1:13pm: Rodriguez has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Norfolk, per an announcement from Baltimore.
10:22am: The Orioles announced that they’ve designated right-hander Richard Rodriguez for assignment. The team selected left-hander Tanner Scott from Double-A Bowie in a corresponding move.
The 27-year-old Rodriguez, who’s in his third season with the Baltimore organization, got his first taste of major league action in 2017. It didn’t go well, as Rodriguez allowed nine earned runs on 12 hits and three walks, with three strikeouts, over 5 2/3 innings. He was far better across 70 2/3 frames this year at Triple-A Norfolk, where he pitched to a sparkling 2.42 ERA and logged 10.19 K/9 against 2.29 BB/9. Rodriguez was similarly effective at the Triple-A level in each of the previous two seasons.
A sixth-round pick in 2014, the hard-throwing Scott has developed into one of the Orioles’ top prospects. MLB.com ranks the 23-year-old sixth among Baltimore’s farmhands and suggests that he has the potential to become an excellent major league reliever. Scott worked out of the rotation with Bowie this season, but with just 69 innings in 24 starts, he averaged fewer than three frames per appearance. Along the way, Scott overcame a bloated walk rate (6.00 BB/9) with an 11.17 K/9, to go with a 52.1 percent groundball rate, en route to a 2.22 ERA.
Im genuinely curious as to why a pitcher can have great control in AAA, but not in the majors. A pitchers control is like velocity. You either have it or you dont.
My guess, and I have no evidence to actually back this up, is that the control in the minors is actually a mirage for a lot of guys. The first thing that a lot of pitchers note after being called up is how disciplined big – league hitters are. Without plate discipline metrics in the minors, it’s impossible to validate, but my guess is pitchers with subpar command can still get by in the minors on stuff because young hitters chase enough to keep walk rates down. When that same pitcher reaches MLB, hitters can take close pitches, and pitchers’ walk rates spike
That makes a lot of sense
This is good. I’d like to see him out of the pen. He can be a dominant lefty if he can reign in his control. Could be a huge addition for next year.
I’m looking forward to seeing what this kid can do. But if he does pitch well, does that mean Britton or Brach gets traded this winter? Or is one of them gone regardless? Thoughts?
Welcome to the majors Tanner Scott!
We’d be selling britton very low if we traded him now. He hasn’t looked like the same pitcher he has been. I don’t know if Scott’s production really has anything to do with either of them. It’s going to be too small of a sample size to be able to make that kind of judgment. We may deal Brach because he’s an impending FA and we’re unlikely to resign him. I’d think he’d go because we’d be selling him as high as we can at this point. Although, if we want to even have a chance at competing next year I think we need to keep the entire pen with the state of our rotation. Brach may go but if we’re legitimately trying to make a run we need all of them.
Very true and good points. At this point, I’m hoping to keep the pen together, an Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn finds their way to the O’s and roll Castro and someone else out for the 4 and 5 starters. Don’t have much of a choice right now.