Grayson Rodriguez 2023

[orioles22]

He should pitch again Wednesday and then could go Tuesday-Sunday the next week. I'd like to see 5-0 before coming back.

 

[Moose Milligan]

Keep him down. Until the delivery is repeatable and he can hit the zone consistently. 
 

I’m with @Tony-OH, I don’t care about missed bats against minor leaguers. I’m not impressed by getting Franchy to chase pitches. 
 

 

[justD]

50 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well it depends. He had a 68% str%, so if he was getting ahead and then guys were go out of the zone vs his offspeed stuff, that’s what you want.

Unfortunately, that's not what I saw when I just watched the archive.  The missed bats were balls in the zone, or dropping down at the end.  They didn't have any velocity posted but it appeared to be fastballs, changeups, and curveballs.  I say unfortunately because I prefer the approach you describe. 

He threw the slider quite a bit but was always too far outside with it for anyone to think about chasing it. 

There were a lot more FB up in the zone that were actually at the top rather than missing way high, as was the case in his last game(s) with the Os.  He missed a few bats with those.

I was trying to watch where the target was placed and then where he'd locate the pitch, and it was only about 60-70% accurate placement (this is a guess; I didn't count). 

The home run pitch was exactly where the target had been. 

I hadn't seen Godoy before; he's a confident "guide" if you will, behind the dish.  I liked how he'd really walk Grayson through every pitch he was calling, really clear about where he wanted the pitch, really encouraging when he'd make his pitch. 

One last aside - I hadn't seen the pitch call challenge system before.  Tides won their one challenge that I saw, right on the corner.  Rail Riders lost theirs, a pitch about 6 inches outside. 

 

[Frobby]

We should be patient with Grayson down there.  He has things to work on, let him work on them.   

[justD]

9 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We should be patient with Grayson down there.  He has things to work on, let him work on them.   

Not okay to post what you see, to track his progress?  I'd rather know more than just "48% whiff" and thought others might want to know more too. 

[Frobby]

5 minutes ago, justD said:

Not okay to post what you see, to track his progress?  I'd rather know more than just "48% whiff" and thought others might want to know more too. 

Of course that’s okay, and I’m very interested in your observations along with others who watch him pitch.  I was was responding to the suggestion that Grayson should return to the majors in 2-3 starts.  

[IllinoisOsFan]

A summary of his second start back with the Tides.

https://www.mlb.com/news/orioles-grayson-rodriguez-28-swings-and-misses-triple-a-norfolk

[RZNJ]

I watched the 4th inning and parts of the 5th and 6th.  He was doing a much better job of getting on top of his pitches and seemed to have a pretty consistent curveball.  He did bury a few in the dirt and missed outside with some sliders but overall much more consistency strike throwing.  The fastball on Cordero’s homer was pretty much where the target was.  Waist high on the outside.   Even with the amount of strikes he threw he still needs to cut down on the amount of non competitive pitches.   
 

According to the broadcast, he was 96-97.

Edited June 10, 2023 by RZNJ

[Frobby]

On 3/2/2023 at 3:20 PM, CaptainRedbeard said:

9 fastballs averaging 97.9 mph per baseball savant. Max 98.9 mph. Grayson is all the way back.

Fastball velocity has little to do with whether Grayson is all the way back.  Command of his pitches is what’s holding him back.  

[Morgan423]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Fastball velocity has little to do with whether Grayson is all the way back.  Command of his pitches is what’s holding him back.  

More specifically, command of everything that's not a fastball.  He couldn't get that stuff over in most of his MLB starts this year, and when that happens, MLB hitters will just sit on the fastball and eat it for breakfast.

[Frobby]

32 minutes ago, IllinoisOsFan said:

A summary of his second start back with the Tides.

https://www.mlb.com/news/orioles-grayson-rodriguez-28-swings-and-misses-triple-a-norfolk

“It’s getting back to commanding the fastball down in the zone, up in the zone,” Rodriguez said. “Breaking balls and putting guys away. I think when I was in the big leagues this year, I kind of shied away and went soft a lot, threw a lot of cutters, and that’s really not my game. I’m getting back to the basics and establishing the fastball and putting guys away."

 Couldn’t agree more about his love affair with the cutter while he was up here.   That’s a surprise pitch, not a staple, for a guy like Grayson.  Kremer tends to get a little cutter-happy too.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Morgan423 said:

More specifically, command of everything that's not a fastball.  He couldn't get that stuff over in most of his MLB starts this year, and when that happens, MLB hitters will just sit on the fastball and eat it for breakfast.

I didn’t think he was commanding the fastball that well, either.   But I agree he has to be able to throw his breaking stuff, not only for strikes, but in good locations.   

[jabba72]

52 minutes ago, Frobby said:

“It’s getting back to commanding the fastball down in the zone, up in the zone,” Rodriguez said. “Breaking balls and putting guys away. I think when I was in the big leagues this year, I kind of shied away and went soft a lot, threw a lot of cutters, and that’s really not my game. I’m getting back to the basics and establishing the fastball and putting guys away."

 Couldn’t agree more about his love affair with the cutter while he was up here.   That’s a surprise pitch, not a staple, for a guy like Grayson.  Kremer tends to get a little cutter-happy too.

Year	Pitch Type	Team	RV/100	Run Value	Pitches	%	PA	BA	SLG	wOBA	Whiff%	K%	PutAway %	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	Hard Hit %
2023	4-Seamer		2.0	8	398	44.8	90	.395	.750	.509	27.8	28.9	21.3	.345	.591	.441	62.7
2023	Changeup		-1.1	-2	187	21.0	65	.226	.371	.290	28.2	30.8	20.6	.227	.342	.265	38.1
2023	Slider		-1.1	-1	131	14.7	23	.227	.227	.226	28.6	26.1	14.6	.232	.356	.271	31.3
2023	Cutter		3.9	4	109	12.3	21	.333	.889	.574	14.3	4.8	8.3	.355	.730	.490	64.7
2023	Curveball		5.8	4	64	7.2	12	.273	.818	.467	31.3	25.0	18.8	.282	.770	.453	87.5

 

The .574 wOBA on the cutter suggest he probably shouldnt be using it very often. Looks like batters are sitting on that just as much as the fastball. Slider and changeup look like good pitches for him. 

 

[Tony-OH]

14 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Well it depends. He had a 68% str%, so if he was getting ahead and then guys were go out of the zone vs his offspeed stuff, that’s what you want.

Str% includes pitching swung at out of the zone and fouled off, whiffed or hit in play. I agree getting guys to chase is a good thing with two strikes, but most of chase whif was fastballs up, not on offspeed pitches down or away besides a couple of heinous swings and misses by undisciplined hitters.

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

“It’s getting back to commanding the fastball down in the zone, up in the zone,” Rodriguez said. “Breaking balls and putting guys away. I think when I was in the big leagues this year, I kind of shied away and went soft a lot, threw a lot of cutters, and that’s really not my game. I’m getting back to the basics and establishing the fastball and putting guys away."

 Couldn’t agree more about his love affair with the cutter while he was up here.   That’s a surprise pitch, not a staple, for a guy like Grayson.  Kremer tends to get a little cutter-happy too.

Cutters can be a good pitch, but a pitcher needs to have real good command of it because cutters left in the middle of the plate end up BP fastballs.