Teams would love to have one strong hitting catching prospect that can stick behind the plate.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have two of them, both Top 100 prospects, and both in the upper levels of the minors.
While Henry Davis has been stealing most of the attention as he tears through Double-A, by his standards Endy Rodriguez has been off to an average start to the season playing in Indianapolis.
He’s missed a little time dealing with a forearm injury, but has since returned to the lineup and behind the plate.
The numbers don’t stand out at first glance: .237/.350/.402, 4 HR, 12 RBI, and his average exit velocity isn’t the prettiest — but you can still see the approach at the plate that made him one of the best prospects in the game.
He’s walked six times in his past four games and has earned free passes more times than he has struck out.
You can never tell whether someone is going to be able to handle major league pitching until they are at the level, but you can get an idea when a player might need to be challenged more based on the level they are at.
The numbers aren’t sticking out, yet, but the tools remain that he could still have success at the next level, even if it takes some time to adjust.
It’s always been the bat that has been intriguing with Rodriguez, but the ability to play behind the plate has added the value he carries as well.
We know about the hitting issues that Austin Hedges is having, that’s nothing new, and none of this should be a surprise. The Pirates brought in Hedges for his defense and leadership with the pitching staff.
Still, getting more offense out of your catcher position would be nice, especially with how the offense has been lately – Wednesday aside.
That’s where things get a little bit interesting. Whether it’s the injury, or something else, the arm just hasn’t been the same last year. The throws haven’t been clean, and a throwing error to third base led to two runners scoring on Wednesday.
After throwing out 31.1% of would-be base stealers last season, that number has been nearly cut in half this year – as he’s caught 4-of-24 (16.67%) in 2023. He’s almost committed as many errors this year (three) as he did all season in 2022 (five), and we are still in May.
Does this mean he is going to have to move off the position in the future? Not necessarily. It’s just that it makes things a little more interesting in where you try and find him playing time once he’s in the majors.
You could stick him behind the plate, and take the hit defensively, relying on a rookie catcher to make up the difference with the bat. Then again, if the Pirates didn’t value defense at the catcher, they wouldn’t have brought in Hedges at $5 million.
Two of the other positions he plays, left field and first base, are covered by Bryan Reynolds and Carlos Santana, respectively. Andrew McCutchen has been the primary DH. That’s a lot of veterans covering positions that would open the door for Endy.
He could rotate through them all, and still get consistent at-bats still, even taking a day or two behind the plate to continue his development there.
Davis has been grabbing a lot of the attention lately, so it’s been easy to overlook Rodriguez, especially when the numbers are as lopsided as they’ve been.
Regardless, Endy hasn’t done anything to change his original path to the majors from the beginning of the season, they just may need to reroute a bit on their way, if anything to protect him from long-term damage to the arm.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
By Tim Williams
What a great photo of Endy Rodriguez by Ryan Palencer.
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