Rodriguez Looking for Rookie Year Mojo in 2020
When Richard Rodriguez signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in December of 2017, the young right-hander barely made the headlines. He signed a minor league deal after coming off a season where he appeared in five games for the Baltimore Orioles and gave up nine earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. No one expected him to be anywhere near the Major League roster and it looked as though he would just fade into the background.
However, Rodriguez would prove everyone wrong and had a break-out rookie season in the Bucs bullpen. He pitched to a 2.47 ERA in 69.1 innings of work allowing just 19 earned runs and striking out 88 batters. The opposition was hitting just .217 against Rodriguez and many were considering him for an All-Star Game appearance halfway through the year. This success made Rodriguez a lock to make the Pirates bullpen in 2019 as he looked to continue his success from his Rookie season.
Right from the start of 2019, you could tell that Rodriguez wasn't his normal self. He gave up a home run in each of his first two outings of the season in big situations and saw his ERA start out at a dismal 27.00. Things did not get any easier for Rodriguez as he pitched to a 6.45 ERA over the first two months of the season and was highly ineffective. This would cause the Pirates to place him on the 10-day injured list and eventually send him down to Triple-A Indianapolis. He was called back up to the big leagues on May 27th, and came back with a new attitude.
He did not allow an earned run in June spanning 13 appearances and continued that stretch into July lowering his season ERA to 3.26 by months end. He would just coast through August and September with up and down moments finishing the season with a mediocre 3.72 ERA. At times he had the magic from his Rookie season, but for the most part he had trouble tapping into that early success.
Was Rodriguez's first season a fluke, or are there more positives on the horizon for Rodriguez? It is all going to come down to the effectiveness of his fastball and whether or not he is able to get it by opposing hitters. His fastball is his bread and butter pitch and he used it 81.9% of the time last season, up five percent from the 2018 season.
Rodriguez's fastball is a good one ranging from 92-96 mph and he likes to work it on the upper outside corner of the plate. He generated 46 strikeouts from the pitch and used it exclusively in many of his at bats. While it is a good pitch, the amount of times he used it last year made it less and less effective. Opponents hit .261 against Rodriguez's fastball last season and gave up 11 of his career-high 14 home runs on the pitch. That was after opponents hit just .203 against the pitch last season and picked up just seven extra base hits.
Thr difference between the two seasons, is he used his Slider a lot more in 2018. It was a strong pitch for the right-hander and generated 26 strikeouts for him that year while he used it 24.8% of the time. In 2019, he dropped his usage of the pitch by 10% using it almost exclusively late in the count and allowed opponents to hit just .194 against the pitch. If Rodriguez can work in his Slider more often, it should lead to Rodriguez having more success and getting back to that rookie success.
Another thing he is going to have to do is keep the ball in the ball park, which was a struggle for Rodriguez last year. He gave up a career-high 14 home runs and was hit hard 39.2% of the time. Working up in the zone is dangerous in the first place, but when you do it as much as Rodriguez did last season and you are bound to get burned. That coupled with the fact that he threw his fastball more times than not led to hitters being able to sit on that high fastball and take advantage when they got it.
It seemed like Rodriguez lost the confidence he had in his Rookie season and that caused him to revert back to his fastball. He was getting smacked around throughout the month of April and May and I feel that put his confidence in the tank for the rest of the season. Hopefully a strong 2020 Spring training will help to bring that confidence back. In seven spring training appearances, he has given up just one earned run while striking out nine in 7.1 innings of work.
For the Pirates, Rodriguez being able to bounce back would make the back-end of the bullpen hard to score against at the end of the game. The combination of Rodriguez, Kyle Crick, Nick Burdi, and Keone Kela would help the Pirates shorten games if all four men are on fire. This will help the Pirates hold onto leads late in games and give them a chance to stay in games if they are behind.
Prediction 3-1 2.76 ERA
I see Richard Rodriguez getting back to his Rookie year numbers in 2020. I feel that last year was a matter of confidence issues and the strong start to spring training coupled with his strong finish to the 2019 regular season will have him in the right mindset when the 2020 season officially begins. I see Rodriguez being used in the sixth or seventh inning coming in after the stater to bridge the gap to the late innings.
As of now, the season is expected to begin somewhere around May 25th. Until then, we will continue to look at the men who make up this year's team and their contributions in 2020.
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