As Miguel Rojas is entering the final chapter of a 13-year career, he has a lot to be proud of.
One thing that he is certainly proud of happened over the Dodgers’ bye week last week, when he revealed he flew out to Miami to take his citizenship test and passed.
“As soon as I made the decision that I wanted to do this, I wanted to do it for my family, for my kids and for the future of them,” Rojas said. “So I’m really proud of being an American.”
Rojas, 37, first came to America after he arrived as a 16-year-old prospect out of Venezuela with the Cincinnati Reds.
Since then, he’s developed a whole life in the United States, and he and his wife, Marianna Rojas Gamboa have two children that were born here when he was playing with the Miami Marlins.
“I’m proud of being working here for over 20 years now,” Rojas said. “I’ve been playing professional baseball now for a long time, and that gave me the opportunity to learn the culture, the country, and I don’t take that for granted.”
On the baseball field, Rojas has had a lot to celebrate as he is a two-time World Series champion with the Dodgers.
For Rojas, Dodgers fans will always remember him as a World Series hero last year, when he had a game-tying home run in the ninth inning against Toronto Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman to even the score at four apiece.
The Dodgers would get the win after Will Smith made World Series history by hitting the first Game 7 extra-innings go-ahead home run.
While the Dodgers are preparing to play Game 3 of the NLDS on Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves, Rojas’ time on the baseball field will soon be coming to an end, as he announced at the beginning of the season that he plans to retire after the season.
In his 13-year career in the MLB, Rojas has played five seasons with the Dodgers and has a career 19.6 WAR, a .260 batting average, 61 home runs and 386 RBIs.
