Grayson Rodriguez was one of the many young prospects Oriole fans were looking forward to. Despite not making the Opening Day roster, G-Rod got the call on April 4 to debut against a talented Texas Rangers team the following night.
A lead-off walk, followed by RBI hits from Adolis Garcia and Josh Jung, served as a rude awakening for Grayson, but he bounced back beautifully, pitching the next four innings scoreless and striking out five. It looked like the young flamethrower would only get better from there, but what was to come quickly dissipated that notion.
In his first 10 career starts, Rodriguez pitched to an ERA over seven, a whip of 1.74 and only went five or more innings in half of those starts. The exclamation point to his rocky start came in a start, coincidentally, also against the Texas Rangers, where six hits and three walks in 3.2 innings would ballon into eight runs.
With every start G-Rod was making, it was becoming an immediate tax on the bullpen. The Orioles would opt to send him back to Triple-A Norfolk to rebuild some confidence and make the necessary adjustments.
With the Orioles needing to bolster their rotation, they would finally give the kid his next chance. They certainly had no plans of easing him in, though, as he would be tasked with starts against the Dodgers, Rays, Yankees, Blue Jays and Astros. While the move obviously carried some risk, Rodriguez answered in a big way, pitching to a 3.45 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in his five starts back.
What changes did G-Rod make to turn things around? Well, for starters, he has been significantly more confident in his fastball, throwing it over 46% of the time in all five starts, something he did just four times in his previous 10 starts. He’s also doubled the usage of his slider from a 15% usage rate to over 34%.
The most noticeable difference in his game, however, is his ability to control the strike zone. Rodriguez has been able to command his pitches much more efficiently since his return to the big leagues, painting his fastball on the corners and throwing his offspeed pitches from strike to ball.
Rodriguez has looked much more comfortable on the bump off late, becoming one of the Orioles’ more reliable starters, and if he continues to perform the way he has, he might even get a chance to pitch in a postseason game.
Will G-Rod remain a viable starter in the rotation, or will batters once again figure him out? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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