Fastball

Former MLB All-Star Wows Fans Who Didn't Realize He Was Still Playing

Thursday was Opening Night for the Winter League in the Dominican Republic (LIDOM) and guess who was on the mound? None other than former MLB All-Star Fernando Rodney!

Brady Farkas

Former MLB All-Star Wows Fans Who Didn't Realize He Was Still Playing
Former MLB All-Star Wows Fans Who Didn't Realize He Was Still Playing /
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Former Major League All-Star Fernando Rodney wowed the internet on Thursday when people realized he was still playing professional baseball.

It was Opening Night for the Winter League in the Dominican Republic (LIDOM) and Rodney was on the mound, as evidenced by this photo on social media, courtesy of the Cespedes Family BBQ account:

Rodney was pitching for the Gigantes out of San Francisco de Macoris. 

Now 46-years-old, Rodney spent parts of 17 years in the majors with the Tigers, Angels, Rays, Mariners, Cubs, Padres, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Twins, A's and Nationals.

He was a three-time All-Star who amassed 327 career saves. He led baseball in saves in 2014 with 48 for the Mariners. Lifetime, he went 48-71 with a 3.80 ERA. He pitched in 951 career games and also was part of the 2019 World Series team for the Nationals.

One of the most fun personalities in baseball, Rodney also represented the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, helping them win the Gold Medal in 2013.

ABOUT LIDOM, per MLB.com:

The teams will play a 50-game regular season ending on Dec. 22, followed by an 18-game round-robin playoff and a best-of-seven final series to determine the league champion. At stake is the chance to represent the Dominican Republic at the 2024 Caribbean Series at loanDepot park in Miami in February, which features representatives from the four full members of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico) and three guests (Nicaragua, Panama and Curaçao).

It is a six team league.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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