![]() Hall paved over Double-A hitters for the first month-and-a-half of the 2021 minor league season - 31 innings, with just 16 hits and 56 strikeouts - before being shut down with elbow tendinitis. Rodriguez will likely make his big league debut in 2022 and has the potential to be a No. It sounds almost too good to be true, but there’s very little not to love in terms of Rodriguez’s present ability or future potential. Those changes keyed a transformation from a pitcher with a control-over-command reputation to one who can better locate all of his pitches in the zone. He has a starter’s frame and has cleaned up many of the flaws in his delivery, with an awkward finish that ends with him nearly turned away from hitters the only nit to pick. His low-80s change gives him a fifth plus or better option and features big velocity separation to go along with plenty of fading action. As good as the velocity and movement on his fastball are, his secondary offerings are even better, as his two power breaking balls have both earned 70 grades from some scouts thanks to the big sweep and bite on his low 80s slider and the hard downward action on a curveball with similar velocity. His fastball now sits 96-98 mph and has scraped triple-digits on multiple occasions, and he’s added a low-90s cutter that has come along quickly and already grades as plus. It’s hard to argue for anyone other than Rodriguez being the best pitching prospect in baseball, and no one can match his pure stuff in terms of both the depth and quality of his arsenal. He experienced another jump during his time at the alternate site in 2020 before somehow finding another gear last season, turning in a dominant performance in the minors that saw him post nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits allowed. The 11th overall pick in 2018 out of a Texas high school, Rodriguez saw his stuff tick up immediately after turning pro. ![]() Sometimes, he calmly shepherds pitchers along sometimes, he’s in full Brian Dawkins mode, lighting a fire under the team and the crowd. ![]() His fiery on-field makeup is tailored to the situation. His best pop times hover around 1.90 and are right on the bag, though Rutschman’s longer levers and big frame can sometimes mean a few extra tenths to get out of his crouch when he has to reach across his body to catch an errant pitch on steal attempts. He’s extremely strong and can frame pitches at the bottom of the strike zone without letting his target sag below it first, which lots of other catchers need to do to frame pitches there. Rutschman catches from a traditional squat but will sometimes fall to one knee as he’s receiving a pitch to improve its presentation to the umpire. That mark would rank Rutschman 16th among qualified big leaguers in 2021, slightly better than Jose Altuve and Justin Turner in this particular statistical department. Rutschman’s swing is absurdly athletic for a guy his size and even though it’s often an effortful cut, he barely ever whiffs, posting a 6.7% swinging strike rate in 2021, among the best in the minors. He’d switch sides of the plate mid-session and just start sending balls into the Coors Field seats without needing any swings to get comfortable from that side. In the middle of all that he went to the Futures Game, where his batting practice session was among the loudest and most impressive of the elite talents there. 285/.397/.502, with nearly as many walks as strikeouts and 50 extra-base hits. 271/.392/.508 and earned a promotion to Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles sent him straight to Double-A Bowie, where he slashed. Because of the pandemic, 2021 was Rutschman’s first full pro season. To nobody’s surprise, he was drafted first overall in 2019 and signed for an $8.1 million bonus. 353/.473/.559 throughout his career at Oregon State, where he also briefly kicked for the football team, and stood apart from the other members of Collegiate Team USA. His track record of superlative statistical performance and unanimous scout adoration has continued uninterrupted for nearly half a decade now, and in our eyes, he is in a tier of his own as the best prospect in baseball.įrom the fall after his freshman season onward, Rutschman went wire-to-wire as the consensus top prospect in the 2019 draft. He’s a switch-hitter with a hit/power combination that would probably make him an All-Star anywhere on the diamond, while also being a plus defender at the most demanding position in baseball, and an intense, vocal, charismatic leader. Rutschman is a complete, franchise-altering prospect, and one of the most exciting young players in the entire sport.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |