Hector Rodríguez looked lost at the start of his big-league run. Now he looks like exactly what the Reds believed they were getting.
The Cincinnati outfield prospect, ranked third in the organization, opened his MLB career by hitting just .118 with a .336 OPS over his first 12 games. But after a tweak during the team’s recent road trip, the bat has come alive in a hurry. Rodríguez has 10 hits, including four home runs, over his last seven games, and the turnaround has changed the tone around his early stint with the club.
The adjustment was simple, but it clearly clicked. While waiting in the on-deck circle, Rodríguez started picturing the pitches he wanted to drive before he even stepped in.
“When the pitcher is warming up, I’m visualizing his pitches and what I want to hit,” Rodríguez told Charlie Goldsmith via interpreter Tomás Vera. “It’s concentration and choosing the pitches I want to hit, and making sure I make good contact.”
That mindset has shown up in the results. Rodríguez played a major role in the Reds’ comeback win in San Francisco and again in Sunday night’s series-clinching win over the Cubs. He also launched his first big-league home run against a left-handed pitcher, and he and Sal Stewart both went deep in Cincinnati’s first Sunday Night Baseball game since 2015.
Stewart, who has been one of Rodríguez’s loudest believers through the rough start, didn’t sound surprised by the breakout.
“I told you guys.”
“He’s coming,” Stewart said. “He’s going to keep getting better. I’m happy that he’s up there with us.”
The Reds acquired Rodríguez and pitching prospect Jose Acuna from the Mets in 2022 in the Tyler Naquin trade, and they haven’t been shy about giving him chances during this recent surge. He’s played center field, hit leadoff and even faced lefties, with manager Terry Francona making it clear the club wants to see what the youngster can do.
“He’s dangerous right now,” Francona said. “He got a ball up and he whacked it.
It’s interesting. He’s ultra-aggressive.
That’s ok. We don’t need nine guys that are going to walk.
I’m not sure you want nine guys who are ultra-aggressive. If he is who he is and swings at strikes and he does damage, the kid is pretty interesting.”
Rodríguez is still in the middle of the learning curve that comes with big-league pitching, and there’s more polish needed on defense, too. He committed an error Sunday that led to a run, though it didn’t change the outcome.
The raw tools have never been in doubt - he showed that in Triple-A with a three-homer game and a cycle within weeks of each other - but now he’s starting to understand that talent alone doesn’t carry over automatically. The Reds are seeing what happens when the approach catches up to the ability.
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What stood out in his remarks was the clarity about what comes next. Votto said he wants any future role in baseball to matter, whether that eventually leads to operations or coaching, and he is not interested in a limited advisory gig that leaves him on the margins. For Reds fans who spent so long watching him shape the middle of their lineup, it was another reminder that if Votto does return to the game in a different capacity, he wants the assignment to be a real one. [Read more 🡒]