On Thursday, Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez took the mound wearing a pair of yellow, red and blue cleats.
Inscribed on the right toe is the word “Petare” — the Venezuelan city where he was born — with multicolored buildings reminiscent of the neighborhood he remembers from childhood along the side.
The left cleat pays tribute to Guarenas, where he grew up, featuring artwork of The Noria of Hacienda La Concepción — a preserved 1869 hydraulic waterwheel and sugarcane mill — near the heel.
The stars of the Venezuelan flag hug the arches of his feet.
Rodriguez’s home country is always top of mind, but even more so since two devastating magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes hit the area in late June, causing 4,000-plus fatalities to date and thousands more injuries.
Rodriguez immediately checked on his family, which lives within 45 minutes of the epicenter.
“Luckily, everyone is OK,” Rodriguez said through Padres interpreter Jorge Merlos. “Everyone’s all right. The only person that lost their house is my grandmother, and she pretty much lost all of it.”
Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez walks off the mound in the seventh inning of a game against the Phillies on May 26, 2026. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Rodriguez’s abuela is living with his mom for now, though Rodriguez is focused on eventually buying her a new house. He knows things could have been much, much worse.
“Obviously I wasn’t solely affected, but my friends were looking for their parents and trying to figure out where they were,” he said. “I know their families as well, so it affected me so much. I kept staying up late at night just thinking about them and not knowing what else to do.”
There are currently more than 80 Venezuelan-born players active in MLB this season, including Rodriguez and Padres teammates Freddy Fermin, Luis Rengifo and Germán Márquez.
“My whole family is safe, and they are good,” Marquez said. “But everybody is still sad because there were too many lives (taken). My heart breaks because it’s my country, it’s my people … It’s hard, and we kind of find a way to help them out. I feel like every player from Venezuela has been, you know, giving just a little to help.”
Annie Heilbrunn
A closer look at Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez’s cleats. (Annie Heilbrunn)
The Padres Foundation has donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross’ dedicated Venezuelan Earthquake Relief Fund. Fernando Tatis Jr., through his Fernando Tatis Full Count Foundation, also donated $100,000 and encouraged teams, players and organizations to give what they can.
The days immediately after the earthquakes were the hardest, Rodriguez said, as uncertainty hung over every message and phone call.
Since then, things have become a little easier — though they’re far from settled.
“Obviously it’s very, very sad,” he said, “and it’s super difficult to be part of that and to be here and see what’s happening.”