ANAHEIM -- After missing all of last season due to injury and having bone spurs removed from his right elbow last August, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has had a challenging first year with the Angels so far.
Rodriguez opened the season on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation before making his debut in mid-May, only to sustain a back strain that kept him out for nearly a month -- from mid-June until he returned to start against the Twins on July 10. Rodriguez made his second start since coming off the IL on Saturday against the Tigers and it was more of the same, as he scuffled early in a 7-0 loss at Angel Stadium.
Rodriguez gave up six runs on seven hits, two hit batters and a walk over four innings, with the damage coming in the first and second frames. He surrendered four runs in the first, marred by a three-run homer from Spencer Torkelson, before giving up two more in the second. He settled down to throw two scoreless frames to finish his outing, but in eight starts this season he has an 8.23 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 17 walks in 35 innings.
“It's been a little bit harder than I thought it would be getting back into a full season,” Rodriguez said. “You just got to keep going after it. There's going to be one outing where it clicks, and then we'll be able to stack them from there, and that's what I'm looking forward to.”
The Angels knew there was some risk that he’d struggle this year after not pitching in the Majors since July 2024, but they acquired him in an offseason trade for outfielder Taylor Ward due to his potential, and because he remains under team control through 2029. So they’re hopeful he’ll be able to finish the season strong to build on his case to be a big part of the rotation in the coming years. The 26-year-old came to the club with a 4.11 ERA in 43 career starts with Baltimore, so he’s had prior success in the Majors.
“We've got to remember that he didn't pitch at all last year,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “And this year, he’s been injured a little bit. He's probably shaking some rust off. So, I think the more games he gets, the more innings he gets under his belt, I think you'll see the sharpness and the consistency come back.”
Rodriguez was ambushed in the opening frame on Saturday, giving up a leadoff double to Kevin McGonigle before hitting Dillon Dingler with a 1-1 fastball. Colt Keith got Detroit on the board with an RBI single off a 1-0 four-seamer before Torkelson jumped all over a first-pitch heater down the middle for a three-run blast to put the Angels in a big early hole.
“I was just leaving balls over the middle of the plate early,” Rodriguez said. “I can't do that in the big leagues. It’s happened more times than I wanted to this year, but it’s just what happens when you really can't show good offspeed stuff in the zone and they just kind of key in on fastballs.”
The second inning was only marginally better, as he gave up back-to-back singles before hitting Dingler for a second time to load the bases. He limited the damage by allowing consecutive sacrifice flies to Keith and Riley Greene, but it put the Angels down by six runs with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on the mound.
Rodriguez was better in the third, only allowing a runner to reach on a throwing error from second baseman Vaughn Grissom. He then gave up a pair of hits with two outs in the fourth, but got Greene to fly out sharply to center to end his outing after 87 pitches.
“I’m just fighting every day and trying to go out there and give my team everything I have,” Rodriguez said. “There's going to be a start where it just clicks, and I hope it's soon. But until then, you just got to keep at it, and you got to keep putting in the work, trust your pitches and lean on your team.”
Catcher Logan O’Hoppe agreed with his assertion and believes Rodriguez’s stuff is there, but now it’s about locating it better and getting ahead of hitters.
“I feel like the tougher outings have the same common themes,” O’Hoppe said. “It's getting behind in counts and the secondary pitches not being as much of strike pitches as we want. I thought his stuff looked fine and he stayed pretty composed for how it went.”