Change of Scenery Changes Eduardo Rodriguez for the Better
By Jason Mast
Orioles reliever Andrew Miller has been just short of un-hittable in August as the Orioles have run away with the AL East. Since coming over from Boston on the July 31st trade deadline, the hard throwing left-hander is 1-0, with 0.82 Earned Run Average, 14 strikeouts and just 3 hits allowed over 11 innings.
Garnering less attention, is the success of the player he was traded for: Eduardo Rodriguez.
Pitching for the Portland Sea Dogs, Boston’s Double-A affiliate, Tuesday night, Rodriguez scattered seven hits and punched out seven batters over seven innings of one run ball. He did not issue a walk and needed just 86 pitches to get through the night.
The 21 year old entered the season as one of the more highly regarded left-handers in minor league baseball, coming in at #65 on Baseball America’s annual top 100 prospect list. 2014 proved trouble, though, and through 17 starts for Bowie, Baltimore’s Double-A affiliate, Rodriguez was 3-7 with a 4.69 ERA.
A change of scenery appears to be all he needed.
In five starts since joining Portland, Rodriguez has pitched to an 0.87 ERA, almost matching Miller’s mark despite throwing 31 1/3 innings to Miller’s 11. Not once has he allowed more than one earned run or walked more than three batters in a start. He is missing bats again (35 strikeouts, 10.1 K/9) and is showing better command than he has at any other point in his professional career (1.7 BB/9). His fielding independent pitching is 2.30.
The marked improvement in his performance can be attributed to a marked improvement in the control and quality of all his pitches.
Red Sox beat writer Alex Speirer of WEEI noted that the young Venezuelan was topping out at 96-97 on his fastball in all of his starts while aggressively pounding both sides of the zone with the pitch. Less than a year ago, he was averaging just 92, and topping out, by most accounts, at 94.
“My fastball is working much better right now,” Rodriguez told the Portland Press Herald in an interview Wednesday.
While Rodriguez talked about his fastball, his pitching coach, Bob Kipper, praised secondary offerings.
“I’ve seen a lot of good change-ups come out of his hand. It’s a real legitimate weapon.” Kipper said “We’re working on the slider to get more depth and he’s come along nicely with it.”
His 84-88 MPH changeup is his most most advanced off-speed weapon right now and should develop into a plus major league offering, according to ESPN.com Keith Law. The development of his slider, though, could be the ultimate determinate of his long-term success. It’s still raw but has the potential to be above average down the line, allowing Rodriguez to develop into a legitimate number two starter
As if the Red Sox needed any more promising young starters.
In Triple-A alone, they have right-hander Anthony Ranaudo and left-hander Henry Owens, each top 100 prospects and each successfully rolling through the minors’ highest level. Already in Fenway are Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, who, for all his struggles at the major league level, has unimpeachable stuff and a 3.10 ER AAA this season. They even acquired Joe Kelly from St. Louis at the deadline, as well as Edwin Escobar from San Francisco. Brian Johnson, Rodriguez’s unheralded teammate in Portland, leads the Eastern League with 1.75 ERA.
Scouts have long praised Rodriguez’s almost precocious poise at the plate – Kipper did – so he may actually be better equipped than to succeed in the major leagues this september than some of the older and more tenured hurlers on that list. He has to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason, anyway, or be left exposed to the Rule Five draft.
I wouldn’t bank on a call-up, though. A month of dominance, even one as overpowering as his August, can’t erase a season of struggles, and Rodriguez’s off-speed pitches still need to be refined. Besides, the Red Sox mortgaged their season long ago and they have little incentive to start the service clock on a player who could play a major role in their rotations for years to come.