SCOTTSDALE — Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez finished last season markedly better than he started it, which he attributed to getting in better shape as the year progressed and finding a curveball that differentiated from the rest of his arsenal.
His spring training debut on Thursday went well, as he threw two scoreless innings while his fastball velocity ticked up to 93.1 mph on average (92 mph last year).
“I was so excited when I saw the first five outs were on ground balls,” Rodriguez said. “I saw a 95 mph so I was really excited by that.”
“I’ve been working this offseason on my body, lost some weight, been working in the bullpen on my mechanics and everything, and so far, so good,” he added.
Entering 2026, Rodriguez expects several changes to lead to a better start, as he said he’s down from 255 pounds at the start of last season to 232 and has continued to refine the curveball.
Rodriguez said he started working on a “true” curveball midseason last year and he upped its usage down the stretch.
“I was getting weak contact and swing-and-miss,” Rodriguez said. “After that we’ve been talking about it. … When it looked like a slider, I didn’t get swings, they were just taking it. On the ones that looked like a curveball and I had good numbers on vertical and horizontal, those are the ones that got weak contact and swing-and-miss against lefties.”
Opponents racked up a 92.3 mph exit velocity on his slider last year with a 21.1% whiff rate. On the curveball, which he only delivered 94 of in total, hitters worked an 88 mph exit velocity with a 23.8% whiff rate. It’s a work-in-progress to consistently land the vertical movement he wants, but it’s closer.
The Diamondbacks signed Rodriguez to a four-year, $80 million deal after the 2023 season, a contract he has yet to live up to in two lackluster seasons.
Eduardo Rodriguez threw two scoreless innings in his spring debut.
E-Rod says coming into camp in better shape and developing the curveball he started using late last season should help him get off to a better start. pic.twitter.com/aSoQbGmsGW
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) February 27, 2026
Last year started disastrously, as he entered the All-Star break with a 5.94 ERA and struggled to limit home runs. He worked a 4.01 ERA in the second half, and his ERA went down to 3.38 in September.
The contract at this point is unlikely to ever look like an amazing deal for the Diamondbacks, but this is an important year for Rodriguez to give them quality innings and lengthen a rotation that is waiting for its ace, Corbin Burnes, to return in the middle of the year.
Plus, there is now uncertainty for when Merrill Kelly will be ready to go due to a back issue, while the Diamondbacks face a gauntlet schedule to start the season. Rodriguez more effectively keeping the D-backs in games would go a long way in surviving that early-season slate.
“He’s come into this camp really ready to go,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s very noticeable. Trying to land certain pitches in certain places, he’s very specific about his work. … He’s trying to land a different shape breaking ball right now and it looks really good.”
Rodriguez’s next appearance will be in an exhibition game for Team Venezuela, as he prepares for the World Baseball Classic that starts on March 5. Venezuela is in a pool with the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Netherlands and Israel.
Diamondbacks-Royals notes
– Shortstop Jose Fernandez continued to hit the ball hard with a go-ahead, three-run home run to right-center field. The 22-year-old on the 40-man roster before playing a game in Triple-A has two home runs, a double and a triple in 16 spring at-bats. “He’s been coming on strong from the first month of last season,” Lovullo said. “We know there’s still more growing he needs to do but driving baseballs the way he is … we know he’s been coming on quick and we’re paying a lot of attention to him.”
– The Diamondbacks finished with 13 runs on 12 hits in a 13-10 win, and a lot of young bats stayed hot. Tommy Troy hit two doubles as he’s hitting .538 so far. Druw Jones doubled, and Alek Thomas smoked a 106 mph single to up his average to .500 this spring.
– Diamondbacks players will leave for the World Baseball Classic in waves, starting tomorrow with several headed to Miami. That includes Arizona’s Dominican ballplayers: Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Carlos Santana. There will be opportunities for younger players to start games in their absence.
– Lovullo said the Diamondbacks have not shut the door on Lawlar being an option as a backup shortstop, but the focus right now is for him to get as many looks as possible in center field. “We haven’t yet got him to get those reps at shortstop, but we will at some point.”
– The Diamondbacks lost both of their ABS challenges on Thursday. Catcher Gabriel Moreno lost a challenge on a ball call after which Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone lined an RBI single off Kade Strowd. Thomas lost a challenge on a strikeout call in the sixth inning. Lovullo said he does not want to have a script for every player but instruct team philosophies. Losing both before the final three innings is not something the team wants to do in the regular season. “I didn’t love it, but I trust he knew how big the circumstance was where we lost our second one, so we’ll talk about it,” Lovullo said.
– Ryne Nelson will pitch for the Diamondbacks on Friday night against the Seattle Mariners in Peoria. Brandon Pfaadt threw a live batting practice session on Thursday, which Lovullo said went well.
