Eduardo Rodriguez is a good pitcher – at least in the second half of 2016 – and will match that in 2017. The season started on a negative with a knee twinge that was either misdiagnosed or lasted far longer than expected. Failure in Boston resulted in all expenses paid vacation to topical Pawtucket – gateway to Central Falls.
After some pitching penance, Rodriguez returned and certainly impressed. In 77 innings the hard-throwing lefty (93.8) whiffed 79, posted a 3.24 ERA, issued 29 walks, and a batting average against of .207. Rodriguez is prone to fits of wildness that apparently come from nowhere and often lead to a meltdown – minimize that and you have a nice package.
At 24-years-old the lefty has much promise and I wonder if Chicago wanted him instead of Michael Kopech? Rodriguez will have an excellent 2017 as long as my personal magical baseball number of BB/9 is either stationary or just slightly north of 3.00. When the statistical dust settles for 2017 I would not be surprised to see Rodriguez classified as a number two starter.
Next: Boston Red Sox bring back right-handed pitcher Brandon Workman
A warning must be issued regarding my less than objective predictions regarding young pitchers. A few seasons back I was firmly on record as stating Felix Doubront would win between 15-18 games. Since then Doubront has won a grand total of ten games.