The Invisible Man

[wildcard]

He is a non rostered invitee.   Look him up on the roster and there is no picture.   No one talks about him.  His name may hardly be mentioned during spring training.  He was not protected from the Rule 5 draft.  He was not picked by any of the other 29 teams. From what I have heard none of his pitches are that impressive.  But they he is in O's major league camp. Why?

The why is he was one of the most effective relievers in the International League last year.   For the last two years his numbers have been impressive.   In 2016, he had a 2.53 ERA,  6-2 record.  He led International in innings pitched by a reliever with 81.2.  He has less hits than innings pitched by a good margin with only 65 hits.   He struck out almost a batter an inning with with 81.  He held batters to  a .216 average and he had a 1.10 WHIP. 

He is ticketed for Norfolk's pen again this year though has pitched well enough to get a trial in the majors.

If you know who I am writing about you probably have infrared vision.    He is the Invisible Man.

[bobmc]

 

[Larry18]

A lot of twitter accounts use his avatar.

[Enjoy Terror]

RICK-ROD

[ArtVanDelay]

1 hour ago, Enjoy Terror said:

RICK-ROD

Or Dick-Rod. 

[weams]

I've watched Rich pitch. So have you. He's alright. 

[FlipTheBird]

18 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Maybe I have to give Wildcard less grief about his love affair with Richard Rodriguez.    Most of us thought he must have ordinary stuff despite the good results otherwise 1) we wouldn't have gotten him for nothing   2) we wouldn't have let him become a 6 year minor league FA this past fall and 3) we would have added him to the 40 man roster.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2017/02/appreciating-matt-wieters-and-scouting-richard-rodriguez.html

 

According to Melewski's column he throws between 93-96 and has a decent slider.   Combined with the numbers, why doesn't this guy get more respect and talked up more in the Orioles organization?

 

 

The thought of bringing a guy along exclusively as a relief pitcher - and being excited about it - is still somewhat new. There a very few relief arms out there that got any press or credit before they made an impact on an MLB club.

[weams]

Just now, RZNJ said:

I don't think I have ever seen him pitch.

Not even on the MiLB app? I though you watched most of the minor leaguers. My bad. Yeah, I've seen him a few times and I like him ok. 

[Sanfran327]

On 2/18/2017 at 11:04 AM, ArtVanDelay said:

Or Dick-Rod. 

This is the only acceptable nickname.

[weams]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

I don't think I had minorleague tv last year.

Ok. I saw him in person. And a few times with the MiLBTV

[ArtVanDelay]

10 minutes ago, Sanfran327 said:

This is the only acceptable nickname.

Wish I could take credit but it was mdbdotcom.

 

[FlipTheBird]

2 hours ago, RZNJ said:

He has been left off the 40 man roster and left available for any other team to sign him as a minor league FA.    That's different than him getting any press or credit.    The Orioles have shown that they don't really care if they lose him.    The writeup makes him sound worth protecting.

Eh he's going to be 27 in a week and still hasn't cracked the bigs. And no one's swooped in to take him off the O's hands, either.

He may get his shot later this year, if someone goes down. Going to be hard for him to crack the pen in Baltimore, given that they already have Brach, O'Day and Givens as righties.

[mdbdotcom]

5 hours ago, ArtVanDelay said:

Wish I could take credit but it was mdbdotcom.

 

Your graciousness humbles me.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Let me put it this way.  He sounds better than Logan Ondrusek.

That's a pretty low bar.   But I'd rather see what Rodriguez can do than see more of Ondrusek.

[OFFNY]

On 2/18/2017 at 4:58 AM, wildcard said:

 

He is a non-roster invitee. Look him up on the roster and there is no picture. No one talks about him.  His name may hardly be mentioned during spring training. He was not protected from the Rule 5 draft. He was not picked by any of the other 29 teams. From what I have heard none of his pitches are that impressive.  But they he is in O's major league camp. Why?

The why is he was one of the most effective relievers in the International League last year. For the last two years his numbers have been impressive. In 2016, he had a 2.53 ERA,  6-2 record.  He led International in innings pitched by a reliever with 81.2. He has less hits than innings pitched by a good margin with only 65 hits. He struck out almost a batter an inning with with 81. He held batters to  a .216 average and he had a 1.10 WHIP. 

He is ticketed for Norfolk's pen again this year, though he has pitched well enough to get a trial in the Majors.

If you know who I am writing about you probably have infrared vision. He is the Invisible Man.

 

 

On 2/18/2017 at 5:56 AM, RZNJ said:

 

Richard "Wildcard" Rodriguez.   

We might see him at some point this year but he'll be competing against Ondrusek, Bridwell, etc. for that call-up.

 

o

 

(MARCH 7th)

 

Richard Rodriguez was reassigned to Minor League camp.

 

https://twitter.com/masnRoch/status/839235786524475396