This week at BP Boston I wrote about Eduardo Rodriguez’s failure to live up to expectations. He appears to have the potential to be a frontline starter, but to date has pitched more like an average-ish starter. I used his first start of the year, Saturday, April 8 against the Tigers, as an example of the issues that seem to be preventing him from taking things to the next level. Specifically, his inability to throw strikes at a high rate, and a lack of conviction in his secondary pitches, namely his slider. He pitched today against the Pirates, and was slightly better than in his first start, but overall the outing was not great. Hopefully he can get things headed in the right direction from here on out.
Head to BP Boston to read my analysis: Eduardo Rodriguez Starts Off Struggling.
This work was included in a recent edition of Joe Sheehan’s Newsletter. Joe’s newsletter is excellent and you should consider subscribing if you are interested in baseball writing. Joe approaches the game from a perspective that I really appreciate and he is an excellent writer. Here is what he wrote about my article:
The link is a piece C.T. wrote for Baseball Prospectus Boston, in which he dug into Rodriguez’s inability to throw his slider for strikes and how that influences Rodriguez’s pitch selection. It’s a terrific read, if disappointing for those of us on the E-Rod train.
It might be weird that I occasionally include praise for my articles when it is given by certain people in the industry, but I appreciate the recognition and like having a record of it, so there it is.