Red Sox: Eduardo Rodriguez says he’s ready to pitch
By Tyler Mason
After an inconsistent 2016 season, Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez says he’s ready and excited for the season to begin.
As the 2017 campaign gets closer everyday, players are beginning to get antsy for the regular season to begin.
One player who feels like that is Boston Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez. After getting injured in Spring Training last season, Rodriguez is excited how he can go through the regular throwing exercises without worrying about any injuries.
Rodriguez spoke with Boston Herald writer Michael Silverman about his latest start against a minor league team and his feelings towards the 2017 season.
"“I felt really good. It’s real different when you’re facing minor leaguers instead of big leaguers because they swing at everything,” Rodriguez said. “In the big leagues, I like to pitch a little bit more but I felt really good, working on all my pitches. Everything was really good.”"
Like I mentioned earlier, Rodriguez went down with a knee injury during Spring Training in 2016. The injury sidelined him for the first two months of the season and he wasn’t really the pitcher we watched as a rookie in 2015.
Now, completely healthy, Rodriguez is ready to show everyone why he thinks he should be in the rotation.
Rodriguez continued to talk with Silverman about the how this Spring Training has been a much smoother process than previous trips to Fort Myers.
"“Last year I didn’t have any chance to throw anything in spring training, just a little bit of long toss,” Rodriguez said. “This is the first year I can pitch in the games and get ready for the season. I feel really happy with that.”"
After the announcement of LHP David Price beginning of the season on the disabled list and Drew Pomeranz suffering from triceps tightness, the Red Sox may need Rodriguez to step up early in the season.
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In the past, we have watched Rodriguez show some inconsistency throughout the regular season. There were outings where he would look like an All-Star, but then look like an absolute amateur in his next start.
Sometimes when he is pitching, he has a tendency of tipping his pitches. It can be as simple as moving his glove differently when he was about to throw an off-speed pitch. Red Sox announcer Jerry Remy even pointed it out during broadcasts last season, and if the announcers can notice it, professional hitters definitely can. If they know an off-speed pitch it coming, the baseball game could turn into a home run derby.
But after going through a full Spring Training without any issues, Rodriguez is ready to get those mistakes out of his system.
After working with pitching coach Carl Willis though out Spring Training, those bad habits should be solved and out of his routine…the key word is “should”.
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At the end of the day, you got to rout for Rodriguez as he enters in his third season in the Major Leagues. Let’s just hope that he can remain healthy for the entire 2017 campaign.