This season has been pretty underwhelming for the Toronto Blue Jays. Their 6-7 record shows just how frustrating it's been to a fan of this team. After going 1-2 against the New York Yankees, the Jays played another struggling team in the Seattle Mariners. They won their first two games, but dropped the finale despite Yusei Kikuchi's excellent start.
While Kikuchi performed well, there's still some significant questions around the Blue Jays' rotation. Against the hard-hitters of the Yankees, Toronto's Kevin Gaussman and Bowden Francis struggled. There might be room for some new faces to enter the rotation down the line. With that in mind, the Jays are calling up one of their top weapons from the minor leagues.
Yariel Rodriguez has built a small community of followers with the Blue Jays fanbase, and for good reason. When he's on, the right-hander is an impressive pitcher, able to bamboozle opposing hitters with his fastball-slider combination. He was given a contract worth $32 million to secure his spot in Toronto. With the team facing some serious issues with their rotation, the team is calling up Rodriguez, per Francys Romero.
“BREAKING: The Toronto Blue Jays are calling up Cuban right-hander Yariel Rodríguez, per sources. Yariel should be activated this Saturday. His journey to the Big Leagues began a year ago and now he will be able to make it a reality.”
After a few solid starts for the Blue Jays' minor-league system, the team is finally calling up the Cuban righty to the show. Rodriguez was a starter for Toronto's minor-league affiliates, so it's natural to wonder if he'll follow the same role in the majors.
Blue Jays' bizzare season
The Blue Jays find themselves struggling pretty damn badly to start the year. For a team that is gunning for the playoffs at the very least, they're playing inconsistently day-after-day. For the most part, their position players have been hitting the ball pretty well. George Springer and Bo Bichette are the main weapons, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr has been finding his form as of late, too.
The problem lies with their pitching staff being really inconsistent. Kikuchi, as mentioned, has been pretty solid, while Gaussman has been hit-or-miss. Francis, in his first appearance in the majors, has struggled as of late. The best performing pitcher has been Jose Berrios, who has a 1.45 ERA in his three starts. Between the subpar performances of Gausman, Francis, and Chris Bassitt, it's clear that the Blue Jays' rotation needs a lot of tweaking.
Will Rodriguez make an immediate start for the Blue Jays? Ideally, it would be better for the righty to start off from the bullpen in a hybrid role. However, one can also argue that the best time to see how your prospect fares in the big leagues is early in the season. We might see Rodriguez get his first start soon to get his feet wet.
There's some concern regarding Rodriguez' health: he was pulled out of one his starts after just four innings, despite not surrendering any runs. Still, it's worth taking a look at the prospect at this point. Who knows? He might just be the key to unlocking this team's potential.
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