The first "Bradgley" in major-league history could become a household name if he helps San Diego make a deep postseason run.
Dane Iorg. Geoff Blum. Billy Bates. Yuniesky Betancourt. Mickey Hatcher. What do these players have in common other than fashioning careers that would identify them as being mostly forgotten Major Leaguers? According to an MLB.com article published in November 2025, the answer is that they are among the most unlikely heroes in postseason history.
As we barrel down the homestretch of the 2026 season, with the playoffs scheduled to begin on Sept. 29 with the Wild Card rounds, MLB.com writer Mike Petriello inked a piece on Thursday in which he tries to predict which under-the-radar relief pitchers could assume the unlikely hero's mantle in October.
Petriello's contention that there will be surprise relief stars on the mound is backed by recent history. Since the 2021 postseason, the writer notes that pitchers like Tyler Matzek, Bryan Abreu, Kevin Ginkel, Josh Sborz, Alex Vesia, Lucas Erceg, Eric Lauer and Will Vest have been among the most impactful relievers.
While peering into the 2026 playoff crystal ball, Petriello highlighted one name - and what a name it is - that should be very familiar to San Diego Padres fans: Bradgley Rodriguez, the first "Bradgley" to ever appear in the majors.
OK, I know by now you might be thinking, "Wait, the Padres haven't even qualified for the playoffs yet, so isn't this discussion a little premature?"
While that may technically be true, a glimpse at the standings shows the Padres with a 3.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League's final wild-card spot. Additionally, the Padres are just a game behind Philadelphia and 1.5 games behind Chicago for the first and second wild-card positions, so there's also a chance they can move up in the pecking order.
San Diego (83-69) makes up its game-in-hand over Arizona (80-73) when they wrap up their 4-game series in Colorado on Thursday. They then face three games against the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers before hosting Arizona on the final weekend of the season. For their part, the D-Backs play the New York Yankees and Rockies before heading to Petco Park. San Diego's goal will be to have the wild card wrapped up by then so that the final series will not be winner-take-all.
If that comes to be, Rodriguez will undoubtedly have played a part, though that was never a foregone conclusion. Signed as a 17-year-old out of Venezuela in January 2021, Rodriguez struggled to a 6.20 ERA with the Padres' squad in the Dominican Summer League that year. Right-elbow issues then sidelined him for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
At that point, he was so lightly regarded that he did not make San Diego's preseason Top 30 Prospect list in 2024, according to MLB.com. That all changed when he dominated at three levels in 2024, recording 74 strikeouts in 45 games and 61.1 innings pitched from Lake Elsinore (A), Fort Wayne (A+) and San Antonio (AA).
That performance allowed Rodriguez to go from unranked to No. 14 on San Diego's preseason Top 30 Prospect list in 2025. Then, after going 6-0 in 33 appearances combined with San Antonio and El Paso (AAA), he got the call to the show, eventually appearing in seven games for the Padres with a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings pitched.
That earned him a spot in the Padres bullpen heading into 2026 where he has shone in setting the table for late-inning relief aces Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller, prompting some to call the San Diego bullpen the best in baseball.
Petriello makes the case for Rodriguez's potential postseason hero status by noting that his 2.38 ERA is in the top five among rookies this season, though he has compiled that record a little unusually. Even though he's armed with a 98-mph fastball, Rodriguez is one of the few relievers (think Trevor Hoffman, Padres fans) who uses a changeup as his out pitch. In fact, he throws the pitch 40% of the time, with hitters batting just .134 against the offering. And when it is hit, the quality of contact is among the weakest in the game.
So, if his non-traditional regular-season success can translate to the playoffs, Rodriguez may stand on the verge of adding his one-of-a-kind name to Yuniesky and Dane, hoping to become recognized as a one-of-a-kind playoff performer.
