Pedro Feliciano

In 1995 he was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 31st round of the amateur draft and began his professional career with the Great Falls Dodgers in the Pioneer League. His progress through the minor leagues was slow and marred by injuries. After four years in the Rookie and Class A leagues, he suffered a shoulder injury in 1999 which prevented him from playing all season. He returned in 2000, pitching at the AA level, with one inning for the AAA Albuquerque Dukes. In 2001, he struggled in AAA after pitching well in AA. After six years of service in the minor leagues without promotion to the Majors, he became a free agent.

Feliciano signed with the Cincinnati Reds for the 2002 season, but was traded to the New York Mets in August along with Brady Clark for Shawn Estes. On September 4, 2002, Feliciano made his Major League debut pitching two scoreless innings of relief against the Florida Marlins. The Mets designated Feliciano for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster following the conclusion of the 2002 season, and he was claimed on waivers by the Detroit Tigers on October 11. Two months later, though, on December 16 the Tiger unexpectedly released Feliciano.

The Mets re-signed Feliciano to a minor league contract on April 3, 2003. Over the course of the next two seasons, he had mixed success with the Mets, being recalled from and optioned to the AAA Norfolk Tides several times in 2003 and 2004.

On January 24, 2005 the Mets sold his contract Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, where Feliciano spent the 2005 season with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League.

Feliciano began his third stint with the Mets when he was re-signed on February 28, 2006, a couple of weeks after the beginning of spring training. Feliciano started the season with the Norfolk Tides to make up for the time he'd missed in spring training, but he was recalled on April 17 and became a permanent fixture in the Mets bullpen as a left-handed specialist. In 2008 and 2009, he operated in the bullpen as the Mets' primary situational left-hander.

Feliciano with the Mets

In 2007, he recorded his first career big-league save against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 2008, he led the majors in games pitched, with 86. In 58 of those games, the greatest number in the majors, he recorded fewer than three outs. He also led the majors in days pitched on zero days rest, with 36.[1]

Due to his large number of appearances, he has been nicknamed "Perpetual Pedro" by Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen.

In 2010, he passed Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in games pitched for the Mets with 459 and is now second all-time to John Franco.

Feliciano led the majors in appearances in 2008, 2009, and 2010. From 2007 to 2010, he made 344 relief appearances over those four years, which is a Major League Baseball record.

In January 2011, Feliciano signed a two-year deal worth approximately $8 million with the New York Yankees.[2][3] Early in the 2011 season, Feliciano began to experience soreness in his left shoulder and was placed on the disabled list. On April 25, orthopedist James Andrews recommended a six-week strengthening program for Feliciano. The Yankees front office revealed that the reason behind Feliciano's injury was that the Mets had overused him within the recent years. It was eventually revealed that Feliciano had a torn anterior capsule and rotator cuff in his left shoulder, which required surgery, and ended his 2011 season.

Feliciano began the 2012 season on the 60-day disabled list in an effort to continue recovering from his shoulder surgery from the previous year. Late in the 2012 season between August and September, Feliciano was issued to rehab at the Double-A Trenton Thunder.[4] Still, Feliciano failed to make an appearance with the Yankees for the entire 2012 year. After the season, his contract expired, and he left the Yankees without throwing a single pitch for the team.

On January 21, 2013, Feliciano signed a minor league deal with the Mets.[5]

On August 2, 2013, Feliciano made his first appearance of the year with the Mets against the Kansas City Royals and induced a ground out from Alex Gordon in the top of the 9th inning.[6]

On May 25, 2014, Feliciano signed a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.[7]

On February 4, 2015, Feliciano signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs.[8]