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Grayson Rodriguez will hopefully be back with the Orioles soon, manager Brandon Hyde said Saturday. And the club still expects the 23-year-old to eventually be a top-tier MLB starting pitcher.
But for now, he’s headed back to the minor leagues. After 10 big league starts — about half good and half bad — Rodriguez was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. In a corresponding move, the Orioles called up left-handed relief pitcher Keegan Akin.
“We think he’s going to be a really, really good starting pitcher in this league,” Hyde said. “It’s just a little bit of, go back down and work on some things and hopefully come back up here soon.”
Rodriguez has been a prized prospect since the Orioles picked him No. 11 overall in the 2018 MLB draft. Fans hoped he’d make his MLB debut after dominating Triple-A a year ago, but a lat muscle strain in June sidelined him. They hoped he’d open this season with the Orioles, but he began the year in Norfolk.
He was quickly promoted, however, making his long-awaited debut against the Texas Rangers on April 5, allowing two runs in five innings. He’s since yo-yoed between productive and poor outings, posting a 7.35 ERA in his 10 appearances.
After two rough performances recently, the Orioles’ pitching department identified ways Rodriguez was tipping his pitches. The 6-foot-5 fireballer altered his stance with runners on base and lowered his glove, a “minor mechanical adjustment,” he said, “just to help me conceal the baseball more.”
Against the Toronto Blue Jays last week, it proved to be effective, but he was hit hard again Friday. Facing the Rangers again, he allowed three home runs — including a grand slam by Corey Seager on a pitch Rodriguez left in the middle of the plate — as he gave up eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, taking the loss while the Orioles fell, 12-2.
It marked his third May start giving up at least six runs in fewer than four innings. He posted a 4.07 ERA in April, but that figure ballooned to 11.14 in five May outings.
“Obviously, got some guys on, didn’t make good pitches and had to pay for it,” Rodriguez said of his performance Friday.
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Hyde said that Rodriguez’s top priority in Norfolk is improving his fastball location.
“Grayson’s got huge stuff and throws really hard and flashes good secondary, but it’s tough to pitch in this league if you don’t have really good fastball command as a starter,” he said.
Rodriguez has been renowned for his electric stuff, including a four-seam fastball he has thrown an average of 96.7 mph this season. Hyde praised Rodriguez’s pitches, but said he’ll need to improve his command and his consistency before he can blossom into the top starting pitcher the Orioles still expect him to be.
“You gotta be able to work to both sides of the plate, you gotta be able to put a guy away with two strikes, you gotta be able to go deep in a game. Those are all things that all starting pitches have to do and the good ones do it consistently for a long time and get paid a lot of money because of it,” Hyde said.
“He’s going to be that type of guy, just right now, we feel like the right thing to do for him is to go work on those things and come back up here and be ready to help.”
Rodriguez was expected to start Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians and it’s unclear who will take the mound in his stead. Asked if Austin Voth, who started 17 games for the Orioles last year and pitched 3 2/3 innings Friday, might be an option or if a pitcher currently in Triple-A would get called up to make the start, Hyde said: “We’re discussing all options.”
“Voth going 3 2/3 last night, that was helpful and him being in the rotation last year and doing a really nice job for us last year [is] definitely something that we’ll consider,” Hyde said.