Before 2007 spring training, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Neftali as 18th-best prospect in the Braves organization. In 2008, they had him at #5 in the Texas Rangers' farm system. During the offseason before both 2009 and 2010 spring training, they had Feliz as the #1 prospect in the Rangers' organization.

Neftali is pronounced NEF-tuh-lee.

He has a solid work ethic and displays maturity.

Feliz grew up in the Dominican province of Azua along the southern coast of the country, five minutes from the provincial capital of the same name. The nation's capital, Santo Domingo, is an hour to the east. Another hour away on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic are the famous, picture-postcard beaches of Punta Cana, with miles of white sand and palm trees.

His command of the English language will take some time, but other cultural adjustments have gone smoothly. Feliz said he has come to like American food, though he still enjoys a more traditional Dominican dinner.

Though he shares a last name and hometown (Azua, Dominican Republic) with former Rangers third baseman Pedro Feliz, the two aren't related.

On September 14, 2010, Neftali's wife, Karina, gave birth to daughter Nerali Lucia.

November 15, 2010: Feliz was named 2010 American League Rookie of the Year, beating out Tigers OF Austin Jackson with 20 of the 28 first-place votes.

Neftali  often takes grief from close friends Alexi Ogando and Pedro Strop about the size of his head. Ogando once told MLB.com, “We are triplets, like the Three Musketeers—three and a half, if you count Feliz's head."

Neftali Feliz misses his family, which is still in the Dominican Republic. He frowns at the idea of having to eat American food. Again. It'll never stack up to his mom's cooking. Feliz is desperately trying to speak English, but he hardly knows a word.

It's 2005, and life in the United States for the first time is bleak and confusing for the 17-year-old.  "I didn't know anything," the now 26-year-old said. "Nothing."

Why would he? After all, Feliz had never been to the United States before. But in his world full of change and new daily challenges, he managed to consistently find peace through the one thing that had always been there for him.

"When I was a kid ... I had a good arm, and my mother told me to go and pitch," Feliz said. "And I said, 'OK. That's fine.'''

And that was that. But what the 2005 version of Feliz didn't know at the time was that it wouldn't always be that simple. A few years later, even baseball would betray him. 

There was a time when a young Feliz would confidently strut to the pitcher's mound at Globe Life Park as one of the Rangers' most accomplished closers, as a beloved household name.

In 2005, Feliz signed with the Braves as a free agent, and after Texas acquired him in a seven-player trade with Atlanta in July 2007, Feliz established himself as the closer in 2010. The young phenom was winning awards, including the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award in 2010 as the first Ranger to win it since 1974.

Feliz became one of five Texas pitchers with multiple 30-save seasons and was the youngest player in history to accomplish that feat at 23 years and 5 months. To date, he's the Rangers' all-time leader in postseason saves, perhaps his most notable one coming in the state of Texas' first win in a World Series game on Oct. 30, 2010. Feliz was 22 years, 181 days, which made him the second-youngest pitcher to pick up a World Series save behind Bob Welch. Feliz stole the No. 2 slot from Nolan Ryan and would go on to pitch in the 2011 World Series, too.

"We had a long season, but physically, I feel 100 percent," Feliz had told MLB.com in 2010 after receiving his AL Rookie of the Year honors. "I could still be going strong if we were still playing."

Just two years later, the former All-Star wouldn't be able to say that. (Raynor - mlb.com - 6/23/14)

Neftali Feliz remembers the pain. It started out as right elbow inflammation on May 21, 2012.  By July, Feliz was still in too much discomfort to make a scheduled rehab start, and it was evident that the problem was something bigger than just irritation.

"I asked the doctor what was best for me ... [and he said] surgery," Feliz said. "I said, 'Let's do it.'" The surgery the doctor was referring to was Tommy John surgery. It would end Feliz's 2012 campaign, and he wouldn't rejoin the Rangers as a callup until September 2013. The once go-to closer with dozens of saves had posted no record in just six appearances. Gone was his 100-mph fastball.

For at least the time being, the historic Neftali Feliz was no more.  "I lost a little bit of my mechanics," Feliz said. "Before my surgery, I was throwing almost 100. Now, I'm throwing 94, 96-97 sometimes." (6/23/14)

As Feliz sits at a shady picnic table just feet away from the clubhouse on a windy June 2014 day in Round Rock, he smiles as he begins to talk about his mother. She got him into baseball. She cooks the foods he likes. And she's the centerpiece of his tattoos that cover his left arm. A sketch of her face is in the middle, while the name of his daughter, Neraly, is a bit lower, on the forearm.

While Feliz's mother is firm in her transition from soap operas to baseball on their television at home in the Dominican Republic and makes visits to the U.S., his daughter doesn't see her father play in person. For now, she's too young.

That'll change when she gets a little bit older. And by that time, Feliz could potentially be back in the big leagues. Express pitching coach Brad Holman said that he thought Feliz could be ready right now if the opportunity were to present itself.

There's a part of Feliz that feels 100 percent again, who feels like he could be the pitcher he once was. He's excited to throw hard again and wants to make another run at a World Series title. Yet there's another part of Feliz that knows his fastball velocity is down, that knows that Tommy John surgery has changed the path of his career forever.

But Feliz continues to smile—a gentle, patient grin that flashes the confidence the superstar-turned-battler has in himself.

"I love when I come in to pitch, and they put the music on and the fans make noise," Feliz said. "I love it." Feliz is waiting for that feeling again in Arlington. Now it's just a matter of time. (Raynor - mlb.com - 6/23/14)

July 14-17, 2017: Feliz was on the paternity list.

TRANSACTIONS

2005: Feliz signed with scouts Julian Perez and Roberto Aquino of the Braves for a bonus of $100,000.

July 30, 2007: The Rangers sent Mark Teixeira and P Ron Mahay to the Braves; acquiring Feliz, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, RHP Elvis Andrus, LHP Matt Harrison, and LHP Beau Jones.

January 18, 2013: Feliz and the Rangers agreed on a one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration.

January 17, 2014: Neftali and the Rangers again avoided arbitration by settling on a $3 million pact for 2014.

January 15, 2015: Feliz and the Rangers once more avoided salary arbitration, agreeing to a one-year $4.1 million contract for 2015.

July 10, 2015: Neftali chose free agency, as per his contract.

July 11, 2015: Feliz signed with the Tigers.

December 2, 2015: Feliz elected free agency,

January 6, 2015: Neftali signed with the Pirates organization.

January 6, 2016: The Pirates signed free agent Feliz to a one-year contract for $3.9 million.

Nov 3, 2016: Feliz chose free agency.

Jan 19, 2017: The Brewers signed free agent Feliz to a one-year contract for $5.35 million plus $1.5 million in incentives.

June 19, 2017: Feliz was released by the Brewers.

June 23, 2017: The Royals signed free agent Feliz.

Sept 1, 2017: The Royals released Feliz.

Jan. 28, 2018: The Diamondbacks signed Feliz to a minor league contract.

Dec. 19, 2020: The Phillies signed Feliz to a minor league contract.

July 3, 2021: Feliz chose free agency.

July 6, 2021: The Dodgers signed Feliz.

Oct. 2021: Feliz became a free agent.

Feliz is a tall, thin righthander with a 92-99 mph FASTBALL—hitting 100 and 102 mph at times. That fine heater has late boring action. He also has an 83-84 mph 11-to-5 downer CURVEBALL, but needs to stay on top of it more consistently, because it has real sharp bite when he does. Too often he drops his arm, causing the ball to flatten and become slurvy.

He has good feel for his 87-91 mph CHANGEUP that has become his second best pitch, with excellent fading action. He uses a split-finger grip on his change, using the same arm speed as with his heater, with great results.

Scouts rate his fastball as a 75 or 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale. The ball jumps out of his hand and it really explodes on the hitter. And he puts hitters away with it whether he's throwing it 100 mph or 94 mph because of its movement.

2017 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball 63% of the time; Change 15.3%; Slider 19%; and Cutter nearly 3% of the time.

On September 1, 2010, Feliz threw a fastball recorded at 103.4 mph, currently the third fastest any pitcher has ever thrown (behind Aroldis Chapman and Joel Zumaya).

Neftali has a smooth, loose,effortless delivery. He throws the ball with ease, but it explodes out of his hand, sometimes hitting 100 mph. Some big flame-throwing pitchers have very unsound mechanics in order to generate all that force behind the ball. But with Feliz, it almost looks like he is playing catch, but the ball really explodes out of his hand.

When Feliz maintains a high three-quarters arm slot, he also gets a good downhill angle on his heater. But at times he drops his arm slot, causing his stuff to flatten out.

Feliz has good control but lacks command.

When Feliz made his Major League debut on August 3, 2009, he became the first pitcher in 47 years to strike out the first four hitters of his career.

If it all comes together for Neftali (and it really should), he might be a lights-out closer in the Mo Rivera mold. After being a starter, the Rangers moved him to the bullpen in June 2009. Texas looked at him as a starting pitcher again in the spring of 2011, but moved him back to being their closer before the end of camp.

As a starter, there were pitchability questions: Does Feliz have command of enough pitches to go through a batting order three or more times? A pitcher either needs extreme, off-the-charts command of two pitches or three solid pitches to do that.

He pitches with confidence and an aggressive mound presence. He doesn't get rattled easily. His poise and ability to compartmentalize and rebound after wobbly outings is very impressive.

Feliz does not pump his fist or thump his chest or dance around the mound. After he strikes an important hitter out, he lowers his head and walks off the mound, kind of like Mariano Rivera.

In 2010, Neftali was the closer for the Rangers, replacing Frank Francisco. (Editor's note: The Rangers went to the A.L. playoffs thanks, in part, to that decision. Feliz's 40 saves set a single-season record for a rookie.)

When the Rangers signed Joe Nathan to be their closer for 2012, they told Feliz he would become a starting pitcher.

But there are a few things the 26-year-old needs to fine-tune. "The one main thing that was hard to get him to do was to use his fastball as his main weapon. I think subconsciously, he knew maybe he didn't have his best fastball, so he gravitated towards the other stuff," Holman said. "Just recently he's really started to pitch off his fastball. Mechanically, he has a tendency to get rotational, where he cheats around his delivery and his arm comes low."

Feliz also tends to perform better when the score is tied and the pressure is on the line. While it's important to see him thrive under pressure, both Holman and Express manager Steve Buechele said they hope he performs his best every night, regardless of the score.

Buechele knows the seed of the problem is obvious. "I think if there's one thing I've seen, it's just, he's inconsistent. And I think he's gotten better. He can't come into a game and walk the leadoff hitter. He has to be able to come into the game, the back end of the game, and get outs," Buechele said. "He's done it. And we've seen him do it, but I think he needs to do it on a consistent basis." (Raynor - mlb.com - 6/23/14)

As of the start of the 2020 season, Feliz had a career record of 21-19 with a 3.49 ERA, having allowed 45 home runs and just 288 hits in 389 innings.

Jan 4, 2020: Philadelphia announced on Monday that they signed Feliz. Feliz, 32 won the American League Rookie of the Year Award and made the All-Star team with Texas in 2010. Feliz has not pitched in the big leagues since 2017, but he owns a 3.07 ERA in 15 appearances in the Dominican Winter League.

2021 Season: L.A. managed to lure Féliz to the organization this year as they faced a pressing need for healthy pitchers. Although Féliz was signed to a Minor League contract in July, he didn’t get called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City until one month later.

Up that point the veteran right-hander went 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA over 13 appearances for OKC. Féliz then only pitched in one game with the Dodgers prior to getting designated for assignment as a corresponding move to activating Julio Urias off the 10-day injured list.

Féliz cleared waivers and was sent outright to Oklahoma City. He returned to L.A. during the first week of September and to that point was an overall 2-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 16 games (one start) for OKC.

Féliz’s time with the Dodgers again was brief as three days after a second stint with the club, he got DFA’d. The 33-year-old cleared waivers and finished out the season with Oklahoma City.

Overall, he went 2-1 with a 4.39 ERA in 20 games (one start) for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate.

Féliz’s 2021 highlight Although Féliz didn’t pitch much for the Dodgers, he allowed just one baserunner over a combined three innings across three appearances.  (Matthew Moreno - Dec. 24, 2021)

May 19, 2012: Neftali was on the D.L. with right elbow inflammation.

August 1, 2012: Feliz was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery. He missed the rest of the season and most of 2013.

March 23-September 1, 2013: Neftali began the season on the 60-day D.L. while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

When he started pitching again in August, Feliz shut down his rehab assignment on August 11 because of inflammation in his right triceps.

April 24-May 13, 2014: Feliz was placed on the disabled list at Triple-A Round Rock with general soreness and fatigue.