Grayson to use rough start as a learning opportunity

BALTIMORE -- Grayson Rodriguez is a talented pitcher with the upside of developing into a future ace in Baltimore, where he could anchor a rotation for many years to come. But the Orioles knew success may not immediately come for the 23-year-old right-hander following his arrival in the big leagues April 5. It rarely does for young hurlers.

“He’s nowhere near the pitcher that we’re going to see when he matures into his prime as a Major League starter,” general manager Mike Elias said last week. “So I think we should all enjoy watching a gifted young pitcher like this pitch in the Major Leagues for the first time.

“And that’s not all going to be perfect.”

It wasn’t Monday night, when Rodriguez was on the wrong side of a meeting with two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Six days after his longest MLB start, Rodriguez experienced his shortest outing thus far, lasting only 3 1/3 innings in a 9-5 loss to the Angels at Camden Yards. He allowed career highs in runs (eight) and hits (nine), including a go-ahead three-run homer to Ohtani in the Halos’ five-run fourth.

Rodriguez, who has a 6.57 ERA through eight starts, hung a first-pitch curveball directly over the middle of the plate to Ohtani, who smashed it a Statcast-projected 456 feet to right-center field at an exit velocity of 114.6 mph.

“Big league hitters are going to hit mistakes, especially when they’re left over the plate,” said Rodriguez, Baltimore’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 6 overall prospect. “It should have been a little bit more down and away. Obviously, it caught too much plate, and he was able to get a barrel on it.”

In the future, Rodriguez should have better showings against lineups featuring sluggers like Mike Trout and Ohtani in the heart of the order. However, Rodriguez is still early in his big league career, and he didn’t face hitters this talented during his ascent through the Minors.

There have been flashes of what Rodriguez is capable of, such as when he threw five scoreless frames in back-to-back starts vs. the Tigers on April 23 and 29, as he took a 14-inning scoreless streak into May. He also allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings in a win over the MLB-best Rays last Tuesday.

But there have also been growing pains. Rodriguez began May by allowing six runs in 3 2/3 innings at Kansas City. That had been his toughest showing until Monday night.

Manager Brandon Hyde continues to express confidence in the youngest -- and least experienced -- member of his club’s starting rotation.

“People have to be a little more patient with a young player,” Hyde said. “He was facing a really good club that has a couple superstars in it and good Major League players. Every night’s not the Super Bowl. Things happen, and he’s going to make his next start.”

Rodriguez will take into that outing the information he gained from this one. And he’ll try to build on the positives, of which there were still some.

At the start of the game, Rodriguez struck out Taylor Ward swinging, blowing a high 98.2 mph four-seam fastball past the Angels’ leadoff hitter. Rodriguez’s heater showed a bit of extra zip throughout the night, as it averaged 97.8 mph and maxed out at 99.2.

Later in the first, Rodriguez escaped a two-on, two-out jam by getting Matt Thaiss to strike out on an outside 84.8 mph changeup. That was Rodriguez’s only scoreless inning, though. He punched out three, but he also walked three and gave up a pair of homers, with Chad Wallach’s game-tying leadoff shot in the fourth preceding Ohtani’s blast.

“You learn the best from your mistakes,” Rodriguez said. “It’s unfortunate that starts like this happen, but ultimately, I’m going to learn the most from this one.”

Among the biggest lessons for Rodriguez has been the importance of not falling behind in counts at this level. He threw only 47 of his 79 pitches for strikes against the Halos, and he’s tossed 90-plus pitches in five of his first eight starts, despite making it into the sixth only once. In order to produce better results, he’ll need to be more efficient.

Rodriguez’s Orioles teammates aren’t losing any faith in one of the best pitching prospects to come through the organization in quite some time.

“He just made a few too many mistakes tonight, and they’ve got some really good hitters in their lineup, and they showed that,” said second baseman Adam Frazier, who hit one of Baltimore’s three homers off Ohtani. “He’s got the stuff to play here, though, so it’s just a matter of executing a little better, and I think he’ll be just fine.”