Boston Red Sox Report Cards: Left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez

The BoSox Injection team is grading the 2018 season for each member of the Boston Red Sox. Up next is pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez.

It seems like every year, the narrative that surrounds Eduardo Rodriguez is, maybe this is the season he puts it all together. The talent possessed by the young southpaw is unquestionable — teammates Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Porcello have raved about his stuff in the past. In 2018, however, we saw the first glimpses of what a consistent Rodriguez looks like.

The lefty started 23 games for the Red Sox in 2018, registering a 3.82 ERA in his 129.2 innings. In a season where Boston probably relied more heavily on Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez than initially planned, Rodriguez played a major role in stabilizing the back end of the rotation for the majority of the season.

A freak collision at first base in the middle of July left Rodriguez on the disabled list with an ankle injury that cut short an otherwise encouraging, and in many ways, underrated season.

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Rodriguez burst into 2018 featuring a new pitch mix that led to a career-high 26.4 percent strikeout rate. His four-seam fastball rate dropped a whopping 14 percent to just over 50 percent, and the difference was made up in his cutter usage. After featuring that pitch in just 5.4 percent of offerings in 2017, that number jumped to 18.4 percent in 2018. Now the 25-year old was able to keep hitters guessing even when throwing in the 92-97 mph range.

A declining walk rate and increased strikeout rate led to a strikeout-walk differential in the company of pitchers like Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, and even better than Noah Syndergaard, David Price, and Chris Archer. That’s how good his stuff is.

Postseason

Following the acquisition of Nathan Eovaldi, largely motivated by Rodriguez’s injury, the southpaw was mainly regulated to bullpen work upon his return. His stuff played equally well out of the pen, limiting opposing hitters to a .644 OPS.

He remained there for much of the playoffs, never truly gaining manager Alex Cora‘s full trust. Despite being the only lefty in the bullpen, Cora often opted for his reliable right-handers even against opposing lefties.

Rodriguez will ultimately be remembered for his Game 4 start on zero days rest. Following the marathon Game 3 that decimated the Boston bullpen, Cora had little choice but tap the most talented available arm, and for the most part, Rodriguez answered the call. He went 5.2 innings, longer than the typical playoff start, keeping the Dodgers largely at bay until Yasiel Puig launched a mammoth three-run homer in the sixth. Cora should have arguably pulled the lefty by then, but nonetheless, Rodriguez kept Boston in the game, which they ultimately fought back and won.

Grade

Taking in the full body of work, 2018 was a definitive success for Eduardo Rodriguez. His peripherals speak to his ceiling as a number two or three in a rotation, and he was finally able to string together several consecutive quality starts for long stretches.

Looking ahead to 2019

All that’s left to prove for the southpaw is durability, which largely comes down to being lucky enough to avoid a freak injury like the one he suffered in July. At his talent level, 150 innings in 2019 would elevate an already-great Red Sox rotation into an absolute behemoth.