If Grayson Rodriguez continues to act like this, he could soon find himself on the hill at Camden Yards.
Rodriguez, the top pitcher in baseball, continued his season-opening dominance Wednesday with 5 1/3 innings scoreless with one-hit ball, hitting eight and allowing a walk in Norfolk’s 3-0 win over Durham at Harbor Park . He eliminated 15 straight batters after the Bulls’ lone hit with an out in the first and registered 13 swings-and-misses on 75 pitches, perfectly matching his pitch count for the night.
“Every inning, the emphasis is on going out and hitting the hitting zone,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not changing my mentality, keep attacking the zone, attacking the batsmen and not trying to make them swing and miss inevitably, just trying to make them come out on their own.”
After registering his first K, Rodriguez dropped a double to Isaac Paredes before finding himself in a groove. The 22-year-old stranded the runner with a groundout and a strikeout, taking just six pitches to mow through Durham’s lineup in the second.
“I left the heater in the middle. It’s triple-A, so the guys will hit those places,” Rodriguez said.
The Tides took a 1-0 lead in third when Rylan Bannon scored on a wild field, giving Rodriguez and the rest of the Tides pitching team all the offensive support they needed. The No. 2 Orioles fanned out two in the third, one in the fourth and two more in the fifth to take his strikeout total to a season-high eight.
“Of course it’s nice to see those results, but a walk, a swing and a swing with the racquet can change things,” Rodriguez said. Despite today’s results, he added that his biggest adjustment to Triple-A was changing his mentality on the mound from previous seasons. “Rather than trying to hit everyone, be in the zone until we have two shots and then try to slap the hitter away.”
The Tides put down two more runs in the bottom half of Richie Martin and Terrin Vavra’s fifth RBI single and brought back Rodriguez by a three-run margin in the sixth. He forced a foul popout to start the inning and was pulled from the game after a walk, ending a dominant start. Norfolk’s bullpen stopped to blank out the bulls, giving Rodriguez his second win of the year.
In three starts this season, Rodriguez has recorded 23 strikeouts on two walks and fanned seven or more batters for a 46.9% K-rate on each start. He has allowed two five-hit runs in 14 1/3 innings for a 1.26 ERA, a .49 WHIP and a .109 batting average against him.
Rodriguez, the No. 11 overall pick in the 2018 draft, made his Triple-A debut in his first start of the season, fanning seven and allowing one hit in four scoreless innings. He expected Adleyrutschman to be behind plate early in the season, but the No. 2 baseball was sidelined with a right tricep strain. So far, Rodriguez has thrown against Chris Hudgins and Jacob Nottingham.
“In the beginning, every catcher you throw at takes a little getting used to. Me and Adley have been throwing each other for almost three years now, so not having him behind the plate is definitely different,” Rodriguez said. “You get along with the catchers quickly. I think our organization is doing a good job of letting everyone name the same game.”
His dominance at a new level makes his hot start even more impressive, but that’s the kind of performance to be expected from Rodriguez. Last year he had no problem facing high-A and double-A hitters, with a 2.36 ERA and a .83 WHIP with 161 K’s on 27 walks in 23 starts and 103 innings. His stats matched his career numbers; in 230 2/3 innings, Rodriguez has a 2.34 ERA with 333 strikeouts and a .91 WHIP.
“The minor leagues are all about development. Numbers come second,” Rodriguez said. “I worry the most about going for walks.
If his first three starts serve as a preview for the rest of his season, Rodriguez should be called up to Baltimore this year. The Orioles’ rotation took a hit with the news that ace John Means could miss the rest of the season with a left elbow strain, making Rodriguez seem like a natural candidate to take his place. That promotion will likely come later in the season as Baltimore has no reason to rush the development of its valuable pitching prospect.