Washington Nationals’ Ivan Rodriguez wants to play for another four years – MLB News
He is old, but shows no signs of slowing down, as 39-year-old Nationals’ catcher Ivan Rodriguez intends to play for another four years before he bids farewell to his most intense passion, professional baseball.
Dispelling the impression that the player was leaving soon, the Washington Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson assertively maintained that Rodriguez will stay as he has the full potential available to continue his career.
"He is a first-ballot Hall of Famer," Johnson said about Rodriguez. "He can still play. I have two guys that need to play more than he does for the reasons that are beneficial to the club."
The Nationals’ manager did not stop there. He has a number of arguments to prove as to why Rodriguez holds this significant importance for the team and how much do they need the player at this point in time.
There were essentially two points that Davey Johnson made once he spoke to media about Rodriguez. "One, Ramos is the No. 1 catcher. He needs all the experience he can get. Two, Flo is coming back from two years on the shelf. He can regain his shape.”
More than anything else, it is the determination of the player himself to keep enthralling his increasingly awed baseball fans with his characteristically fantastic performance. This is the reason why Johnson said he always knew Rodriguez would keep things
floating for the team.
“I know [Rodriguez] wants to play and is ready to play,” the Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. “I explained that to him once." Having remained a 14 time All-Star, it becomes clearly understandable why Rodriguez will continue to play.
Rodriguez is now only 158 more hits away from 3,000 hits, another landmark achievement for a player of his calibre. Not only that, he has remained a 13-time Gold Glover a record in itself for any player who dreams to attain meteoric fame in baseball.
Lately, it was Derek Jeter who hit the headlines around the world for having 3,000 hits, becoming the 27th player in the history of baseball. That achievement for the New York Yankees’ player is something that will soon be the honour for Rodriguez
if he can play for another four years.
Having played 40 games this season, Rodriguez has scored 13 runs in 118 at-bats for the Washington Nationals with 19 RBIs to his credit, having also hit two home-runs and maintaining an average of .212 throughout the season.
It will be interesting to see how Rodriguez is able to adapt his game and maintain fitness to be able to continue for a few more years to come. Only time will tell if Rodriguez is able to carry on with what he loves most, baseball.
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