After excelling with the Norfolk Tides, Grayson Rodriguez is back in the majors.
The Baltimore Orioles’ top pitching prospect will be recalled from Triple-A to start Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Brandon Hyde said Sunday. The corresponding move will be announced later.
Hyde said he was “very pleased” with the progress Rodriguez made with Norfolk after he was demoted in late May. The 23-year-old struggled with a 7.35 earned-run average in his first 10 big league starts, but he returned to dominant form with the Triple-A Tides.
In seven starts with the Tides since his demotion, Rodriguez posted a 1.69 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings — similarly impressive numbers to the ones he put up throughout his minor league career.
His orders when he was sent down were to improve the command on his mid-to-high 90s-mph fastball. Hyde said he’s achieved that.
“The reports have been awesome with how the command has improved,” Hyde said before Sunday’s victory versus the Miami Marlins. “The stuff has always been there, it’s just all about command with him. He’s throwing the ball extremely well with command down in Triple-A, and we’re excited for him to start” Monday.
Whether he remains in the Orioles’ rotation for the remainder of the season remains to be seen, but Hyde made clear what the club’s hope is for the young fireballer.
“I think we’re in the mindset of winning games right now, and hopefully he sticks in the rotation for the rest of the summer,” Hyde said.
From the very beginning, Rodriguez’s rookie campaign hasn’t gone as expected. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was expected to open the season in Baltimore’s rotation, but he struggled in spring training and was beaten out by Tyler Wells, who was the Orioles’ top starting pitcher through the first half.
But it took less than a week for Rodriguez to make his MLB debut, as an injury to starter Kyle Bradish made way for the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect, whom Baseball America ranks as the 15th-best prospect in the sport. He was solid in April with a 4.07 ERA but was battered in May, allowing 35 hits and 27 runs in 21 innings to balloon his ERA above 7.00 and his WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) to 1.743.
Three of his May starts were perplexingly bad, causing Rodriguez and the Orioles to suspect he was tipping his pitches. He made a change to his mechanics out of the stretch position and had a successful start against the Toronto Blue Jays, but he then allowed nine runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Texas Rangers in late May. He was demoted the next day.
Back in Triple-A, a level Rodriguez dominated last year, he struck out 10-plus batters in three of his seven starts. In his past 15 innings, he’s allowed just eight hits and four walks.
“I think the message was pretty clear on when he went down, the reasons why and what we felt like he needed to work on,” Hyde said. “I think out of the gate down there wasn’t as smooth, but these last few starts there have been really good. They’ve done a nice job of kind of applying what we talked about up here before he went down, so we feel comfortable where he is right now, and hopefully, he can impact us positively the rest of the year.”
His first assignment is challenging. The only MLB team as hot as the Orioles, who are on an eight-game winning streak, are the National League West-leading Dodgers, who extended their winning streak to six games Saturday.
While Rodriguez’s status as a top prospect, his tantalizing potential and his recent success in Triple-A all earned him another shot in the big leagues, it results in Cole Irvin, who has recently been a consistent starter, moving to the bullpen.
Irvin’s poor performance early in the season is why Rodriguez remained in the rotation, and the left-hander replaced Rodriguez when the rookie was optioned to Triple-A. In his five starts since, Irvin has posted a 2.66 ERA, including back-to-back one-run outings in Baltimore wins.
