A Chat with Jose Rijo

[CincyRedsFan30]

Kyle Nagel chats with Jose Rijo
Former Reds pitching ace now an assistant to general manager for Washington Nationals

By Kyle Nagel

Dayton Daily News

In 14 major-league seasons, Jose Rijo won 116 games as a right-handed pitcher and collected a 3.24 ERA. But his impact on the Cincinnati Reds goes far beyond his numbers. Rijo, now 40 and an assistant to the general manager for the Washington Nationals, was one of the Reds' most popular players during his first go-around in Cincinnati from 1988-95 (he played for the Yankees and A's before coming to the Reds), which included a World Series MVP award in 1990.

Despite three separate surgeries on his pitching arm, Rijo returned in 2001 to the Reds' bullpen. He will be enshrined in the Reds' Hall of Fame on Saturday.

One of Rijo's focus areas with the Nationals is scouting the Dominican Republic, which remains his home and a place about which he remains passionate.

• "Responsibilities? I have too many. I'm assistant GM, I'm a scout and I'm also a part-time coach at the major-league level. But, I'm going to do whatever I can to stay around the game."

• "There are so many people I was looking forward to seeing here. It reminds you of some people who have left the game. It reminds you of the World Series. It reminds you of how far you've come and how much you can help other people. There are a lot of memories for me here, it has a place in my heart."

• "To have parents like I did, they gave me the opportunity to do things my way and know what was best for me. They didn't try to force me into anything. They didn't say, 'You're going to do this job for the rest of your life.' They let me follow a dream. And the dream came true."

• "My first major-league experience was a good one. I faced Frank White of the Kansas City Royals, second base, great hitter, great player, great person. It was the fifth inning, and I struck him out. He was a veteran player, and I'm sure he doesn't like being the first memory of a rookie who struck him out. But, I knew I could be good when I struck him out. Sometimes it's just how you start."

• "In the Dominican in winter ball, you learn a lot about where you are as a player. You face major-league players like George Bell, Alfredo Griffin, Pedro Guerrero. You face them, and if you're getting them out, that helps you. Then you see the pitcher on the other team, and he's a major-league player, and you see what he's got. That way, you know what you've got."

• "I think when you play the game in the Dominican, a Dominican kid does a lot with a little, doing the only thing he knows how to do, and that's playing ball. In the Dominican we don't play high school or college. When you see Ken Griffey and asked him where he played, he'll say, 'I played at this high school,' or when you see other players and ask them where they played, they'll say, 'I played for this college.' In the Dominican, you ask them, 'Where do you come from? Where do you play? Where did you learn how to play?' The desire to become a major-league player is unbelievable. You know that's the only way you're going to help your family, the only way you're going to make a difference in your country."

• "If I'm healthy, I'm happy. Every day, when I wake up, I feel good and I feel motivated. When I wake up in the morning, I think about the kids in the Dominican. There, 70 percent of the kids don't really have education, they help provide for their families. Some of them don't even know what they're going to eat in the morning."

• "Being elected into the hall of fame in Cincinnati, it tells you how good you were, how great of a career you had. Every day my goal isn't just to go through my day, but to make my team better, to help them play a better game, to bring their intensity level up. You don't have to be on the field to help the team."

• "Pitchers think too much. If you have a bad outing, you can't stop thinking about it. I try to tell them to think about the good things, not the home runs. But the home runs, especially the big ones you've given up, can be hard to forget."

• "Oh, bad. I want to pitch bad. When you see the game every day and some pitchers who don't even belong in the major leagues ... even though I'm not as 100 percent as I used to be, I can be 50 percent of what I used to be and still be better than some of the pitchers in the major leagues today. Because I'm hungry. And when you're hungry, that already makes you good at what you do."

• "The game has changed so much. Before you had a team, and you had a few rookies. The team stayed the same, and the people knew who would be playing every year. They didn't know the rookies, but they would get to know them. Today, it's not that way. Today, the first thought if you lose is, 'How are we going to change the team? Who's going to be on the team next year?' That doesn't help the team."

[Slyder]

Anyone think he could be a candidate for GM/Manager if O Brien or Miley are canned? We could do much worse than Rijo IMO.

[QuietAcre]

What the Reds need to do is to prove to the baseball that they're not just a "good old boy's network", and go OUTSIDE of the organization (that includes anyone that played, coached or managed for the Reds before) and GET a bonafide pennant-calibre manager. That will speak volumes. Running one Good Ol' Boy out there after another has not worked for the Reds in how many years?

[Jr's Boy]

Hell put him in the bullpen,he couldnt do any worse.

[missionhockey21]

I wouldn't mind having Rijo as the bullpen coach because he does have experience with coaching and being a leader. I would love to get Rijo back to have him one day be the pitching coach if he has success in his other role. I truly believe he would excel in that role.

[carolina444]

nice conversation i read it throughout and i found it interesting.
Thanks for sharing this chat with us.