The last time Miguel Rojas suited up for the Dodgers, he wore number 72 as a 25-year-old rookie in 2014. He was the first player ever to wear 72 in Dodger blue, and he’s still one of only two — Travis d’Arnaud also wore 72 for his one plate appearances in 2019.
Rojas won’t be wearing 72 in 2023, though. He wore number 19 for his first seven seasons with the Marlins, but he switched to number 11 last year and recently confirmed he’ll be wearing 11 in Los Angeles this year.
The reason Rojas switched to number 11 is very special:
About a year ago, Rojas’s mother lost her battle with cancer, and the same week, his grandfather passed away. His grandpa had been the first one to instill in him a love of baseball, and the number Rojas wore during that time was 11. So Miguel chose to go back to his childhood number to honor the passing of his grandpa.
Rojas told Chris Rose last year that he thought his grandpa was a superhero, so his passing came as a shock to Miguel.
The number 11 has been worn pretty consistently on the Dodgers over the past decade, most recently by Kevin Pillar in 2022. It was the number of Dodgers icon Manny Mota during his playing career, and Mota continued to wear it during his coaching career with Los Angeles. Mota’s coaching career ended after 2013, and in 2014, Erisbel Arruebarrena became the first Dodgers player to wear the number since Mota in 1972. Since then, at least one Dodger has worn the number every year, including Jimmy Rollins, Micah Johnson, Josh Reddick, Logan Forsythe, AJ Pollock, and Pillar.
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