ANAHEIM \u2014 Grayson Rodriguez was four months into a breakthrough season with the Baltimore Orioles in 2024 before injuries shut him down. They\u2019ve kept the big right-hander off the major league mound ever since.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s getting a fresh start next year following his trade to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, and Rodriguez is confident his injury problems aren\u2019t following him to the West Coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I was shocked,\u201d Rodriguez said Wednesday. \u201cYou don\u2019t really ever expect to get traded. Kind of a whirlwind, but it\u2019s actually super exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-5 Rodriguez, a former first-round pick with a 100-mph fastball, was 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA and 130 strikeouts for a strong Orioles team in July 2024 until discomfort in his back muscles forced him to miss the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez then had problems with his elbow, shoulder and the same back muscles this year. He wasn\u2019t able to pitch at all in 2025, eventually undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that has kind of lingered with me for three or four years now,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI\u2019ve had them for a while, and it just got to the point where I couldn\u2019t really pitch through it. Pretty sure that\u2019s what was causing some of the lat injuries. Just being able to get those out of there, my arm feels great now throwing. There\u2019s really no question for me to be ready for spring training. Doing my throwing programs right now and getting ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez had just flown from Texas to Tampa on his way to a week of workouts at the Orioles\u2019 spring training complex in Sarasota, Florida, on Tuesday when he turned on his phone and learned he had been traded to the Angels.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez and his wife turned around and went back home to Nacogdoches, but the work doesn\u2019t stop: He\u2019s planning to start long-toss soon, and he will be throwing bullpen sessions in January as he builds up to what\u2019s expected to be a full spring training \u2014 in Tempe, Arizona, instead of Sarasota.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was probably the most frustrated I\u2019ve ever been in the game of baseball,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cHaving some success (in 2024), starting to figure it out just a little bit, how to attack different hitters, it was really disappointing not being able to go out there. I put in so much time and effort to be out there, get healthy, and ultimately just had to have the surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez has already spoken to Mike Maddux, the Angels\u2019 new pitching coach, who holds a special place in Rodriguez\u2019s baseball upbringing: Maddux is the first pitching coach Rodriguez ever heard of during his childhood because he watched the Texas Rangers on television.<\/p>\n
If Rodriguez is as healthy as he hopes, he will fit well in the Angels\u2019 rotation alongside Yusei Kikuchi, Jos\u00e9 Soriano and likely Reid Detmers.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the gamble taken by Angels general manager Perry Minasian, who realizes the implications in the Orioles\u2019 willingness to part with a formidable right-hander under team control until 2029 in a trade for one year of slugger Taylor Ward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there risk? Yes, there\u2019s risk,\u201d Minasian said. \u201cIt\u2019s eyes wide open on the risk. That being said, it\u2019s four years of control. It\u2019s somebody that, when he pitches, can beat anybody on any given night. The weapons he has and the ability to throw strikes, it\u2019s a combination that some of the best in the game have. We\u2019ve got high expectations. He\u2019s somebody we\u2019re really excited to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The departure of Ward and his projected $14 million salary next season also allows Minasian to pursue free agents with more aggression, the GM said. Along with finding an outfielder to replace Ward, a near-daily presence in left field and in the cleanup spot, the Angels need at least one more starting pitcher.<\/p>\n
The Angels hope Mike Trout and Jorge Soler can play sometimes at the corner outfield spots, but both veterans are probably better suited as designated hitters. Jo Adell is the right fielder, so the Angels likely will need an everyday center fielder after Bryce Teodosio didn\u2019t produce much at the plate in his first extended look in the majors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only acquiring somebody we feel like can impact the rotation, but freeing up some money to maybe get into areas where we wouldn\u2019t have been able to before,\u201d Minasian said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM \u2014 Grayson Rodriguez was four months into a breakthrough season with the Baltimore Orioles in 2024 before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,2309,5,2325,2330,582,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,19,2318,2308,2319,4,2062,2320,2327,2321,185,2311,2312],"class_list":{"0":"post-445350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-ball-and-bat-games","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-baseball-teams","12":"tag-glossary-of-baseball-terms","13":"tag-grayson-rodriguez","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-angels","16":"tag-laangels","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-angels","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-losangelesangels","21":"tag-major-league-baseball","22":"tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","23":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams","24":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","25":"tag-mlb","26":"tag-outfielder","27":"tag-pitcher","28":"tag-seasons-in-american-sport","29":"tag-seasons-in-baseball","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-team-sports","32":"tag-turf-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115595383794924272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}