Yordan Rodriguez, the Cuban right-hander whom the Mets acquired from the Athletics for Jeff McNeil, may not be known to many baseball fans, but he’s been on the radar of scouts for a while, even though he only turns 18 next month.
He led Cuba’s 15U national team with 58 strikeouts in 2023 when he pitched to a 2.66 ERA over 47 1/3 innings. The Athletics signed the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Rodriguez for $400,000 last January, and Baseball America listed him as a top 20 pitching prospect from his class in September.
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“Rodriguez has a good mix of pitchability and feel for both his curveball and changeup, so it’s a starter look made more exciting with the extra power behind his fastball,” Ben Badler of Baseball America wrote in a June piece on 20 pitchers in the Dominican Summer League to watch.
In the DSL, Rodriguez struck out 20 and walked eight in 15 1/3 innings. He gave up five runs (2.93 ERA) on 11 hits over eight appearances. Mets Player Development posted a video on X of seven of those strikeouts. He cuts an imposing figure on the mound.
Most impressive perhaps, his fastball velocity has jumped. A scout told MMO’s Mike Mayer that Rodriguez “was up to 97 mph this year and has a plus spin breaking ball.” The fastball had topped out at 92 mph a year earlier.
“Rodriguez has a low-effort delivery with good extension and tight rotation on a slider he spins at 2,500-2,800 rpm to miss a lot of bats when he’s able to corral the pitch,” Badler wrote in a September article after the DSL season.
The Mets famously brought up three pitching prospects during a playoff push this season (Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat) and have a bunch more (Jack Wenninger, Jonathan Santucci, and Will Watson) making their way through the system. Add Rodriguez as one more name to watch.
