Pedro Juan Feliciano (born August 25, 1976 in Rio
Piedras, Puerto Rico) is a Major League Baseball
left-handed relief 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. Since then, he
has 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 2007, he recorded his first career big-league
save against the Philadelphia Phillies.
