Angel Rodriguez named Los Angeles Times sports editor

Angel Rodriguez has been named sports editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Rodriguez, 44, comes to The Times from the Washington Post, where he was deputy editor for mobile innovation, working on a team charged with creating the Post’s new tablet app.

Before that, he was sports editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Internet home page manager for the Arizona Republic and a reporter covering Major League Baseball and the NBA for Spain’s EFE news service. He also was part of the team that launched the Spanish-language website ESPNdeportes.com.

With the Republic, he helped oversee breaking news coverage of stories that included the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. That coverage was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

Rodriguez was described as “an editor with a passion for sports and a flair for digital storytelling” by L.A. Times Editor Davan Maharaj in his announcement to the newspaper’s staff.

Rodriguez takes over an operation that is annually recognized in Associated Press Sports Editors competitions as one of the nation’s best sports sections.

Rodriguez grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Latin American history.

He becomes The Times’ eighth sports editor since 1928; fourth in the last nine years.