There’s no doubt about it, the Orioles’ 5-4 win against the Rays before a nearly full house on Sunday, Sept. 17 was special. Not only did the Orioles clinch their first playoff appearance since that wild-card game in Toronto in 2016, it gave the Orioles a two-game lead in the AL East over the Rays, who had come in and punched the Orioles in the face in the first two games of a critical four-game series.
With the Orioles’ 8-7 win against Houston on Sept. 18, that lead is now 2.5. While a 2.5-game lead may not seem all that big, by clinching the first tiebreaker — head-to-head record in case the teams finish with the same record — the O’s really have what amounts to a three-game lead. The Rays have 11 games left to play and the O’s have 12 games remaining.
But while all that is positive and fun stuff, what really has my mind dreaming and my juices flowing was something that happened on Saturday, Sept. 16 that was special with a capital S. That was an epic eight-inning start by 23-year-old right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. (Yes, in today’s game, eight innings is epic.)
Where do we start? I guess we can start with a shoutout to former Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette for making Rodriguez the club’s top draft pick, No. 11 overall, in 2018. Amid the Sunday clubhouse celebration, current GM Mike Elias talked about how much easier his job was made by the work of his predecessor, who did not leave the cupboard bare.
At the top of that list was Rodriguez, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound right-hander out of Nacogdoches, Texas.
When Elias took over in November 2018, he embarked upon a full-blown teardown and rebuild. When Duquette took over in November 2011, he wanted to win and help change the culture, but he also wanted to rebuild his stature in the game.
That dynamic led the club to rush young starters Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman. Bundy has seen his career go off the rails due to injuries, with 2023 being the first season he has not cracked a major league roster since being drafted. Gausman, due in part to poor development by the Orioles, took the long road with short stints in Atlanta and Cincinnati before really finding himself in San Francisco. That led to a big-time five-year, $110 million contract in Toronto, where he has established himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball.
With the Orioles embarking on a full-scale rebuild under Elias, there was no need to rush Rodriguez. So the Orioles, almost to a fault, babied him in 2019 with very short starts, parceling out 94 innings across 20 starts. Then, as with many pitchers, 2020 was a bit of a mixed bag because no minor league games were played. Still, he threw at the Orioles’ alternate site that summer.
In 2021, Rodriguez started 23 times but threw just 103 innings between High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie. In 2022, Rodriguez was limited to 75.2 minor league innings because of a right lat muscle strain suffered in June. The Orioles were impressed enough with Rodriguez before the injury that it looked as if a call-up was imminent.
When the Orioles’ two biggest offseason pitching moves were a one-year deal with veteran starter Kyle Gibson and a trade for lefty Cole Irvin, the writing was on the wall that they were counting on Rodriguez to play a big part in the ’23 season.
It was disappointing to see Rodriguez not make the club out of spring training, but he got a quick call-up in early April when Kyle Bradish was sidelined briefly. All in all, Rodriguez started 10 games over April and May. The numbers spoke loudly that he just was not prepared for the necessary workload of a big league starter: 45.1 innings, 7.35 ERA, 58 hits, 21 walks and 1.74 WHIP. Opposing batters hit .307/.374/.582 against him.
So, down Rodriguez went with a clear-cut edict to start being more exact with the location of his pitches and to be more aggressive.
Was his time down in Norfolk well spent? I’ll let you be the judge. Since his return in July, he has made 11 starts covering 66 innings. He has posted a 2.59 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 61 strikeouts. Opposing batters are hitting .218/.278/.307 with just three homers. How Rodriguez attacked his demotion tells us everything we need to know about the young right-hander.
Now, back to the present tense. Saturday was the game we’ve all been waiting for since we first heard everyone talk about how special this man’s right arm is. This was the pitcher Mike Elias and his staff knew they had.
But once Rodriguez has an outing like he did on Saturday against a very, very tough-hitting team, that kind of greatness can’t just be undone. It permeates through the clubhouse. It permeates throughout the league. Don’t think so? Here’s what Rays manager Kevin Cash had to say about that outing.
Yes, the Orioles punched their ticket into the 2023 postseason on Sunday, but it was a very special Saturday night performance that made the Orioles a lot more dangerous than seemed possible in this first trip back to the playoffs.
Yes, the Orioles are officially dangerous now in any short series.
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