Struggling Rodriguez sent down to Triple-A
SAN DIEGO >> This was supposed to be Dereck Rodríguez’s time to shine.
After arriving seemingly out of nowhere to record one of the best rookie seasons by a Giants pitcher in franchise history, Rodríguez was expected to become a top-of-the-rotation anchor in his second year with the club.
Instead, Rodríguez was demoted from the Giants’ bullpen to Triple-A Sacramento on Monday as the organization cleared a roster
spot for utility man Austin Slater.
On June 30 of 2018, Rodríguez tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings in a dominant start against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Exactly one year later, Rodríguez gave up three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning against those same D’backs before learning he was headed back to the minor leagues.
What happened to the
promising pitcher the Giants tagged as a key contributor to their starting rotation? The top decision-makers believe he’ll regain his form by pitching in his preferred role.
“With Dereck, we want to get him throwing on a consistent basis and get him stretched out,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Get him back as a starter, so he’s going back to Sacramento.”
Rodríguez’s 5.27 ERA isn’t in the same neighborhood as the 2.81 mark he posted in 21 appearances (19 starts) a season ago, and neither are some of his other key metrics.
A look at Rodríguez’s peripheral numbers suggested the starter was due to regress in 2019, but the dropoff has been so severe that it cost him his spot in the rotation in the middle of May. Rodríguez wasn’t any better out of the bullpen, but the Giants believe he’ll benefit from the consistency that comes with pitching every fifth day.
“We want to keep our depth in the rotation and we were losing that with him (as a reliever,)” Bochy said. “We’ll have to build him up the next couple of starts.”
The Giants will need an extra starter on July 15 in Colorado for a doubleheader against the Rockies, and Rodríguez is a strong candidate to pitch in that four-game series. He could also figure prominently into the rotation beyond that series as starters Madison Bumgarner and Drew Pomeranz are trade candidates who could leave spots to fill if they’re dealt ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.
What’s behind Rodríguez’s
sudden decline?
In 118 1/3 innings last year, Rodríguez struck out just 6.8 batters per nine innings, nearly 2.0 batters below the 2018 league average. Rodríguez’s strikeout rate has dropped from 18.3 percent last year to 14.5 percent this year, which ranks in the bottom five percentile of the league.
Some pitchers are able to succeed without striking out a high volume of hitters, but it typically takes exceptional command to do so. Rodríguez’s command has clearly suffered this year as he’s walked 9.2 percent of hitters, compared to just 7.3 percent in his rookie season.
Even slight control issues can hamper pitchers who lack elite velocity and this year, hitters have taken advantage of Rodríguez’s mistakes. A season ago, Rodríguez’s expected batting average against ranked slightly better than the league average, but this year, his expected batting average against is in the bottom eight percentile of pitchers.
What’s the cause? Last season, hitters barreled up Rodríguez on just 3.9 percent of his pitches, which placed him among the top 10 percent of pitchers. This year, hitters have found the barrel on 6.9 percent of Rodríguez’s offerings, a spike that indicates his control isn’t as refined as it was during his rookie season.
The Giants are optimistic a return to the rotation will create a natural rhythm for Rodríguez, allowing him to sort out the struggles that have plagued him in a surprisingly poor season. While the advanced metrics suggest Rodríguez may never be as good as he was as a rookie, the Giants believe he isn’t as bad as his 2019 numbers indicate.
“He’s been throwing the ball better than what’s happened,” Bochy said. “You look at his inning yesterday how it unraveled, that’s just bad luck.”
• With an off day coming up on Thursday, the Giants promoted Slater to give them a versatile right-handed option against a Padres team that will start a pair of lefties in the first two games of a three-game series.
Slater hit .308 with a .965 OPS in his first 70 games with Triple-A and finally earned his first call-up of the season Monday. After working with independent hitting instructor Craig Wallenbrock to flatten out his swing this offseason, Slater said he’s been more consistent at the plate this year.
“All the big buzzwords right now are launch angle and all of that, but a lot of it comes down to contact point and swing plane,” Slater said.
Slater feels he’s making more quality contact this season, but he’s also making himself more useful to an organization that is now placing a premium on positional flexibility. At Triple-A Sacramento, Slater has played all three outfield positions and also spent time at first, second and third base.
The Giants have cycled through more than a dozen outfielders this season, but Slater said he understood why he was passed over for previous promotions.
“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, you can’t let that discourage you,” Slater said. “Each one of those guys 1,000 percent deserved the call-up. You can’t sit there and have the woe-is-me mentality. At the end of the day you have to put it all behind you and go out and play.”
• Brandon Crawford was set to begin Monday’s game against San Diego on the bench; out for the second straight day with a tight hamstring. Bochy said the injury isn’t serious and the club doesn’t have any plans for Crawford to have a MRI done.
It’s possible Crawford could return to the lineup as soon as today.