Grayson Rodriguez 2023

[Frobby]

I was at the Nats game while Grayson was pitching yesterday and just had a chance to watch the game on video.  

In short, I was really impressed.  In the first inning, he clearly was hyped up and he couldn’t really throw a secondary pitch that even looked like it might be a strike.  Even so, he got to two strikes on every single hitter until the final batter of the inning.  The ump squeezed him a few times.  The fastball was mostly in good spots, but he left a couple in the middle of the plate.  The hit that scored the second run was on a pretty decent change up at the very bottom of the strike zone, but it caught a little too much of the middle part of the plate and was hit for a bloopy single.  

After that, Grayson really dialed in.  His fastball command was almost flawless, and he pretty much proved that if he hits his spots with the FB (which he mostly did), even major league hitters can’t catch up with it.  The change wasn’t at its best, but he still got some whiffs with it.  He was able to throw a few sliders and curves for strikes.  

All in all, he looked more like the dominant pitcher from last April and May, and less like what we saw at the end of last yesr and this spring.  He’s not all the way there, but making progress.  I also was impressed that he dealt with the first inning adversity and moved on.

The guy is going to be a stud.   I have a feeling he’s not going to give the team any reason to send him back to the minors.  
 

 

 

[Spy Fox]

In case there was any remaining doubt about Grayson receiving another start.

Tuesday night, the day he'd be due to start, is listed as "Grayson Rodriguez Welcome to the Show T-Shirt" night. 

 

[Tony-OH]

49 minutes ago, Spy Fox said:

In case there was any remaining doubt about Grayson receiving another start.

Tuesday night, the day he'd be due to start, is listed as "Grayson Rodriguez Welcome to the Show T-Shirt" night. 

 

I hope no one was questioning whether he would get his next start, but yeah, that should be the guarantee. 

[Frobby]

Keith Law gives his take on Grayson’s first start here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dvr-law-grayson-rodriguezs-debut-early-prospect-graduations/id1558220009?i=1000607828705

In summary, he’s worried about Grayson’s lack of a consistent slider.  Says he can still be an above average pitcher relying mostly on fastball/changeup, but won’t be a TOR unless the slider becomes more reliable.  He allowed that Grayson threw 5 or so decent sliders in his outing and though those weren’t plus, they’d be good enough to put him in TOR status if he could throw those consistently.  

He also talks about Hall on the podcast, all in the first 12 minutes or so.
 

[Sports Guy]

Way to go out on a limb.  For GRod to be really good, he has to have a more consistent 3rd pitch.

No sh!t.

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Way to go out on a limb.  For GRod to be really good, he has to have a more consistent 3rd pitch.

No sh!t.

Well, the bummer is, he had one in 2021 and the first two months of 2022.   In fact, he had a pretty solid curve, too.  Hopefully he’ll regain his feel for them. 

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Well, the bummer is, he had one in 2021 and the first two months of 2022.   In fact, he had a pretty solid curve, too.  Hopefully he’ll regain his feel for them. 

It’ll be back.

[sportsfan8703]

Love Grayson. 9 two hit baserunners. Going to the pen and learning how to finish MLB hitters wouldn’t be the worst. 

[Sports Guy]

 

[RZNJ]

Very disappointing.  4 of 5 lead off hitters reach.  Two on walks.   The fastball is there.  He had nothing else for two innings.   He got ahead of a lot of hitters though.   

[Frobby]

56 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Love Grayson. 9 two hit baserunners. Going to the pen and learning how to finish MLB hitters wouldn’t be the worst. 

Do you mean 9 two-strike baserunners?  I was at the game and It seemed like every single hitter was at two strikes.  Kind of frustrating.  Grayson is close, but not quite there.   Keep putting him out there.  

[Going Underground]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

Do you mean 9 two-strike baserunners?  I was at the game and It seemed like every single hitter was at two strikes.  Kind of frustrating.  Grayson is close, but not quite there.   Keep putting him out there.  

I think he will pitch Sunday and after that depends on how he looks and Bradish being ready 

[Going Underground]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Do you mean 9 two-strike baserunners?  I was at the game and It seemed like every single hitter was at two strikes.  Kind of frustrating.  Grayson is close, but not quite there.   Keep putting him out there.  

The Sun speculates today that unless an injury happens or he is so dominant on Sunday, he would be going down if Bradish is ready. Hyde said with the two off days coming up wrapped around the Nationals series,a six man rotation would not be good. Too much rest for some of his starters.

What would happen with Grayson's service time if he is sent down? 

[ArtVanDelay]

8 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

The Sun speculates today that unless an injury happens or he is so dominant on Sunday, he would be going down if Bradish is ready. Hyde said with the two off days coming up wrapped around the Nationals series,a six man rotation would not be good. Too much rest for some of his starters.

What would happen with Grayson's service time if he is sent down? 

He doesn’t accrue service time while he’s in AAA. 

[spleen1015]

9 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

What would happen with Grayson's service time if he is sent down? 

It would pause then start again whenever he gets called up.