The Yankees made a straightforward roster move Sunday after their one-run loss to the Padres, optioning right-hander Elmer Rodriguez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and opening up an active roster spot for the stretch run.
Rodriguez, 23, has already gotten a look in the majors this season. He debuted on April 29 and went on to make six starts for New York, finishing with a 5.40 ERA, 21 strikeouts and 30 walks over 26 2/3 innings. The numbers tell the story: the stuff has been enough to get swings and misses, but the command has been the issue that kept dragging him back.
That walk total has been the glaring problem in his brief big-league run. Nearly a free pass per inning is too much for any starter to survive on at this level, and the Yankees are choosing to send him back to Triple-A to clean that up rather than keep pushing him through a rotation that needs steadier innings right now.
Rodriguez’s path to New York has already included a couple of notable stops. He was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in a December 2024 trade involving catcher Carlos Narvaez, then was a fourth-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. The Yankees also added him to the 40-man roster in November 2025 to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, which showed how much they still value him as a longer-term piece even after the rocky introduction.
This is an option, not a DFA, so Rodriguez remains in the organization’s plans. In Scranton, he’ll get the chance to sharpen his command, stay built up as a starter and stay on call if New York needs more rotation help later in September.
For now, the Yankees keep him in the system while creating room for a more immediate arm. They’re in the final stretch with an American League wild card spot, and the roster shuffle gives them flexibility as October gets closer.
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