rojas spent 23 years in the minor leagues as a catcher before becoming a manager. from 1982 through 2004, he played for nine different teams both in the mexican baseball and mexican pacific leagues. a fine defensive catcher and good-contact hitter, he batted .300 or more nine times and hit 150 home runs, while collecting a career .291 batting average. his most productive season came in 1998, when he posted career-highs in average (.352) and rbi (92).