Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: It's Time to Promote Endy Rodriguez

With him swinging a hot bat in recent weeks at Triple-A, it's time for the Pittsburgh Pirates to promote catching prospect Endy Rodriguez to the majors

In recent weeks the youth movement has really started to begin for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Carmen Mlodzinski, Henry Davis, Jared Triolo, and Nick Gonzales are all among the Pirate prospects to make their MLB debuts in recent weeks.

Now, it's time for the Pirates to have another top prospect make their MLB debut. That prospect is catcher Endy Rodriguez. With the catcher position continuing to struggle and the Pirates only using Davis in right field, it's time to promote Rodriguez.

Right now the Pirate catching situation is a disaster offensively. Entering play on Monday, Austin Hedges owned a .173/.227/.230 slash line with a wRC+ of 25. Jason Delay entered the day with a .268/.327/.381 slash line and a 94 wRC+, but it goes deeper than this with Delay.

Delay benefitted from a batting average in balls in play well over .400 in the month of April. Well, since May 1st Delay has started to regress back to being the poor hitter he's always been. Since May 1st, Delay owns a .179/.246/.214 slash line with a 37.1% strikeout rate and a 29 wRC+.

Meanwhile, in 131 plate appearances since May 29th, Rodriguez has been hot at the plate. In this strethc Rodriguez has hit for a .310/.374/.422 slash line with a 102 wRC+. He's walked at a 10% clip, struck out at just a 17.2% rate, and has hit a home run with a triple and eight doubles.

At this point the focus of the 2023 Pirates needs to be on the future. That alone should get Rodriguez promoted and into the lineup on a daily basis. Additionally, Rodriguez would be a huge upgrade over the current Pirate catching duo. So promoting Rodriguez would help with both the present and the future.

Right now there is no reason for Rodriguez to still be at Triple-A. The Pirate catching duo is giving the team close to nothing offensively while Rodriguez is hot with Indy. Additionally, it's time to play for the future and Rodriguez would be better in the present.

The sooner the Pirates pull the trigger here the better.