The Yankees will recall highly-regarded pitching prospect Elmer Rodríguez this week, as first reported by Yankees Farm. Manager Aaron Boone tells Talkin’ Yanks that the 22-year-old righty will start Wednesday’s game against the Rangers.
Rodríguez will oppose Nathan Eovaldi in his MLB debut. The Yankees have already tabbed Cam Schlittler to go against Jacob deGrom in tonight’s fantastic pitching duel. They’d listed Will Warren as their probable starter on Wednesday. He’ll evidently be pushed back beyond Thursday’s off day and make his next outing this weekend against the Orioles.
The Yankees haven’t announced their weekend rotation plans. It seems likely they’ll go with Warren, Ryan Weathers and Max Fried in that order. Warren and Weathers will be working on two extra days of rest, while Fried will be on five days rest after starting last night.
New York has an opening on the pitching staff after optioning Luis Gil on Sunday. They called up Jasson Domínguez in conjunction with the Gil demotion, but they can return to a 13-pitcher setup by calling up a fresh arm when Giancarlo Stanton goes on the injured list today. They could recall Rodríguez today or go with a ninth reliever for tonight’s game and make another move tomorrow.
Rodríguez is arguably the organization’s top pitching prospect. The Yankees acquired him from the Red Sox in a December 2024 swap for catcher Carlos Narváez. That has turned into a much bigger trade than expected for both teams. Narváez quickly jumped Connor Wong as Boston’s primary catcher and finished sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting last season. Rodríguez was a mid-tier developmental pitching prospect who had yet to reach Double-A. He’s now among the top minor league arms in the game.
The Puerto Rico native combined for a 2.58 earned run average across 150 minor league innings last season. He fanned 29% of opponents while cutting his walks a couple points to a manageable 9.4% clip. The Yankees had an easy call to add him to the 40-man roster to avoid losing him in the Rule 5 draft. Rodríguez has made four strong turns through the Triple-A rotation, allowing a 1.27 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate across 21 1/3 frames.
Rodríguez sits around 94-95 mph with his four-seam fastball and sinker. He mixes a changeup, slider and curveball while occasionally throwing a cutter. Scouting reports praise the heavy sinker as a plus ground-ball offering. Rodríguez got grounders at a huge 55% clip in the minors last year and is in that range again through his first month of this season.
Although it’s not the most overpowering arsenal, Rodríguez has the repertoire depth and control to profile as a potential mid-rotation arm. FanGraphs, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and Baseball America each rank him as a Top 100 prospect and the #2 player in the system behind shortstop George Lombard Jr. MLB Pipeline slots him behind Lombard and Carlos Lagrange in the organization but has him in the back half of their Top 100 list. Keith Law of The Athletic ranked Rodríguez sixth in the system, expressing a bit more skepticism about the righty’s command but writing that he has a #2 starter ceiling if he throws enough strikes.
Rodríguez is eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive, meaning he’d earn a full year of service time if he finishes top two in AL Rookie of the Year voting. It seems unlikely he’ll place that highly, as it’s not clear how long a look he’ll get in his first big league stint. Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole are each on rehab assignments and could be back within the next few weeks. Rodríguez should get at least two or three turns but might be pushed back to Triple-A once Rodón and/or Cole are healthy. The Yankees have gotten excellent work out of their rotation aside from Gil’s four starts.
It Begins!!!! Elmer Rodriguez is about as high profile a pitching prospect as the Yankees have…. hopefully it pans out.
Not the move, or more specifically the timing, I expected, but looking forward to his debut.
Everyone talks about prospects but Schlittler was just promoted late last year. Be happy with him. Good luck to the kid who I never heard of while he was in Boston’s system.
Just don’t call him Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz!!! I love making trades with the Red Sox. Is there anyone else they wanna trade to the Yankees?
He’s no Elmer Dessens
Legendary pull
Sweet move. Gil needs to be converted to the pen. He lost 2 mph from his straight fastball and is too hittable. Hopefully in shorter bursts he can dial it up a bit
Gil is going to have to do something about his high walk rate before he can be a viable option in any capacity.
It could be mechanics, but you’re right. Either as a starter or out of the pen he needs to clean it up.
Mechanics, injury, mechanics altered because of the previous injury. The dude is all over the place with his velocity and he has never had the control or the pitch variety to compensate for less than excellent fastball velocity.
All in, IRL and Fantasy, let’s go kid!
Gil needs be traded with Jones for someone. LaGrange is next to me their 8th inning Mo for right now. Bednar can leave next year like Wettland did
Who do you suppose is interested in trading for Gil and Jones? And for what return?
Why are you wasting Lagrange potential??
He doesn’t have good mechanics.
You let him start until he shows he can’t. Even if you don’t think he’s a starter in the long run (and I have to admit I am somewhat skeptical), starting in the minors gets him as many reps as possible to smooth out his mechanics and improve his control/command. Which is good news for his future as a reliever just as much as a starter.
Mechanichs is something you can fix. Its all on reps.
Exactly Ultra… he has improved command every year now. You cant bail on the potential just because you have insane takes out there. Not long ago, people wanted Schlittler traded, Warren thrown in the Hudson and Headrick dfa’ed
He’s said to be a real glue guy.
hoping he sticks with the big club
Eh he’s mid at best.
Shhhh be vary vary quiet, he’s hunting batters…
ERC’s minor league numbers have looked good. Will be interesting to see if he holds his own against MLB competition.
If so, the Yankees can easily win the Narvaez – ERC swap from last off-season.
Of all the cool possible names you can name someone with the last name, Rodriguez, who the hell chooses “Elmer”? I bet his brother Jethro Would agree.
Your name is literally synonymous with “easy con victim”, so maybe bite your tongue.
Be vewy, vewy quiet.
I’m not wasting LaGrange potential. Yankees don’t need another starter they need a lock down setup guy Now.
Once the other starters are back, would love to see both Elmer and Lagrange in the bullpen down the stretch. Look how Johan Santana started his career. Give them that role now, and if they are good, when rotation spots open up (which may be a while), give them their shots.
Lagrange is getting some ambitious Betances comps, I wonder if he’s the ace in the hole to fix the setup issues.
can’t wait to see him paste the corners. sorry, paint the corners
Rodriguez and Lagrange are a very good prospect pitching duo. The prior is here, the latter is coming.
Love it, this is a situation where last year we’d continue running stroman or other slop out there. Not saying starting Blackburn is slop but I love the idea of no longer giving away games. ERC is the least exciting but most polished of the trio between himself, Lagrange, Hess, but he’s gonna look fantastic with a true major league infield eating up all those ground balls.
Trade gil and Jones for someone else’s problem/lottery ticket