LAS VEGAS - Endy Rodríguez still has a place in the Pirates’ plans, and for now that place remains behind the plate.
That’s the read from general manager Ben Cherington, who said at the General Managers’ Meetings on Nov. 10 that Rodríguez is progressing well after season-ending left hip labrum surgery and should be on track for 2027. Cherington said Rodríguez was in Bradenton, Fla. at Pirate City working his way back and has already started catching again.
“He's doing good,” Cherington said. “I just saw him down in Bradenton.
He's back doing catching, you know, positional drills. He's not hitting yet.
That'll come later.
“But every step of the rehab has been clear so far. He's got his mobility back.
He'll still have some boxes to check in terms of strength and before he gets to hitting and all that. But there's nothing so far that suggests he's not going to recover just fine and be clear for 2027.”
The Pirates’ original recovery window after the Aug. 26 surgery was seven to nine months, which points to a return somewhere between March and May of 2027. That matters because Rodríguez is entering his first year of arbitration, and Pittsburgh has to decide how much longer he fits into its long-term catching picture.
The answer, at least right now, is a lot.
Cherington said the Pirates still view Rodríguez as part of a catching group that also includes Rafael Flores Jr. and Henry Davis. First base remains an option for Rodríguez, but the organization is not ready to move him off catcher.
“Yeah, we do,” Cherington said when asked whether Rodríguez will still catch in the future. “You know, reserve the right to reconsider that if it makes sense for him or the team. But right now, we do.
“The value of a switch-hitting catcher who can play the position athletically. It's really valuable. You want to hang on to that as tight as you can until it absolutely doesn't make sense to hang on to it anymore.
“And you know he's missed a lot of time, but it's, as I think about it, like it's not clear that any of the time he's missed is the result of an injury from catching specifically, which it's hard to prove entirely.
“But you know, it's not like, it's not like we know that that's the reason he's lost time. So more to learn.
We'll keep learning. We'll keep talking to him and where he's at.
But I don't see any reason why he can't catch, and he's really valuable back there.”
Rodríguez’s path has been interrupted over and over. He has appeared in just 63 games over the last three seasons, roughly 13% of them, because of a string of injuries.
A winter ball injury in 2023 led to reconstructive surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon in his right elbow, costing him the 2024 season. He made the 2025 Opening Day roster, then dealt with a lacerated right index finger in April before undergoing right elbow surgery in August, limiting him to 18 games.
In 2026, though, he gave the Pirates a real offensive lift. Called up from Triple-A Indianapolis in mid-May, Rodríguez hit .267/.373/.467 with an .840 OPS in 45 games. He finished with 36 hits in 135 at-bats, six doubles, seven home runs, 20 RBI and 23 walks against 41 strikeouts.
He was the Pirates’ starting catcher for stretches before the injuries caught up with him again in July and August. Now the focus is on getting him healthy enough to be part of a 2027 season Pittsburgh sees as a big one, and Rodríguez staying on the field would go a long way toward making that happen.
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