The Yankees may have found something useful in Elmer Rodriguez, and Aaron Boone isn’t pretending otherwise.
Before Rodriguez got his latest promotion last week, Boone had already been watching the reports and the video coming out of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The signs were there: the 6-foot-4 right-hander’s five-pitch mix was working better against Triple-A hitters, and the improvement from his four earlier big-league outings this season was getting harder to ignore.
Then Rodriguez showed it in person Wednesday night against the Astros.
He didn’t get the win, but he gave the Yankees exactly what they needed while the rotation was short two starters, working into the seventh in a 9-3 victory. Boone said the outing passed the eye test, and he pointed directly to the fastball and the breaking ball as the biggest reasons why.
“You’re seeing 97, 98, 99 sinkers filling up the zone,” Boone said. “He’s spinning a good breaking ball. That was really encouraging to see.”
Rodriguez’s final line might have looked even cleaner if Trent Grisham had run down a catchable first-inning deep flyball that turned into an early 1-0 Astros lead.
Still, the performance was strong enough to keep Rodriguez in the picture for a while longer. He’ll make another start Monday night in Anaheim against the Angels, even though Max Fried is back off the IL and set to start Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader with the Red Sox.
What comes next is where things get interesting.
Rodriguez is likely headed back to Triple-A at some point, but the Yankees could also have a bullpen opening for him in September or even in the postseason. If the rotation stays healthy, the Yankees’ playoff group would be Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Fried. That could leave three veteran starters available for relief work in October, with Will Warren and two rehabbers - Ryan Weathers and Clarke Schmidt - also part of the equation.
Rodriguez’s path could depend on how Schmidt looks after returning from Tommy John surgery and how quickly Weathers comes back from a forearm flexor strain that has kept him on the IL since Aug. 23.
Schmidt started a rehab assignment Saturday with Double-A Somerset and gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning. Weathers is expected to have a short shutdown of two to four weeks, but the Yankees still don’t know what version of him they’ll get once he’s back.
Boone said Rodriguez is part of that mix too, even if he’s a longer shot than some of the others.
“The landscape of all of our pitchers, some guys could end up in the bullpen,” Boone said. “We’ll see, but you could potentially have three more pitchers into the mix, whether they go into the starting rotation, some go into the bullpen.
“I don’t know how that dynamic is going to shake out. But he’s certainly in the bubble of 12 to 15 pitchers we’re dealing with right now.”
So far with the Yankees, Rodriguez is 0-2 with a 4.70 ERA in five starts, with 16 strikeouts and 13 walks in 23 innings. The walks have been an issue, though he’s cleaned that up a bit lately, with eight in his first 8.2 innings and just five over his last 14.1.
Against Houston, he struck out six and walked two over 88 pitches, which Boone called his best stuff yet in the majors.
“That was by far the best stuff he’s had since he’s been up here with us and he’s been throwing the ball well down there (in Triple-A) for the last month or so,” Boone said.
The Triple-A numbers explain why the Yankees are taking him seriously. In 19 starts for Scranton, Rodriguez is 8-3 with a 2.59 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 97.1 innings. Over his last five outings there, he’s 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA, giving up four earned runs in 26 innings while striking out 27 and walking eight.
Boone said the experience Rodriguez has picked up this season has mattered, and the pitcher’s progress has been obvious.
“He’s a young pitcher with a lot of ability and I feel like he’s gained a lot of valuable experience this year,” Boone said. “He’s probably pitched his best baseball over the last month or so in Triple-A. I think the handful of starts he’s gotten up here have been valuable for him.
“He’s still very young, but I feel like he’s made a lot of progress this year. His strike throwing’s gotten better. He’s got weapons.”
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