The Major League Baseball (MLB) wall is too high….
Baltimore Orioles right-handed fireballer Grayson “G-Rod” Rodriguez, 23, one of the top pitching prospects in Major League Baseball, has been sent to the minors.
Rodriguez started a home game against the Texas Rangers at Baltimore’s Camden Yards yesterday (Nov. 27) local time and pitched a disastrous 3.1 innings, allowing nine runs (eight earned). It was the first time Rodriguez, who made his major league debut this year, has given up nine runs in one inning.
Baltimore used its minor league option today, sending Rodriguez down to Triple-A. Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said, “He’s going to be a very good starter going forward,” but explained the demotion by saying, “It’s very important for him to come up to the big leagues, struggle, go back down to the minors, and understand what he needs to do to get back here.”
Rodriguez was one of the top pitching prospects not 토토사이트only in Baltimore, but in the entire major leagues. After joining the Orioles in the first round (11th overall) of the 2018 draft, Rodriguez steadily worked his way up through the minor leagues to become one of the league’s top prospects.
Earlier this year, Rodriguez was ranked seventh overall by MLB Pipeline and sixth overall by Baseball America (BA), both of which were second among pitchers. The only pitching prospect ranked higher than Rodriguez was Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Andrew Painter (20).
After making his big league debut earlier this year, Painter flashed a fastball that averaged 96.9 mph (156 km/h), but struggles with his command eventually sent him down to the minors.
Rodriguez wasn’t great, posting a 7.35 ERA in 45.1 innings over 10 starts. He held up well in April with a 4.07 ERA in 24.1 innings, but completely fell apart in May with an 11.14 ERA.
His command was solid, with a K/9 (strikeouts per nine innings) of 11.12, but his BB/9 (walks per nine innings) of 4.17, and he was giving up a lot of home runs with his fastball up the middle. His HR/9 (home runs per nine innings) was as high as 2.58.
“You have to be prepared to throw off-speed pitches (like a changeup) when Rodriguez is going to throw his fastball,” Hyde said.
In Rodriguez’s absence, Baltimore’s starting spot is likely to be filled by right-hander Austin Voth for now, with Triple-A left-hander Cole Irvin also a potential candidate.