From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Warren Aguilera (born December 31, 1961
in San Gabriel, California) is a
former pitcher in Major
League Baseball for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox,
and Chicago
Cubs.
New York
Mets
Aguilera began his career as a third baseman and was drafted by
the St.
Louis Cardinals in 1980, but he decided to attend Brigham Young University
instead. By the time the Mets drafted him in 1983, he was
a pitcher. Aguilera saw his first Major League action in June 1985 as the
Mets were in a fierce division race with the Cardinals. He was
particularly effective in July, going 3-0 with a 0.89 ERA, and
ended the season 10-7 as the Cardinals edged out the Mets. Aguilera
posted an identical record the next year in 1986 as the
number five starter for the division-winning Mets and went on to
pitch five scorless innings in relief against the Houston Astros in
that year's NLCS. Despite
a horrid 12.00 ERA in the World Series that year, he was the
pitcher of record in the Mets' dramatic Game 6 comeback victory,
getting the win despite giving up the two runs which surrendered
the lead to Boston in the top of the 10th inning. Injuries slowed
him the next two years, but he did pitch seven innings of one-run
relief in the 1988 NLCS,
which led to the Mets to experiment with him as a reliever.
Minnesota
Twins
At the trading deadline in 1989, Aguilera was one of five
pitchers dealt to the Minnesota Twins for Frank Viola. Although he completed the
season as a starter, he was shifted to the closer's role in 1990 and
responded by saving 32 games for a team that went 74-88. The next
year, his relief pitching was instrumental in the Twins surprising
division title, as he saved 42 games with a 2.35 ERA, a team record
that would stand until Eddie Guardado broke it in 2002 with 45
saves. He went on to save three of four victories in the ALCS and the
first two games of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves.
In Game 3, he became the first pitcher to pinch hit in a World
Series game since Don
Drysdale in 1965, flying out in the top of the
12th with the bases loaded and two outs before giving up the
game-winning hit in the bottom of the inning. Aguilera also won
Game 6. Aguilera became one of baseball's premier closers with the
Twins from 1990-1995 and was named to three All-Star teams from
1991-1993.
Boston Red
Sox
With the Twins well on their way to finishing 44 games behind
the AL Central division winning Cleveland Indians, Aguilera was
traded to the Red
Sox on July 6, 1995 in exchange for minor league
outfielder J. J. Johnson and pitcher Frank
Rodriguez. Aguilera performed well for the AL East champion Red
Sox, going 2-2 with 20 saves and a 2.67 ERA in 30 relief
appearances. Like a number of his teammates, Aguilera struggled in
the playoffs, giving
up one run on three hits with one strike out in two-thirds of an
inning.
Minnesota Twins, second
stint
A free agent following the 1995 season, Aguilera opted to return
to the Twins. Minnesota skipper Tom
Kelly installed Aguilera as a starting pitcher—a position he
hadn't been in since starting 11 games for the team in 1989—rather
than his familiar closer role. The veteran battled his way to an
8-6 record with a 5.42 ERA in 19 starts, including a pair of
complete games. With Aguilera now working as a starting pitcher, Dave Stevens led the pitching
staff with 11 saves. Stevens was one of seven Twins pitchers to
record a save in 1996. The following season, the
experiment of Aguilera as a starting pitcher had ended and the
veteran returned to the bullpen. At age 35, he went 5-4 with 26
saves and a 3.82 ERA in 61 outings. In 1998, he recorded 38 saves (the most
since saving 41 games in 1992) in 68 games for the Twins. In 1999,
Aguilera had gone 3-1 with 6 saves and a 1.27 ERA in 17 games
before the Twins traded the 37-year-old and pitcher Scott Downs to the Chicago Cubs for Kyle Lohse and Jason Ryan.
Chicago
Cubs
Aguilera pitched well for the Cubs, posting a 6-3 record with 8
saves and a 3.69 ERA in 44 games as a middle reliever, set-up man
and only occasionally closing out ballgames. At age 38, he entered
the 2000
season, his 16th season in the big leagues, as the team's closer.
Aguilera went 1-2 with 29 saves and a 4.91 ERA in 54 games for the
last place Cubs.
Life after
baseball
A devout Christian, Aguilera now lives in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe, California and dedicates his time to his
family (wife Sherry and children Rachel and Austin), real estate
investments, coaching high school baseball at Santa Fe Christian,
and on Saturday the 21st of June 2008 Rick Aguilera was inducted
into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame.
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