Yariel Rodríguez was a sought after commodity in this edition of international free agency by plenty MLB teams and the Toronto Bluejays won the bidding. The right-hander was seen as a tweener by many teams, not a starter but also not a closer. But in the eyes of the Jays he might just be what was missing in their starting rotation.
Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker had this to say about his intrigue with the pitcher,” He didn’t throw much last year, but he has been working hard for the most part this offseason. He threw a couple of live BP’s and bullpens. It’s good to actually see him throwing in person, he has a lot of weapons from different angles and a slight hesitation. There are some things that are interesting, we’ll just have to find through it and see what works at the major league level.”
The team officially announced the signing of Yariel Rodríguez after the Cuban righty passed his physical a week ago. The accord between the hurler and the ballclub is for four years and 32 million dollars. Per sources the contract could reach as much as 40 million dollars. The signing was originally announced on January 17th by the team pending the physical.
(🎙️) – ⚾️🌴🌧️ Que pense l’instructeur des lanceurs Pete Walker de Yariel Rodriguez, celui que l’on appelle déjà Y-Rod ici au camp des @BlueJays. pic.twitter.com/g1a1O6QIA6
— Jeremy Filosa 🎙 (@JeremyFilosa) February 18, 2024
Rodriguez pitched in the Dominican Republic’s Parallel League earlier this winter, in two innings of work he retired four batters via the strikeout and the other two on ground balls off the mound. The Antillean’s fastball hovered around 96 MPH. On November 3, he was declared a Free Agent by the MLB Commissioner’s office, as sources confirmed to the transaction to Francys Romero.
Rodriguez (26) also had another excellent showcase in front of the 30 MLB teams a few months ago. He faced experienced hitters such as Abraham Almonte and the Giants prospect, Marco Luciano at Santo Domingo’s Quisqueya Stadium. Rodriguez again exhibited an array of pitches and his fastball was between 94-97 MPH.
Below is the velocity of Rodriguez’s pitches during that showcase:
FB: 94-97
SL: 85-88
CV:77-78
Split: 88-89
Rodriguez might just break camp with the big club depending on what he shows them in Spring Training without going through the minors. This would make him the fourth Cuban to do so, Yoenis Céspedes, José Abreu and Alexei Ramírez are the other three.