Growing up in East Texas, Grayson Rodriguez was a hitter first. He had a bat in his hands by the time he could walk, and there are plenty of stories from his native Nacogdoches, Texas, about his prodigious power as he blossomed.
His father, Gilbert, built a baseball diamond in his back yard when his son was 6 years old. Grayson dabbled in pitching at age 9 and spent more time on the mound in the few years thereafter. He attended youth baseball camps at Stephen F. Austin University, where he connected with Chad Massengale, then the program’s pitching coach. Massengale coached Grayson personally once a week for several years.
One thing was immediately apparent to Massengale — the kid had huge hands, allowing him to manipulate the baseball at a young age.
“The kid was already throwing a split-finger at like 10 years old,” Massengale said, noting that the offering was more like a forkball when the two started working together. “Gilbert had pitched a little bit back in the day, too, so he had some general knowledge about pitching. Even the first day we started spinning the breaking ball, that sucker had a real good feel for it and could really spin the baseball.”
Nearly 15 years later, Rodriguez no longer throws a splitter. Now a 24-year-old starting pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, Rodriguez is looking to help anchor a rotation for a team with World Series aspirations in 2024.
The 6-foot-5, 230-pound right-hander looked the part of a top-of-the-rotation starter during the second half of the 2023 season, posting a 2.58 ERA with 73 strikeouts and 21 walks in 76.2 innings following a rough first two months and a trip to Triple-A Norfolk.
“He had so much natural talent, I always told him, ‘Hey, one day, these kids are going to catch up to you and you’ve got to keep working your ass off and keep getting after it,'” Massengale said. “Obviously, he kind of took the ball and ran with that deal because I don’t think anybody’s catching up to him still to this day.”
“THAT WAS DIFFERENT”
Grayson Rodriguez was touching 98 mph by the time he was a senior at Central Heights High School in the spring of 2018. That leap took a major commitment from the young right-hander, but he was already working from a strong base.
Gilbert Rodriguez remembers a tournament in Georgia between Grayson’s freshman and sophomore years at Central Heights as a turning point for Grayson’s development.
“He hit 91, and that’s when he jumped from about 85 within two weeks,” Gilbert said. “Most of the summer he was 83, 84, 85, and then when he went to that one tournament, he went 91, 92, 90, 91 consistently. We were just amazed. A lot of college scouts started calling. After that, that’s when we started focusing a little bit more on pitching.”
As a junior in 2017, Grayson was a two-way star for a Central Heights team that won the Class 3A state championship. He played shortstop whenever he wasn’t pitching. On the mound, he was up to 95 mph.
Central Heights baseball coach Travis Jackson recalled that Rodriguez wasn’t even fully healthy during that title run due to an injury to his right wrist suffered while hitting.
“He’s a left-handed batter and he was a really good hitter in high school. He was a power hitter,” Jackson said. “He had cracked that little hamate bone in your wrist, so he was pitching up to 95 with a cracked bone in his wrist his whole junior year.”
Rodriguez played summer ball and underwent hamate surgery before attacking his development ahead of his senior season. He credited his work with the Athlete Performance Enhancement Center (APEC) and Premier Baseball of Texas for helping him reach another level. Heading into the spring of 2018, Rodriguez visited APEC’s Tyler, Texas, facility five times a week and Premier Baseball in Tomball, Texas, typically once a week. Both were lengthy drives from his Nacogdoches home.
APEC and Premier Baseball had the same goals with Rodriguez — getting the most out of the big right-hander as efficiently and healthily as possible. Premier Baseball instructor David Evans initially observed that Rodriguez was too stiff and upright in his delivery and suggested making some tweaks in how to use his lower half to unlock his athleticism, namely getting deeper in his back leg.
“When he started doing it, the first time where it kind of clicked and we could both tell, we didn’t even have a gun on him but could tell the ball was coming out better and it was like, ‘Oh, wow. That was different,'” Evans said.
Rodriguez also worked with Connor Green, the baseball director at APEC in Tyler. Green is tasked with helping ballplayers build strength and explosiveness, control their body better and get into the best possible condition. A variety of drills aid that process, from speed work to plyometrics to big lifts.
With a tweaked delivery and an extra 15 pounds of muscle, Rodriguez was firing 96-98 mph bullets throughout his senior season at Central Heights — with 30-plus scouts at every start.
“That was a huge season for him where he really made big changes in his body composition, changed some nutritional habits — which he still sticks with to this day — and put on a bunch of muscle mass,” Green said. “And it’s really cool that he’s continued to put on some mass, too — kind of changing that body comp throughout his pro seasons as well.”
PREMIUM TALENT
As they prepared for the No. 11 overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft, the Orioles sent top evaluators to East Texas to see Grayson Rodriguez during the right-hander’s senior season. Of course, many other teams were represented, too. Gilbert Rodriguez was told by the Colorado Rockies that they’d select his son if he fell to No. 22, but the Orioles made sure that didn’t happen.
Dan Duquette, the Orioles’ executive vice president of baseball operations at the time, said Rodriguez marked the rare player who engendered unanimous positive reviews internally. High school pitchers are considered a risky demographic early in drafts, but Duquette and his staff took prep arms in the first round in back-to-back years, starting with DL Hall in 2017.
Rodriguez signed with the Orioles for $4.3 million instead of attending Texas A&M. The investment made by Duquette and his staff has paid off in a big way.
(Courtesy of Travis Jackson)
“Part of that was when are you really going to get the premium pitching talent? When can you get it at that price? That’s part of the equation when you draft a pitcher, certainly a high school pitcher,” Duquette said. “It takes longer for them to develop. The odds increase against them getting to the big leagues. In the case of these two pitchers, they got to the big leagues and they have the talent.”
Rodriguez got his feet wet with the organization after he signed, including 19.1 innings in what was then known as the Gulf Coast League. Once he returned home, he got back to work with APEC. He began working with Ryan Sullins, who helps pitchers throw more efficiently with the help of biomechanics.
Rodriguez threw a light bullpen for Sullins at a 3D-motion-capture lab — complete with motion sensors — to identify any problem areas. The test also shows a projected velocity if those weaknesses are fixed.
“It was showing him as a 100 mph guy,” Sullins said. “We kind of joked around about it a little bit. I was like, ‘No, you’re definitely going to be a 100 mph guy.’ Next thing you know, he’s throwing 100 pretty consistently.”
“VERY COOL MOMENT”
Rodriguez succeeded at every minor league stop in 2019 and 2021, with a pandemic pit stop at the club’s alternate site sandwiched between those seasons. He began the 2022 campaign with Triple-A Norfolk, making 10 starts before a Grade 2 lat strain delayed a major league debut that appeared imminent.
Rodriguez reported to Sarasota for spring training in 2023 looking to win a job in the major league rotation. He struggled that spring, allowing 17 hits and 15 runs (12 earned) in 15.1 innings, though he did strike out 19. He was optioned to Norfolk at the end of camp.
Rodriguez recalled being “uncomfortable” that spring. He and the Orioles had made some tweaks to his delivery — a different hand set, for instance — with an eye on limiting pitch-tipping.
“I think it made it harder for me to get into a rhythm,” Rodriguez said. “Really didn’t have a good feel for any of my off-speed pitches, changeup wasn’t where I wanted it, curveball and slider weren’t as sharp. I think all that kind of led to some inconsistencies, made it a little bit harder for me to pitch, kind of resulting in that bad spring and then getting sent down to Triple-A to really work on that and fix it.”
Rodriguez made one start for the Tides before Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish was hit in the right foot by a comebacker, forcing a rotation shuffle. Rodriguez was called up for his major league debut two days later against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, about three hours from his hometown. He allowed two runs on four hits in five innings, striking out five.
But after another 10 starts, the numbers were piling up: 45.1 innings, 7.35 ERA, 58 hits and 13 home runs as opposing batters hit .307/.374/.582. Rodriguez hadn’t gotten the chance to make the necessary changes after a less-than-stellar spring. After allowing nine runs (eight earned) against the Rangers on May 26, he was sent back to Norfolk.
“I knew that was kind of like the breaking point like, ‘All right, maybe going down to the minor leagues may be best for me,’ kind of being able to go down there, work on some things,” Rodriguez said. “Went down there, found my delivery again and then the pitches came after that.”
Rodriguez credited Norfolk pitching coach Justin Ramsey for helping get him back on track. Ramsey focused on getting Rodriguez’s fastball command and tight slider back by improving the rhythm and timing in his delivery. Rodriguez made eight starts for the Tides, posting a 1.96 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. His best start came on July 4, when he struck out 12 in six shutout innings at Durham.
Ramsey called the outing the “culmination of a lot of hard work” by Rodriguez.
“He had shown the growth as we went through that month that he was down there, but that was probably the aha, light-bulb moment where it was like, ‘OK, this is it. It’s in the back pocket. I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. I just go out and do it,'” Ramsey said. “It was special, even to the point where when he was done he gave me a hug because it was like you could tell he knew he was where he needed to be and he was ready to get back. It was just a very cool moment for everybody.”
Rodriguez also talked through the mental side of pitching with Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson, who had recruited Rodriguez as an assistant at Texas. Johnson reconnected with Rodriguez in 2023, and the pair stayed in touch with texts and calls.
Johnson’s message was similar to the one he has given many pitchers: One thought equals one pitch. If it’s a good result, settle right back into a routine. If it’s a bad result, move on.
“Where he was really getting out of control was the two-strike pitch,” Johnson said. “You can only control what you can control, like throwing the ball to the mitt. You can’t control if they get a hit or not. Even though you want to try to control that, you can’t, so you get out of control once you try so hard. It’s just about executing the pitch.”
COMPETITIVE FAMILY
Rodriguez returned to Baltimore after the All-Star break and was one of the top pitchers in the American League in the second half. He recorded a 2.58 ERA with 73 strikeouts and 21 walks in 76.2 innings. Opposing batters hit .227/.284/.306.
Rodriguez mostly ditched the cutter that had gotten hit hard in the first half, preferring to attack the strike zone with heat in the second half. His teammates noticed.
“I thought he pitched with more conviction,” Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman said. “I think, too, the more outs you get in the big leagues, the more that you know you can get outs in the future. Once you know that, then you are able to trust it a little bit more instead of if you come up and get hit around a little bit then you’re like, ‘Oh, is this a different thing or is it me?’ … To see him pitch with that confidence coming back was big.”
Rodriguez credited his parents Gilbert and Temple for instilling the qualities that allowed him to turn his rookie season around on the fly. Gilbert was an outfielder at Sul Ross State University (Alpine, Texas), and Temple was a high school softball coach in Nacogdoches.
“Just kind of having a real competitive nature in my household growing up — especially with baseball — I think that was a big thing,” Grayson said. “Lumps are going to happen. You’re going to get hit. It’s kind of how you bounce back from that, just kind of never giving up that competitive nature. Both of my parents are pretty competitive, so I think I get that from them.”
That doesn’t mean Grayson had much to draw on when his big league struggles hit. Gilbert and Temple were hard-pressed to recall any instances when Grayson failed growing up, on or off the field.
That remained the case until the first half of the 2023 season. Temple recalled how her son was at a loss for words about how to proceed after one particularly rough start prior to being sent down. She offered some words of wisdom after his demotion.
“I think that must have been, honestly, the first time he failed,” Temple said. “That must have been. He’s never said, ‘Mom, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to handle this.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s not the end of the world. You’re still there. You’ll be fine. Just go figure it out.’ And he did.”
Grayson’s father was proud to see him bounce back the way he did.
“It’s just what I kept telling him: ‘Don’t be scared. Don’t worry about what you’re facing or anything. Just go out there and be yourself,'” Gilbert said. “It’s just another hitter in the box and just play your game [against] them. He put so much pressure on himself, and that’s what he did coming up that first part of the season. He put too much pressure on himself.”
BUILDING AN AURA
Even with as well as the second half went for Rodriguez, the season ended with a thud. The AL East champion Orioles were swept by the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers in the ALDS. Rodriguez allowed five runs on six hits and four walks in his Game 2 start, recording just five outs.
Baseball Hall of Famer and FOX Sports analyst John Smoltz was on the call for Rodriguez’s start. Smoltz, who made 41 postseason appearances (and 27 starts) during a 21-year career, noted that no amount of advice can prepare a young pitcher for his first playoff start. He has to go through it himself.
“It is literally a totally different season when you pitch a postseason game — the adrenaline rush, everything about it,” Smoltz said. “I grew to love it, but it can be cruel. It can be cruel. Sometimes you get a bad result when you weren’t that far off from being dominant.”
Smoltz was immediately drawn to Rodriguez last season, saying that if he were “looking for a pitcher, this is the kind of pitcher I would be looking for.” Smoltz loves the way the ball explodes out of Rodriguez’s hand with minimal exertion, giving the right-hander a fastball that challenges hitters more effectively than a heater from a max-effort hurler.
Smoltz said Rodriguez fits the Justin Verlander mold in terms of stuff, strike-throwing and build. The analyst also believes the Orioles starter has the chance to mimic Verlander’s signature ability to change gears throughout an outing, dialing up his best velocity at the opportune moment.
Now, it’s just about staying healthy and stacking starts.
“The next thing you know you have an aura about you that the other hitters fear,” Smoltz said. “You keep that aura as long as you can in this game because everybody’s vulnerable to have those cracks. When you get on the mound and you know you’ve got the edge and you’re better than anybody who steps in that box, that’s a great feeling to have.”
Photo Credits: Kenya Allen/PressBox, Courtesy of Travis Jackson and Temple Rodriguez, Erin Ferrare and Colin Murphy/PressBox