Washington Nationals World Champion on Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot
The Washington Nationals have a member of their 2019 World Series championship team on this year's Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, as Fernando Rodney is a candidate for the first time.
Rodney's final Major League season was with the Nationals, and he left the Majors after that. He has satisfied the five-year waiting period before he can be formally considered for inclusion.
He was still pitching in the Mexican League as late as 2023.
Rodney was a reliever and a closer who pitched for 17 years in the Majors. His time with the Nationals was short-lived, but eventful for him and the franchise.
Washington signed him to a minor-league deal that June and he was called up later that month. He made 38 appearance with the Nationals in the regular season, finishing with two saves, 35 strikeouts and 16 walks in 33.1 innings.
At the time, the 42-year-old was the game’s second-oldest player behind Ichiro Suzuki, who is also on this year’s ballot.
In the postseason, he made six appearances, including three in the World Series against the Houston Astros. He threw 4.2 innings, giving up two hits, two earned runs and six walks. The World Series championship was the first of his career.
Rodney broke into the Majors in 2002 with the Detroit Tigers and played with 11 different teams in his career. In that time he earned three All-Star Game nods and was selected to the all-World Baseball Classic team in 2013 as a member of the gold-medal winning Dominican Republic team.
He was named the American League comeback player of the year in 2012 with the Tampa Bay Rays. That was also his best overall season, as he saved 48 games with a 0.60 ERA in 74.2 inning. That was the second-lowest single-season ERA for a pitcher with at least 50 innings since 1913. He was also fifth in Cy Young voting and 13th in MVP voting.
He saved a Major League-high 48 games in 2014.
His 327 career saves is in the Top 20 in the category and his bow-and-arrow celebration after completing a save was his trademark. He tied an MLB record with one save for nine different teams.
The rest of the first-time candidates for the Class of 2025 are pitcher CC Sabathia, infielder Ian Kinsler, infielder Dustin Pedroia, pitcher Félix Hernández, outfielder Curtis Granderson, infielder Troy Tulowitzki, infielder/outfielder Ben Zobrist, catcher Russell Martin, infielder Hanley Ramirez, outfielder Adam Jones, catcher Brian McCann and outfielder Carlos González
