Pirates reportedly sign ex-Rangers hurler with clear flaw on minor-league deal

Recently, the Pirates lost over 20 players from their farm system to minor-league free agency, and after a quiet weekend of news, Pittsburgh's front office reportedly got right back to retooling their minor leagues with veterans.

According to Ari Alexander, the Pirates have agreed to a minor-league deal with right-handed pitcher Yerry Rodriguez. He pitched within two different organizations in 2024 and struggled to find consistency with either.

Moves like this happen all the time and Rodriguez, in particular, is not a guy the Pirates are expecting to have in the bullpen on Opening Day. He will be looked at as more of a depth piece in the event of an injury to someone in Pittsburgh, as well as a developmental piece for the pitching lab.

Pirates reportedly agree to minor-league deal with Yerry Rodriguez

Last season, Rodriguez saw time at the major league level with Texas before being dealt to Toronto. He struggled with both teams, as well as with their Triple-A affiliates. Control issues have prevented him from taking off, but he has shown to have some decent stuff that the Pirates believe they could fix.

At the MLB level in 2024, Rodriguez tossed 21.2 innings, posting an earned run average of 8.72 with a WHIP of 1.80. Opponents hit .289 against him, while he struck batters out at a 16.2% rate and walked guys at a 12.4% rate. Similar to everything else in his portfolio, his FIP was poor at 7.87.

He did not find much after being demoted toTriple-A either, posting a 4.50 earned run average with a 1.80 WHIP across 20 innings. Although he was not great in 2024, there are two takeaways that could make this signing look much better.

First, his pitch mix is noteworthy, though not very deep, as he only throws three pitches. There is room to grow, though. His fastball sat around 96.5 miles per hour in 2024, but was thrown even harder at 97.2 in 2023. His slider brings 34.4 inches of vertical drop and six inches of glove-side horizontal break. Additionally, his changeup has 27.3 inches of vertical drop and 16.9 inches of arm-side horizontal break.

Although the pitches have not been quite effective at the major league level, there's still some validity in knowing what he's working with. That brings up the second reason the Pirates should give him a chance; they recently brought in a new pitching instructor in Brent Strom to serve as the assistant to Oscar Marin. Rodriguez's pitch mix is somewhat similar to Dennis Santana's, a waiver-claimed reliever that Marin fixed up and put in position to be a high-leverage arm in 2025.

Santana and Rodriguez both rely heavily on their four-seam fastball and slider combo. Santana's velocity is a tick slower than Rodriguez's, but they share similar vertical movement with their sliders. Marin fixing a rough Santana is a good indicator that he could fix a similar arm in Rodriguez, which gives hope regarding the signing.

Overall, this signing is nothing more than a depth addition, just like a similar free agent signing of Yohan Ramirez. It's not necessarily a 'dumpster diving' type of signing, but more of a low-risk, high-reward move if the coaching staff can point him in the right direction.