This story was excerpted from Jake Rill's Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
It’s Grayson Rodriguez Day, so this edition of the Orioles Beat newsletter is all about the 23-year-old who is making his MLB debut Wednesday afternoon at Globe Life Field in his home state of Texas. The 6-foot-5 right-hander brings a lot of hype with him, considering he’s the best pitching prospect to come through Baltimore’s farm system in quite some time. And O’s fans have every right to be excited about what’s to come.
ARLINGTON -- A storybook-like tale was perfectly set up for Grayson Rodriguez’s MLB debut.
The hometown Texan makes his first appearance on a big league mound in Arlington, 175 miles northwest of his childhood home in Nacogdoches. His family and friends pack the seats, cheering him on. The years of hard work and his constant determination to become the best possible baseball player finally pay off.
Sounds like something almost out of a movie, right?
The script was written. The final scenes just needed to be filmed. And then -- production of “The Grayson Rodriguez Story” was put on hiatus at the last possible minute.
When the Orioles optioned Rodriguez to Triple-A Norfolk on March 27, the final day of Spring Training, the chances of him eventually debuting in Texas took a major hit. It became much more likely he’d show up later this year at Camden Yards in Baltimore or at one of the 27 other ballparks outside of his home state.
Yet here we are. Rodriguez flew into Dallas on Tuesday and is making his first Major League start on Wednesday in Arlington after all, following an unexpected turn of events. His tremendous story is now going to get its appropriate ending.
But this is actually only the beginning. There’s likely so much coming for Rodriguez.
Top prospects are never guaranteed success, and no jump is as challenging as the one from Triple-A to the Majors, especially for pitchers. Orioles fans know this well. Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman and Hunter Harvey were supposed to be rotation stalwarts in Baltimore for a decade or more, and that’s not at all how things played out during the mid-to-late 2010s.
Before that, there were other heralded hurlers who never quite lived up to huge hype. Matt Hobgood. Brian Matusz. Adam Loewen. The list goes on.
But so many reasons exist to believe Rodriguez is the real deal and could be an anchor for the O’s pitching staff for the long-term future.
He’s an incredible competitor with a will to succeed that’s unmatched. Anybody who’s played with or against Rodriguez knows this, as do even those who have just watched him for a small amount of time.
This is a guy whose grunts echoed through a silent Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., while throwing a live batting practice session in mid-February, the early days of Spring Training. Don’t try telling him those at-bats against his own teammates didn’t matter.
Rodriguez’s arsenal is electric. His fastball routinely sits around 98-99 mph. His changeup is nasty. His slider is difficult to hit because it’s like a cutter. His curveball -- typically graded the lowest of his four pitches -- has shown tremendous improvement because of a bigger break and a sharper bite.
Shortly after Rodriguez reported to Spring Training this year, he proclaimed he thought his stuff had gotten -- even better?
“If Grayson says it’s better, it’s probably better,” said Buck Britton, Rodriguez’s manager at Double-A Bowie in 2021 and Triple-A Norfolk since the start of ‘22.
That’s right. Rodriguez is that in tune with his mechanics, thanks to his great baseball mind. It helps that he showed a natural ability for the sport at a young age and has spent the past two decades putting in all the necessary work to keep taking his game to higher levels.
Now, he gets to compete at the highest level -- the Major Leagues.
Sit back and enjoy it, O’s fans. Rodriguez’s first start has the potential to be the beginning of something special.
The story of his journey to MLB is complete. His big league story is just now beginning. And the future chapters should only be even more entertaining.