that nobody’s ever done in the game. And that’s not that nobody’s ever done it because people are going to say Babe Ruth and a couple of other guys, but doing it on a consistent basis. Man, he’s just so good. Whether you take the bat away from him and he pitches, or whether you take the ball away from him and he hits, he’s always going to be able to perform.
Having a guy like that on your team, I mean, why not?
Team Bus karaoke
9: Do you have a quick clubhouse, bullpen, bus ride, or road trip story - something funny that still pops into your head?
crod: There are a lot of funny moments, to be honest with you. But honestly, the bus rides, man. The bus rides are so funny, especially in the big leagues. I remember one time I had to do karaoke on the bus, and I thought I was going to crush this thing. I thought people were going to laugh. So I went out there and sang “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
I know that song. So I’m like, look, this is the one I’m going to stick to. I started it, and it was maybe 10 seconds in, and they’re like, “All right, crod, go sit down. That was terrible.” I was like, damn it. Really? I thought it was good. Damn it. I thought you guys were going to laugh.
9: You didn’t even get more than 10 seconds?
crod: No, man. It was so fast. They were all like, “All right, you suck. Get out.” Then I went straight to my seat. I was like, “Damn it.”
Fenway, fans, and going under the Monster
9: Did you have a favorite stadium, whether you pitched there or not, in the big leagues or minor leagues?
crod: Fenway.
9: What was it about Fenway?
crod: Honestly, man, just the history. When I went in there, I didn’t even get to pitch there. It was more just being in the bullpen. Funniest fans ever. Like I said, I like the chit chatter. I like the smack talk and stuff like that.
The stuff they came up with was so clever and so funny that I was like, " This is awesome. This is great.”
I don’t even know how to say. I don’t know if it was their accent or what exactly they said, but there were just some outrageous, random things that they would say. I’m like, oh my God, that’s hilarious. I don’t know if I can even laugh at that.
Besides that, man, just the stadium, the culture there, it’s unbeatable. How much history was in that stadium, and being able to be a part of that, going under the Green Monster, all that was honestly a dream come true. It was awesome.
The smell that never leaves
9: What’s one baseball smell, sound, or routine that will never leave you?
crod: Smell was the glove. Getting brand new leather from Rawlings and that Rawlings smell, there was nothing like it.
As far as routine, one thing I liked to do a lot was I would have a playlist on and I would just kind of vibe to the playlist.
There were a couple of times where later on I was like, all right, I’ve got to start watching shows. Before it starts, you get a little antsy and stuff like that. So I would just pick up a show and watch it. It would be any show. It would be Stranger Things. Shows like that on Netflix.
Doing that was definitely a routine that I wanted to have because it kind of kept me without thinking about, okay, this outcome, what am I going to do, whatever. It was the one time where I got to just enjoy the show and enjoy it.
Then there was one show that I absolutely loved. I watched last year a little bit and it was hilarious, with Kenny Powers.
9: Eastbound & Down.
crod: Eastbound & Down. Dude, that show is hilarious.
I was in Charlotte in Triple-A last year, and I would just watch it before, whether it was my start or even before the game when we had time. I was just giggling there like a little kid. I was just cracking up, and that was awesome.
I love doing that. That show was great. I wish they would have kept it going. I still laugh at the show. Inappropriate, don’t get me wrong, but it was a funny show to watch.
9: Danny McBride, we need more Eastbound & Down.
crod: We do. We do.
The stat he is absolutely keeping
9: Beyond the stats in your career, if you do not pick up a ball and pitch professionally again, what do you hope people remember about you?
crod: I didn’t give up a home run in the big leagues.
That was a good one. I never gave up a homer in the big leagues. That was a cool stat that I had, and I keep that in.
9: I would too. I never gave up a bomb to anybody. How many people can say that?
crod: Not many. Mind you, I don’t have a huge stat line to be bragging about it. But when they say, “What’s your coolest stat?” I never gave up a home run.
9: Especially coming up without a ton of minor league experience, I’m riding that.
crod: One hundred percent. And now, I’m not counting spring training, though. I’m counting in-season, regular season.
9: Spring training doesn’t count. That’s Arizona. That ball flies.
crod: That’s what I’m saying. In season, didn’t give up a home run. Best part.
