Topic: Pedro Feliciano

Pedro Juan Feliciano Molina (born August 25, 1976 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico) is a Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher with the New York Mets.

Feliciano graduated from Jose S. Algeria High School in Dorado, Puerto Rico. 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, achieving some success at the AA level, but pitched poorly in his one inning with the AAA Albuquerque Dukes. In 2001, he again failed 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 finally made his Major League debut pitching two scoreless innings of relief against the Florida Marlins. In the three years following, he had mixed success with the Mets, being recalled from and optioned to the AAA Norfolk Tides several times in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, he spent the season with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League, but returned to the Mets as a left-handed specialist for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. In 2008 and 2009, he operated as a full-fledged member of the bullpen ensemble and the Mets' primary situational left-hander, often appearing in the seventh or eighth innings to pitch to one or two left-handed batters. In 2010, Feliciano has been also used as a set-up man.