Endy Rodriguez left last night’s rehab appearance with Indianapolis in the second inning with what Alex Stumpf described as “general right forearm fatigue”.
Rodriguez popped out in the first inning at the plate. In the bottom of the first, he had a throwing error on a stolen base attempt at second. Domingo German struck out four of the next five batters, heading into the third inning.
Rodriguez had another throwing error in the third inning on another stolen base attempt to second. He was removed during the next at-bat, and was being assessed by the medical team Friday night.
The concern here is that Rodriguez is returning from Tommy John surgery last December, and now is out after throwing issues to second. He’s early in his game rehab, but the Pirates have been pushing him the last few days.
Rodriguez moved up from rehabbing in Altoona this week when the Double-A season ended. He caught nine innings on Tuesday, then played nine innings in the field at first base on Wednesday. He played nine innings as the designated hitter on Thursday. He then returned behind the plate on Friday.
The rehab work for Tommy John is less common for position players than pitchers. Rodriguez is the rare case I can remember for a catcher.
During his rehab time with Altoona last week, Rodriguez started with abbreviated games behind the plate, mixed in with full games as the designated hitter. He caught his first full game a week ago today. He was getting work at the Florida Complex prior to joining Altoona to play daily.
Altoona’s season ended last Sunday, and Rodriguez showed promise during his week there. He got up to catching a full game at a full-season level. This week, it seems the challenge in the final week at Triple-A was going to be two full games behind the plate and at least one game at first base.
Rodriguez has caught 31.1 innings and has 41 plate appearances since September 10th. He’s played ten games in a row with no days off, other than the league scheduled day on Monday. It seems like he’s being rushed back to being a catcher, hitter, and more. Nine months after an extensive surgery, I’m surprised the approach wasn’t more simplistic — with limited catching, DH-only, and no focus on other positions.
Now, Rodriguez has forearm fatigue, which would be a concern for any player returning from Tommy John who was experiencing in-game throwing issues. Is that a short-term concern that can be solved be easing back the current workload? Or is it a long-term concern about sticking behind the plate?
I’d lean toward the short-term, that the Pirates may have been putting too much of a workload on Rodriguez too quickly. Hopefully his catching won’t be impacted by this in the long-term.
Three Pirates Observations
The Pirates lost to the Reds 8-3 on Friday night. Here are three things that stood out to me from the game:
- I think it’s much more realistic to dream about Oneil Cruz as a star in center field versus shortstop. A day after making a nice diving catch in center field, Cruz went 2-for-4 with his 20th homer of the year on Friday. This is the first full season for Cruz, and he’s going to finish with a 20-20 season. 30-30 in 2025?
- RHP Isaac Mattson made his Pirates debut with two perfect innings, striking out two. His fastball sat 93.5 MPH, touching 94.8, with a 39% called and swinging strike rate, due to six called strikes and one whiff. He also had a whiff on three swings against his mid-80s changeup, which he threw five times. Mattson’s slider is usually his best secondary pitch, but he only threw it twice. I wrote about Mattson recently, who deserved this late-season callup.
- Mitch Keller didn’t have it on Friday, allowing eight runs in 3.1 innings, with five walks. Keller’s velocity was down across the board with his pitches. He’s also pitched 367.1 innings over the last two years, so he might be showing some fatigue at the end of a meaningless season. He had two other blowup starts like this in August.
Pirates Prospect Watch
Joshua Palacios had three hits, including a homer that gave Indianapolis a lead on Friday. It was a wild game that they eventually won 8-6, with more help from a Jack Suwinski homer. Dylan Shockley had two hits in place of Endy Rodriguez. Read about Friday’s Indianapolis game in the latest Pirates Prospect Watch.
