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Dereck Rodriguez 2019 Outlook: D-Rod Peaked In 2018
6 years agoDereck Rodriguez shocked everyone in 2018 with his impressive rookie season. The righty didn’t exactly set the minors on fire before his call up, with a 3.40 ERA at Double-A (2017), and a 3.94 ERA in Triple-A (2018.) The 2.81 ERA was a pleasant surprise for the Giants organization but it looks like he may have got a little lucky. A .257 BABIP combined with a 3.74 FIP and 4.56 XFIP show that D-Rod will likely come back to earth in 2019. Being the son of Hall of Fame catcher, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, D-Rod is a smart pitcher but he just doesn’t have the pitch quality to sustain his 2018 numbers. Rodriguez had an 18.3% K rate, a 6.77 K/9 and a fastball that doesn’t blow by people (91.4MPH.) He found success partly because opposing batters only barreled 3.9% of the rookies’ pitches, but as expected, the righty started to struggle as the season went on. In his final five starts, he had a 3.95 ERA and in 2019, Steamer projections have his ERA at 4.44. An ADP of 290 shows that owners aren’t overreacting to his breakout 2018, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he wasn’t on rosters by seasons end.
