Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Best Player at Each Level

Low-A Bradenton Marauders – Catcher Endy Rodriguez

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Endy Rodriguez from the New York Mets, who were the third party involved in the Joe Musgrove trade. The switch hitter had some strong seasons with the Mets and has continued to hit well for the Pirates. He’s caught fire over the past month, which has propelled him to be the best player at Bradenton in my eyes. There were other players in consideration here like pitcher Adrian Florencio, and prospects Hudson Head and Maikol Escotto. However, while Head is getting on base a ton and getting a lot of extra base hits, Rodriguez edges him out in OPS, wOBA and wRC+. Escotto is also getting on base a ton as well, but Rodriguez is getting more extra base hits and has a higher ISO despite having an identical wOBA and wRC+.

The switch-hitting backstop is putting up a .277/.361/.458 slash. Rodriguez has struck out just 19.2% of the time, which is a career-high rate but still below 20%. He’s walking a ton as well. He’s drawn ball four in 11% of his plate appearances. Again, that’s a career-worst rate despite still being a good number. Overall, he has a strong .382 wOBA and 122 wRC+. Since the beginning of July, Rodriguez is batting .319/.400/.468 with a .407 wOBA, and 137 wRC+.

Rodriguez is showing good power as well. He has a .182 isolated slugging percentage. His power has always been his weakest tool, so it’s good to see him putting up above-average power numbers for the second year in a row. He’s also provided some versatility, playing both catcher and first base.