The Baltimore Orioles are promoting top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez to their Major League roster the club announced.
Rodriguez, 23, previously got the call to join the Orioles big league roster earlier this season. However he struggled to adjust to MLB hitting as he posted a 7.35ERA, 5.93 FIP and 1.74 WHIP across 10 starts.
After his rocky first crack at the Majors, Rodriguez was sent back to Triple-A where he recorded a sparkling 1.69 ERA and 36.5% strikeout rate across 37.1IP. With little else to prove at the minor league level, Gray-Rod will be tasked with cooling off the bats of the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday evening.
Selected in the first round, 11th overall, in the 2018 MLB draft, Rodriguez offers a full array of pitches to keep hitters off balance. With a fastball, slider, curveball, changeup, and cutter at his disposal, the hard throwing righty will be looking to showcase his improved command of the strike zone in his second turn around the Majors.
More importantly, by promoting Rodriguez, the O’s front office will have a better feel for where their rotation sits heading into the August 1st trade deadline. Some would argue that the only thing preventing Baltimore from overtaking the Tampa Bay Rays for 1st place in the AL East is the state of their starting pitching.
While the Orioles will undoubtedly kick the tires on some of the premium arms available over the next few weeks, knowing whether they need to acquire 1 or 2 reliable starters to shore up their rotation will be paramount in the club’s postseason push.
Currently sitting at 57-35, the O’s sit 1 game back of Tampa for the division lead. Despite their record, Baltimore’s pitching has been mediocre at best through the first half of the season.
The club sits 16th in the Majors in terms of ERA (4.14), 21st in OBA (.251), 18th in WHIP (1.30), and have given up the 10th most hits to opponents (793). If Rodriguez is able to settle down and shore up one of their rotational slots, then the front office can focus on adding a quality veteran, as opposed to needing to fill multiple starts for the duration of the season and playoffs.
Reports indicate that GM Brandon Hyde has identified Marcus Stroman, Lucas Giolito and Jordan Montgomery as potential trade deadline targets, and will have scouts monitoring them closely over the next two weeks.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Jeffrey Hayes. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.