Young SF Giants pitcher shows off electric arm in MLB debut

The SF Giants did not have much to celebrate or be hopeful about in Saturday 14-3 blowout against the Phillies on a soggy night, but one potential bright spot was the debut of young Randy Rodriguez who showed promise in his MLB debut.

Young SF Giants pitcher shows off electric arm in MLB debut

It was not a perfect debut outing by any means for Rodriguez. He pitched 2 and 1/3 innings for the Giants in mop-up duty when the game was already well out of hand. He gave up 4 runs, only one of which was charged to him, on 2 hits, 2 walks, and recorded two strikeouts. One of his strikeouts came against Bryce Harper on a 100 MPH fastball at the knees. It was impressive to watch.

MLB.com ranks the 24 year old Rodriguez as the 28th best prospect in the Giants organization. The Giants signed him as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic back in 2017. They briefly toyed with him as a starter a few years ago before abandoning that. He has shown positive signs in the minors with his impressive velocity, but the question has always been his control.

In his minor league career, Rodriguez has an ERA of 3.86 across all levels. He also has a staggering 355 strikeouts in 261 innings pitched. This season in Triple A he has an ERA of 1.69 in 10 relief outings. It was that solid start to the year that earned him a spot in the bullpen for now.

Given the current state of the Giants bullpen, Rodriguez could definitely earn a spot. Outside of Camilo Doval and the Rogers twins, no one really has a guaranteed spot secured in the bullpen. If Rodriguez can build upon this debut and prove that he has the control necessary to be a big league reliever, then we could see him come out of the bullpen a lot this season.