Richard Rodriguez

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2010
DSL:  2-1-0, 2.00 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 18.0 IP, 2.5 BB/9, 8.0 K/9

Rodriguez started five games in the DSL and pitched well.

2011
R:  0-0-0, 9.82 ERA, 1.91 WHIP, 3.2 IP, 2.5 BB/9, 7.4 K/9

Rodriguez was apparently hurt, as he got into just four late-season games.

2012
R+:  2-1-0, 3.90 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 32.1 IP, 2.5 BB/9, 10.3 K/9
A:  0-0-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 3.0 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 12.0 K/9

After one June start in full season ball, the Astros sent Rodriguez to advanced rookie ball, where he pitched better than his ERA suggests.

2013
A-:  4-0-1, 1.29 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 21.0 IP, 1.3 BB/9, 9.9 K/9
A:  0-1-0, 7.33 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 23.1 IP, 3.9 BB/9, 6.9 K/9

Rodriguez moved to the bullpen for good.  He opened his season in full season ball in mid-May and got hit hard.  After 14 games, the Astros moved him down to short season ball and he dominated there.

2014
A+:  0-0-0, 5.06 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 10.2 IP, 1.7 BB/9, 13.5 K/9
AA:  0-2-0, 3.05 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 20.2 IP, 0.9 BB/9, 12.2 K/9
AAA:  2-0-0, 3.49 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 28.1 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 7.3 K/9

Rodriguez divided his time among three levels, pitching well at all three, including high A despite the ERA.  He had outstanding walk and K rates in high A and AA.

2015
AA (Balt):  1-1-0, 1.27 ERA, 0.61 WHIP, 21.1 IP, 0.8 BB/9, 9.7 K/9
AAA (Hou):  5-0-0, 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 42.0 IP, 2.1 BB/9, 7.7 K/9
AAA (Balt):  1-3-0, 3.54 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 20.1 IP, 4.4 BB/9, 6.6 K/9

The Astros sent Rodriguez back to AAA and he pitched well, although without the high K rate he’d had at lower levels.  In June, Houston sent him to the Orioles for cash.  The Orioles sent him initially to AA, where he dominated, but he wasn’t as effective after they moved him up to AAA.

2016
AAA:  6-2-2, 2.53 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 81.2 IP, 2.8 BB/9, 8.9 K/9

Rodriguez spent the season in AAA and pitched very well without quite dominating.

2017
AAA:  4-4-10, 2.42 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 70.2 IP, 2.3 BB/9, 10.2 K/9
MLB:  0-0-0, 14.29 ERA, 2.65 WHIP, 5.2 IP, 4.8 BB/9, 4.8 K/9

Rodriguez returned to AAA and continued to pitch well, with a high K rate.  He got a September callup, but struggled through five appearances.  The Orioles outrighted him in mid-September, which is a little unusual for a September callup with expanded rosters.

2018
AAA:  0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 5.0 IP, 3.6 BB/9, 16.2 K/9
MLB:  4-3-0, 2.47 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 69.1 IP, 2.5 BB/9, 11.4 K/9

Rodriguez turned into a major find for the Pirates.  He opened the season with Indianapolis, but with their bullpen melting down, the Pirates called him up on April 13 after just two outings in AAA.  He got off to a remarkable start, striking out 21 in his first 11.1 IP.  He continued pitching effectively all year, appearing in 63 games, occasionally for more than one inning.  He showed a surprising ability to get swings and misses on high fastballs despite not having the usual blistering velocity for a reliever.  The missed bats may result from an unusually high spin rate.  He remained a flyball pitcher, but didn’t give up many long hits, with opponents slugging just .312 against him.  That included a home run every 14 innings.  Rodriguez had a significant reverse platoon split, which is interesting because he faced left-handed batters nearly half the time.  They had just a .439 OPS against him.  Right-handed hitters gave him some trouble, with a .730 OPS.  The Pirates used him in a variety of roles, typically anywhere from the sixth to the eighth.

2019
AAA:  1-0-1, 3.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 3.0 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 9.0 K/9
MLB:  4-5-1, 3.72 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 65.1 IP, 3.2 BB/9, 8.7 K/9

Rodriguez started the season pitching in late-inning relief for the Pirates, but got off to a terrible start.  In particular, he had a very difficult time keeping the ball in the park.  In his first 19.2 IP, he gave up eight gopher balls.  The Pirates sent him to AAA in mid-May, but with their bullpen in a shambles they brought him back up after a week and a half.  He pitched better the rest of the way, but still wasn’t up to his 2018 level.  Homers remained an issue; on the year he gave up 14, or one every four and a half innings.  Left-handed hitters blistered him for an OPS of .907, while he held right-handed hitters to .635.  The change seemed to result from his fastball, which according to brooksbaseball.net lost nearly 5% of its movement from 2018.  His swinging strike percentage dropped from 13.8% the year before to 10.7%.  After slugging just .250 off the pitch in 2018, opponents slugged ..436 against it in 2019.

Rodriguez pitched just well enough in 2019 that he’s probably assured of being in the Pirates’ bullpen in 2020.  They shouldn’t rely on him for late-inning relief, but given their unwillingness to spend any money and their inability to develop pitchers, he may well return in that role.