TORONTO — Yariel Rodríguez looked up at the Rogers Centre crowd, which gave the Toronto Blue Jays’ rookie a rousing standing ovation as he exited from his promising MLB debut start. With both arms raised, he waved to the crowd, explaining afterward that he was “grateful” for the warm reception.
Rodríguez indeed gave fans a lot to cheer about. The 27-year-old right-hander allowed one run over 3 2/3 innings in his first career start, a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.
Advertisement
“It was very emotional. I was pretty much waiting for this moment my entire life — a lot of sacrifices, and a lot of hard work,” Rodríguez said via Blue Jays interpreter Hector Lebron.
Asked what he liked best about his performance, Rodríguez said, “Everything.”
“Since the first inning, I went out there to give the best of me,” he said.
The Blue Jays signed Rodríguez to a five-year, $32 million deal this offseason to prop up their organizational pitching depth in the short term and potentially develop a starting pitcher in the long term. Two weeks into the season, after Rodríguez’s hot start in the minor leagues, the Blue Jays turned to him to start the second game against the Rockies after two subpar outings from right-hander Bowden Francis to open the season.
Rodríguez grew up in Cuba dreaming of one day pitching in the majors. The path to his dream-come-true moment included stops playing professional baseball in Cuba and Japan, where he pitched as a starter and reliever.
“He’s well travelled, for sure, and has seen different ways that the game is played,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said before Rodríguez’s start. “He kind of combines a little bit of everything between his delivery, the way he pitches. He’s got a little bit of everything coming at you, but I think he’s young, and this is his major-league debut, but he’s well travelled in really highly competitive situations.”
After representing Cuba in last year’s World Baseball Classic, Rodríguez took the remainder of the year off from professional baseball and instead focussed on preparing to transition to Major League Baseball. He established residency in the Dominican Republic and was declared an MLB free agent after the 2023 season.
Rodríguez arrived at Blue Jays camp in the spring as something of an enigma. As much as Schneider had seen of him on video, he said one can glean only so much from a small screen. But the moment Schneider saw Rodríguez face hitters, the manager knew he was looking at a big-league pitcher.
Advertisement
As such, Rodríguez has seemingly made a smooth — and quick — transition to the North American game. In two outings spanning five innings in spring training, he had a 1.80 ERA. Then, in two starts with Triple-A Buffalo, Rodríguez threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with 10 strikeouts and three walks.
His performance with Buffalo earned him a call-up, and he carried that momentum into his first start with the Blue Jays, with whom he became the first Cuban-born pitcher to start a game for the franchise.
Rodríguez brings an intensity to the mound — “He’s not scared,” Schneider said when asked about his in-game demeanour — and attacks hitters with his entire arsenal of pitches in any count. Despite feeling myriad emotions, Rodríguez said he was able to control them Saturday by focussing on executing his game plan. He mixed in his five pitches, though he leaned most heavily on his 95.5 mph four-seam fastball and 85.7 mph slider.
Rodríguez also dropped in his tricky hesitation delivery. It’s a maneuver he uses to mess up a hitter’s timing, including on his first career strikeout against Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who whiffed at a slider on the edge of the strike zone in the first inning.
The first @MLB strikeout for Yariel Rodríguez! pic.twitter.com/GuQq8KFXh2
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 13, 2024
Thanks to a productive first inning from the Blue Jays, who loaded the bases against Rockies starter Dakota Hudson and capitalized when Daulton Varsho hit a grand slam into the visitors bullpen to put Toronto up 5-0, Rodríguez had a healthy cushion to work with in his first start.
“We did score five runs, which is nice, but I didn’t slow down,” the Blue Jays starter said. “I kept my composure (and) concentrated on my job because I knew I had a job to do, and I just wanted to finish the right way.”
Advertisement
With a pitch limit of 70 or so, Rodríguez worked until two outs into the fourth inning, when he ended his outing with a called strikeout on Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers. In all, Rodríguez allowed four hits — including a solo homer by centre fielder Brenton Doyle — along with two walks and six strikeouts.
“Really couldn’t ask for much more,” Schneider said. “He was pretty electric. Slider was great. Lot of swing-and-miss. Heater was great. Kept his composure. That was a pretty, pretty damn good major-league debut.”
Coming out of the bullpen for the first time this season, Bowden Francis took over in the fourth inning. Combined with Rodríguez, they allowed just three runs over six innings — what a club is generally looking for from a traditional starter.
The Blue Jays hinted at using Rodríguez and Francis as a piggybacking tandem, and given the results this time around, it’s a strategy the club can turn to again, though Francis can also be used in spots out of the bullpen in the games between, too.
“A lot of it just depends on how the game unfolds,” Schneider said. “Today worked out really well, but it’s not going to be written in stone that this is how we’re going to do it every single time.”
It’s only one outing, and there are deeper lineups than the Rockies’, but in his first opportunity, Rodríguez showed he has the stuff to be a meaningful member of this MLB pitching staff. Asked what was different about pitching in the majors compared to Cuba or Japan, Rodríguez said against the best hitters in the world, it comes down to locating.
“Don’t try to miss your spot, because you’re going to get hurt,” he said. “Location is a huge difference.”
How Rodríguez fits into the Blue Jays’ plans this year might be fluid. Long term, the Blue Jays want to explore Rodríguez’s potential as a starter. But because of last season’s year-long layoff, the club is mindful of his workload and will have an estimate of where it’d like to cap it. That means the Blue Jays aren’t aiming to have him throw 100-plus pitches per outing this season a la Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman or José Berríos.
Advertisement
“We’re gonna build him up a little bit, but it’s not going to be, again, outrageous to where we’re really pushing him, six, seven, eight innings, things like that,” Schneider said. “Things could change, for sure, based on how he’s feeling and how he’s doing, but I think we’re going to play the long game a little bit.”
In the short term, Rodríguez looks like he earned himself another start.
(Photo: Cole Burston / Getty Images)
