Top Orioles prospect Grayson Rodriguez made his Major League debut on Wednesday April 5^th against the Texas Rangers. He gave up two earned runs in five innings pitched and had five strikeouts. In this post, we’re going to walkthrough what I saw from Rodriguez during this game, including different strategies he utilized depending on the hitter.

If you prefer video breakdowns, check out this video:

What does Grayson Rodriguez throw?

Rodriguez has five pitches:

• Fourseam
• Changeup
• Cutter
• Slider
• Curveball

Based on our first look at him, he is most reliant on his fourseam and slider against right-handed hitters. Against left-handed hitters, he throws the fourseam and change-up primarily, but also mixes in the curveball. He threw the cutter very rarely in his debut (only a handful of times) and used it against both hands.

Cutters are typically used to neutralize platoon matchups that favor the hitter. So as a right-handed pitcher, I would expect Rodriguez to throw the cutter more frequently against left-handed batters moving forward.

Different types of hitters in the Rangers lineup

Before we get into Rodriguez’s strategy, we need to understand the types of hitters he was facing.

The most aggressive hitters in the Rangers lineup:

• Corey Seager
• Ezequiel Duran

Other hitters on the aggressive side: Nathaniel Lowe, Adolis Garcia, and Jonah Heim

All these more aggressive hitters also chase at an above average rate, especially Garcia and Duran. Seager and Lowe also have worse than average chase rates, but not as dramatic as those of Garcia and Duran.

The more patient hitters in the Rangers lineup:

• Mitch Garver
• Robbie Grossman

Both these hitters don’t chase pitches outside the zone that often, but they also don’t swing in-zone often. This leads me to believe that they are not laying off pitches outside the zone because they have a good eye, but rather because they just don’t swing in general that frequently.

One hitter who doesn’t fall into the “aggressive” or “patient” categories above is Marcus Semien. He has more of a neutral plate approach, but has excellent contact rates, especially on pitches thrown in-zone.

First Time Through the Order

Overall, Rodriguez relied heavily on his fourseam the first time through. He threw a first pitch fastball against every batter except Garcia and Duran. He ended up throwing every pitch in his arsenal by the time he reached the third batter, but was mostly reliant on his fourseam, changeup, and slider.

Second Time Through the Order

The curveball and cutter came more into play the second time through the order. Rodriguez still threw first pitch fastball to most hitters, but pitched backwards to the toughest hitters in the lineup: Semien, Seager, and Lowe. Pitching backwards means he threw an off-speed or breaking pitch to start the at-bat.

Walkthrough of Some Strategies Used

In this section, let’s take a look at some of the strategies Rodriguez used against three hitters in the Rangers’ lineup.

First Batter: RHH Marcus Semien – Neutral Plate Approach

First AB Pitch Order:

• Fourseam high
• Fourseam middle
• Slider away
• Fourseam low/away
• Slider away
• Fourseam low/away

Based on the whiff and slugging heat maps below, we can see that Semien historically does the most damage on pitches middle and inside, and has the tendency to whiff at pitches low/away and high.

With the exception of the fourseam middle, Rodriguez focused on switching Semien’s eye level (going from high to low), and stayed toward the lower/outside third of the zone.

In Semien’s second at-bat against Rodriguez, Rodriguez started with a slider to the middle of the zone, which resulted in a ground ball from Semien.

In Semien’s third at-bat, Rodriguez threw a low cutter and a change-up to the middle of the zone, resulting in another ground ball. This is a bit surprising, as change-ups and cutters are both typically thrown to batters of the opposite hand. There are exceptions for those with elite change-ups and cutters, but that is not the case for Rodriguez.

Second Batter: LHH Corey Seager – Aggressive Plate Approach

First AB Pitch Order:

• Fourseam outer third
• Changeup low
• Changeup inside
• Fourseam inside upper third
• Changeup middle

Based on Seager’s heat maps below, we can see that he historically whiffs at pitches high and low, and does the most damage against pitches inner third and up and in.

Rodriguez’s pitch locations suggest to me that he struggled a bit with command this at-bat, as he was likely trying to hit the lower inside corner with those two changeups outside, and was trying to get the fourseams up and away. He got lucky with the changeup that ended up middle.

It’s also possible that those change-ups hit their intended spot and Rodriguez was hoping Seager would chase. However, in my opinion they were too far off the plate to get that result.

This is a similar tactic to Semien in terms of changing eye level (high and low) and mixing hard with off-speed to try and mess up the hitters’ timing.

In Seager’s second at-bat, Rodriguez went true north/south. He started Seager off with a low curveball and got him to chase and whiff. Rodriguez then threw three straight fourseams. The first was deemed a ball, just missed the zone low. The second was up and in for a swinging strike. The third was above the zone on the outer third, and got a swing and a miss for a strikeout.

In Seager’s third at-bat, Rodriguez went true east/west. He started with two change-ups outside. Then he threw a fastball to the outer third, change-up to the inner third, and fastball again to the outer third for another strikeout.

Seager’s at-bats are the most telling because it demonstrates what Rodriguez can do. He can pitch to all quadrants of the zone, and give hitters a completely different look every at-bat.

Third Batter: Mitch Garver – Patient Plate Approach

First AB pitch order:

• Fourseam outside
• Fourseam outside
• Cutter outer third

Based on Garver’s heat maps below, he does damage on pitches that end up almost anywhere in-zone, but especially inner half, and he has the tendency to whiff on pitches high, low, and outer third.

Rodriguez focused on the outer third against Garver in his first at-bat. With an 8-mph difference between the fourseam and the cutter, Rodriguez was able to throw the cutter to mess with Garver’s timing. The cutter also moves in the opposite direction of the fourseam, which runs. Rodriguez showed Garver different movement in hopes of getting him to whiff or get weak contact out. Garver ended up grounding out to the catcher.

In Garver’s second at-bat, Rodriguez stayed mostly on the outer third again. Instead of a cutter, Rodriguez threw two sliders away and mixed in a change-up to the inner third. This at-bat ended with a strikeout, capitalizing on Garver’s weakness on the outer third of the plate.

What to Expect from Rodriguez moving forward

Rodriguez has weapons to face both hands and can show batters new things to mess with their timing and keep them off balance each time he faces them. Additionally, his fourseam velocity barely dropped through five innings pitched.

Without a clear timeline for Kyle Bradish’s return, it’s unclear how long Rodriguez will stick in the rotation. But in his debut, he did very well to demonstrate what he can bring to the table every 5^th day for the Orioles.

What do you think of Rodriguez?