Roger Leandro Cedeño (born August 16, 1974) is a Venezuelan former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. He played 11 seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) from 1995 to 2005 for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

Career

Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an undrafted amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in , Cedeño made his major league debut in . Cedeño was slated to be the

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

to veteran Dodger All-Star outfielder Brett Butler. However, after four seasons of mediocre play with the Dodgers, he was traded to the

on December 1, 1998 in a deal in which the Dodgers obtained

Todd Hundley Todd Randolph Hundley (born May 27, 1969) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher and outfielder. He was a two-time All-Star who played for 14 seasons with the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs. Early life Hundley ...

. In the 1999 season, Cedeño broke a Mets record by stealing 66 bases in a season (later broken by Jose Reyes). Besides his 66 stolen bases, Cedeño would bat .313, have an

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

of .396, and a

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

of .408. These would all turn out to be career bests. Following the season, on December 11 the Mets traded Cedeño to the

as part of a deal to obtain

Mike Hampton Michael William Hampton, Jr. (born September 9, 1972) is an American former professional baseball player. Hampton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher from 1993 through 2010. He pitched for the Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, New ...

. In May 2000, Cedeño broke his hand sliding headfirst into first base and would spend three months on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

. Following the season, Cedeño would be involved in a December trade for the third consecutive year, this time going to the Detroit Tigers in a six player deal. 2001 would see Cedeño bat .293 and steal 55 bases, although he led the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

by being caught stealing 15 times. That winter would be the fourth year in a row he changed teams, returning to the Mets via free agency. The next three seasons would show further declines in Cedeño's stolen bases, 25 in 2002, 14 in 2003 and just 5 in 2004, while hitting in the .260s all three years. He was traded before the 2004 season to the St. Louis Cardinals for Wilson Delgado. Following a 2005 season that saw just 61 plate appearances, Cedeño was released by the Cardinals. After a year off, Cedeño agreed to a minor league contract with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

in . He was released on March 23, 2007. Cedeño finished his career with a .273 batting average, 40

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s, 274 RBI and 213

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s in 1100 games.

Causes

In 2016, Cedeno founded th
Roger Cedeno Foundation
in Aventura, Florida, a
IRS designated 501 (c) (3) charitable organizationGreat Nonprofits Cedeno Foundation Profile
an
Fundacion Roger Cedeno
in Venezuela to support organizations and programs to benefit youth and those most in need.

Personal life

Cedeño's nephew, Yangervis Solarte, played infield for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. Cedeño convinced his

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

to take Solarte on a client as a personal favor.

References

External links

*Roger Cedeno a
SABR
(Baseball Biography Project) *Roger Cedeno a
Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cedeno, Roger 1974 births Albuquerque Dukes players Detroit Tigers players Great Falls Dodgers players Houston Astros players Leones del Caracas players Living people Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Venezuela 20th-century Venezuelan sportsmen Memphis Redbirds players New Orleans Zephyrs players New York Mets players Baseball players from Valencia, Venezuela St. Louis Cardinals players San Antonio Missions players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Vero Beach Dodgers players

Career

Causes

Personal life

See also

References

External links