Rodríguez building own brand
Son of ‘Pudge’ bidding for NL Rookie of Year
SAN FRANCISCO >> A father’s shadow is not easily outgrown, particularly when that father is a Hall of Fame catcher with more hardware on his shelves than the local Home Depot.
For years, Dereck Rodríguez, 26, has toiled and attempted to detach his legacy from that of his father, 21-year major league veteran, Ivan “Pudge” Rodríguez.
With another dominant outing in a 4-3 win over the Pirates on Sunday, the Giants rookie can stop waiting. He’s his own person, and he’s a budding star.
“I’ve been waiting for that my whole life to be honest with you,” Rodríguez said. “Creating my own player. I knew it was going to happen when I got called up, the son of Pudge and stuff. But slowly and surely, I’m starting to separate
Rodríguez
myself from him a little bit more.”
With seven innings of one-run ball, Rodríguez picked up his sixth victory as a Giant and lowered his season ERA to a teambest 2.25. The right-hander didn’t convert from hitting to pitching until 2014 and didn’t arrive in the major leagues until May 29, but even he can’t believe how quickly his life has changed.
“That was a long time ago,” Rodríguez said. “As you can see, I don’t swing the bat as well as I quite used to. It’s been crazy going from an outfielder to a pitcher and being to the spot I’m in right now.”
Drafted as an outfielder by the Twins in 2011, Rodríguez signed with the Giants this offseason. He has has joined 19-year-old Nationals phenom Juan Soto at the front of the National League Rookie of the Year race.
Since June 24, no pitcher in baseball has dominated quite like Rodríguez, who has compiled a 1.28 ERA over his last 56 1/3 innings and outperformed the game’s brightest stars. A month ago, the Rookie of the Year was Soto’s to lose, and while the outfielder is still crushing the ball, Rodríguez is giving voters no choice but to turn their attention to the West Coast.
“I think without question he’s got to be in that talk and in consideration,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “But we have a lot of baseball left and he’s doing all he can do and more. More than we thought. We knew he would be pretty good but he’s even exceeded that.”
As injuries to Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija sidelined two of the Giants’ top starters, Rodríguez has stabilized the club’s rotation and kept San Francisco’s slim playoff hopes from disappearing altogether. Defeating the Pirates allowed the Giants to maintain a 6.0 game deficit in the National League West, but a 59-60 club must play at least .600 ball the rest of the way to have a decent chance of sneaking into the playoffs.
For as well as Rodríguez pitched Sunday, the rest of the Giants showed why they’ve hovered around .500 for most of the season.
Reliever Reyes Moronta walked the leadoff man to open the eighth and lefty Tony Watson gave up a two-run double to Starling Marte that cut a three-run Pirates’ deficit to one. The Giants had that advantage in the first place thanks to the efforts of Nick Hundley, Gorkys Hernández and Joe Panik, who all enjoyed big games.
Hundley tripled and drove in a pair while Panik also picked up two RBIs, but it was the aggressiveness of Hernández on the bases that keyed a fourthinning run.
As rookie Steven Duggar raced Pirates starter Joe Musgrove to first base on an infield single, Hernández turned at second to watch the play unfold. When Duggar was ruled safe and Musgrove stopped to argue with umpire Chris Conroy, Hernández bolted for third and later scored on an infield single.
“When I turned to look at the play, I knew he was going to be safe,” Hernández said. “But when I saw the pitcher talk to the umpire, I think now is the time to do it. After that Hundley had the base hit and I scored a run.”
Though Rodríguez has allowed two runs or fewer in eight straight starts, he’s been rewarded with wins in only three of those outings. He still has work to do to catch Soto and capture the only piece of significant major league hardware that doesn’t appear in his father’s trophy case.
But Rodríguez won’t savor the moment too long.
“I look back at what’s been happening the past couple months from where I was at this time last year to where I am now and it’s a big change,” Rodríguez said. “I soak it in for a day or two, but then I throw my bullpen and it’s back to my next start.”
• Outfielder Mac Williamson was placed on the Triple-A disabled list this week. The Giants are concerned symptoms from Williamson’s April concussion are lingering.
Williamson suffered the concussion after stumbling over the bullpen mounds and crashing into the leftfield wall in foul territory at AT&T Park while pursuing a foul ball. There is no timetable for his return.