The COVID-era phone call between 13-year-old Rainiel Rodriguez and Albert Pujols is the stuff of legends: a prophetic prologue that proves the baseball god’s cosmic devotion to St. Louis, or another parable of Cardinals’ devil magic, depending on your denomination.
As Rob Rains reported in a feature story published last summer, Rodriguez moved to the U.S. where his mom worked nights in a food truck. Rainiel was 1,500 miles from home, but word spread to the highest levels of the Dominican baseball diaspora about a talented kid in Philadelphia.
“I just talked to him,” Rainiel said about the phone call. “I kind of pinched myself a little in 2024, or I think it was 2025, I met (Pujols) when he managed winter ball. I talked to him in person, so that was pretty cool.”
Rodriguez’s bat captivated Cardinals’ scouts during a tryout at their academy in the Dominican Republic two years ago and since then Rainiel has ascended higher and faster than the pair of home runs he smashed at Route 66 Stadium on Thursday night.
Rodriguez blasted a 1-2 pitch from Amarillo righthander Daniel Eagen off the manual scoreboard beyond the visiting bullpen in the first inning, then launched a nearly identical 2-run shot in the seventh inning. Rainiel joined elite company; only a handful of prospects since 2005 recorded a multi-homer game at a younger age than Rodriguez (19 years, 158 days) and they include MLB stars Fernando Tatis Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and rookie Konnor Griffin.
🚨TWO HOME RUN GAME RAINIEL RODRIGUEZ🚨 pic.twitter.com/vn3aKXP6I6
— Springfield Cardinals (@Sgf_Cardinals) June 12, 2026
A learning curve is expected for a 19-year-old in Double-A and Rainiel has been no exception. In 23 games with Springfield, Rodriguez is slashing .207/.304/.345 with 3 homers and 11 RBIs. But his work at the plate as a teenager in Cards’ lower levels prompted outgoing President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak to describe Rodriguez as one of the best prospects he’d ever seen.
“(Working) on my defense, and that’s about it. Hitting, I know I can hit,” Rodriguez said before Springfield’s game on May 26. “Trying to stay consistent with my work and just go out and compete.”
Rodriguez has caught 13 games and played 6 games at first base, with 4 starts in the DH slot. Springfield manager Patrick Anderson, a former catcher in the Frontier League, is developing Rainiel behind the plate. Springfield rosters the organizations’ top two prospects – Rodriguez and pitcher Liam Doyle – a unique opportunity for an elite young battery to grow together.
“(Doyle) is great, he throws f’ing heat,” Rodriguez said.
“You don’t find it very often, where (a pitcher and catcher) are so high profile,” Anderson said. “They’re very talented, great personalities – it’s different with this kid. Not to (take away) from Liam because he’s very focused as well, very focused, but (Rodriguez), he’s excited to be here but he wants to get to the big leagues, and you can tell from being around him. This is a steppingstone in his brain, and it’s fun to be around. I don’t say just to say it, it’s through his actions and his work.
“I saw him last year before spring training – I went down the Dominican for a week – I was really impressed with how strong he is. He’s done a really good job doing his homework, identifying beforehand prep-wise what he needs to do for each pitcher, and what we can do in a game – so that’s a lot for a 19-year-old at this level,” he said. “Getting in meetings and talking with our pitching coach, the starting pitcher, starting to really get to know our relievers, and planning and writing things down because it’s a lot of information for anybody, let alone a 19-year-old.”
