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ATLANTA – Giants All-Star pitcher Randy Rodríguez has a baby face and wears braces. The 25-year-old could pass for a teenager, and in many ways, he’s still a kid.
On the private jet that transported the Giants’ three All-Stars from San Francisco to Atlanta late Sunday, Logan Webb and Robbie Ray were accompanied by their families, and Rodriguez flew solo — his parents flew in from the Dominican Republic to meet him later.
What did Rodríguez do to pass the time? He sat with Ray’s oldest son, 10-year-old Asher, and played video games.
“It was a good time,” Rodríguez said. “’Mario Kart.’ Yeah, I won.”
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On the mound, he’s no kid. He’s an absolute force and Major League Baseball’s most dominant reliever — his 0.86 ERA is lowest among pitchers with at least 40 innings — and he was selected to the All-Star Game as a non-closer, an extremely difficult task.
If and when Rodríguez is summoned to pitch in Tuesday’s game at Truist Park, his parents, Martin Lorenzo and Yesenia, along with millions of fans across the country — and Latin America — will see a rarity. Not only is he special, with his fascinating two-pitch mix, but he’s unique as a Giants homegrown pitcher from Latin America.
The Giants’ iffy history of developing international talent is well documented. In fact, since the great Juan Marichal’s ninth and final All-Star selection way back in 1971, the Giants have had just two All-Star pitchers from Latin America come through their system and represent them on an All-Star team.
Camilo Doval in 2023. And Rodríguez in 2025.
It took 52 years after Marichal for Doval to end the drought, and now the Giants have had two in three years.
“I’m very happy to see Randy in the All-Star Game, and I’m happy to see some of the Dominican players participate,” Marichal, 87, said Monday. “I don’t know why it has been so long. We have a lot of great players from the country. Sometimes that happens. I follow the Giants all the time, every game, and I see him doing really well. I hope he continues to do a good job, and I hope the Giants can come back and be in the playoffs and win the World Series.”
Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal are the All-Star starting pitchers, and the National League plan is for Webb to pitch the third inning. Ray is ineligible because he pitched Sunday, and the usage of Rodríguez might be an in-game decision.
Just being here is a win-win.
“I’m proud of the Giants for putting the international department back on track,” said Joe Salermo, the team’s senior director of international scouting, noting Doval’s and Rodríguez’s All-Star paths. “Our guys have done a very good job. I’m proud of our staff.”
The Giants signed Rodríguez as a 17-year-old in 2017 out of the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. They had limited funds during that international signing period because they were being penalized for exceeding their international bonus pool allotment, thanks to the Lucius Fox signing in 2015, when they gave the Bahamian shortstop $6 million.
The two-year penalty disallowed the Giants from spending more than $300,000 on any international player for two signing periods, meaning they couldn’t compete for elite talent. That extended to 2017, when the Giants signed Rodríguez — for just $50,000.
Two years earlier, Doval signed for $100,000. So that’s a mere $150,000 investment for two All-Star pitchers — virtually unheard of with players coming out of the draft. The Giants signed their top pick out of last year’s draft, James Tibbs III, for $4.7 million and could pay their top pick from Sunday’s draft, Gavin Kilen, more than $5 million.
Rodríguez was a shortstop as a kid, sporting a big arm but not much of a bat. He turned into a pitcher a few months before he was signed, and the Giants saw him throw 88-92 miles per hour in March 2017. He now throws a blazing fastball averaging 97.4 miles per hour and a wipeout slider at 86.3.
“Our guys in the DR did a good job identifying his potential,” Salermo said. “The secondary stuff had a long way to go, but he was athletic with a quick arm. Plus a great kid, respectful, quiet, makeup off the chart. We took a chance for $50,000, and we’re glad we did.”
The Giants have three All-Star pitchers for the first time since 2011, but the history of the team’s pitchers in these games is not exactly stellar.
The full scope of the failures:
• Atlee Hammaker giving up seven runs, including a Fred Lynn grand slam, in 1983
• Rick Reuschel opening the first inning by serving up homers to Bo Jackson and Wade Boggs in 1989
• Jeff Brantley taking the loss in 1990 or John Burkett doing the same in 1993
• Shawn Estes giving up Sandy Alomar Jr.’s go-ahead two-run homer in 1997
• Robb Nen surrendering the tying run in the infamous 11-inning tie in 2002
• Jason Schmidt throwing two innings in 2003 and later coming down with an elbow ailment
• Tim Lincecum not even showing up to the game because of flu-like symptoms in 2008
• Johnny Cueto yielding homers to Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez in 2016
• And, finally, Webb allowing three runs in one inning in 2024.
It’s quite a laundry list, but Marichal was a different story. Naturally, the best pitcher in the franchise’s San Francisco-era history was also the top All-Star pitcher. In eight games, he surrendered one run in 18 innings, a remarkable 0.50 ERA. He was MVP of the 1965 game in Minneapolis, when he tossed three scoreless innings in the NL’s 6-5 win — Willie Mays scored the tie-breaking run.
“I tried very hard in every All-Star Game I participated in, and that’s why I was able to create those numbers,” Marichal said. “In ’65, I came out leading 5-0, and [Jim] Maloney came in, and the American League tied the game. I didn’t have a chance to win. Otherwise, I’d have been 3-0.”
That would have tied Lefty Gomez’s All-Star record. That was a long time ago, and now it’s Rodríguez’s turn.
At Monday’s media access, he sat alongside Webb and Ray and spoke with reporters in both Spanish and English, with interpreter Erwin Higueros at his side.
“Fun experience,” he said. “Very exciting, and proud to be here.”