Bleacher Bums Forum

I’m a bit less optimistic about Rodriguez.

Just seems like hitters are pretty comfortable against him. Has thrown 132 pitches in September and has 12 swing and misses. Kind of okay but blah. Estrada has thrown 117 pitches with 21 swing and misses.

Think that a 1-inning power reliever these days should miss more bats. Just seems a a bit short on stuff, aside from velocity, for this type of reliever who’s not a command guy.

But, yes, he should be in 2023 mix. Need to give him opportunities to see what he can do going forward.

That's helpful and makes sense, reb.  Helpful data. 

I think his breaking ball has been inadequate.  I've watched only like 3-4 of his appearances, but it seems like often the breaking ball has functioned as a giveaway pitch?  He hasn't thrown enough of them for strikes to make hitters swing; and many of them have missed so badly that hitters aren't even tempted to chase?  To be a long-term guy, that needs to improve.   

I think Hottovy and the some of the pitchers have gotten improvements.  So I'm interested to see whether they can tweak something to get a more functional breaking pitch that will be more tempting.