Eduardo Rodriguez will make his final start of the 2021 regular season Friday against the Washington Nationals. It’s a pretty crucial spot for the lefthander as the Boston Red Sox look to improve their standing in the American League Wild Card race.
So what is Red Sox manager Alex Cora looking for?
“Fastball command is very important for him. He’s done a good job lately with it. His cutter’s been good, but going back, just like Pivetta, his fastball is the most important pitch for him. He’s a good fastball in the second part of the season and we expect him to do the same thing tonight.”
Rodriguez goes for a four-seam fastball on 39.7% of pitches, according to data from Baseball Savant. And when he does, it has a tendency to be pretty effective.
While his fastballs send batters packing 21.1% of the time — which is second-most compared to a 26.4% put-away rate on his cutter — he has utilized them as the perfect set-up pitch. Batters whiff 31.8% of the time against Rodriguez’s fastball.
It seems like a pretty simple assignment for Rodriguez — do what he does best. He’ll also be in a pretty unique situation as the Red Sox head to a National League ballpark, meaning he’ll get the at-bats typically reserved for the designated hitter.
Rodriguez is 0-for-23 in his career as a batter. Luckily, the Red Sox elected to beef up the outfield, filling the spots on the grass with their power hitters.
We’ll see how everything works out when they take the field Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET.
