Grayson Rodriguez’s brutal Angels debut came with some encouraging signs

Grayson Rodriguez made his Los Angeles Angels' debut over the weekend, and the results were — to put it mildly — less than stellar. Rodriguez took the loss having allowed seven runs on seven hits while walking four batters. Those are not the type of numbers Angels fans wanted to see, but there were some positives to take away from Rodriguez's first outing of the 2026 season.

It has to be stated that this was Rodriguez's first start in nearly two years. The right-hander missed all of the 2025 season due to injury and hadn't seen a big-league mound since July 31, 2024. That's a long layoff, and some rust should've been expected.

Furthermore, it's not as if the Angels gave Rodriguez much runway prior to his start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. He had just one rehab assignment before being activated from the IL, something that's somewhat curious given his 655 days absence from the big leagues.

Angels fans also can't ignore the fact that Rodriguez wasn't out there against the Colorado Rockies or the San Francisco Giants. His 2026 debut came against the best offense in the league. The Dodgers rank first among all MLB teams in on-base percentage and OPS, and are among the top-5 in runs scored, hits, home runs, RBI, walks, batting average, and slugging percentage.

That level of opponent makes one aspect of Rodriguez's performance all the more impressive. While he allowed seven hits, none of them went for extra bases. There were certainly instances when the Dodgers' hitters were barreling up Rodriguez's offerings, but he limited the damage to some extent.

Grayson Rodriguez didn't get a lot of help from his Angels' teammates

Finally, were it not for a foolish play on the part of first baseman Nolan Schanuel, there's a good chance that Rodriguez could've escaped the fourth inning unscathed. Instead, the Halos' first baseman misplayed a Hyeseong Kim batted ball that resulted in a single. After that, the floodgates opened, and after an Andy Pages RBI single, Rodriguez's day was done and the Angels were down 7-0.

It's easy to look at Rodriguez's stat line and quickly proclaim that the sky is falling and the trade is already a bust. But that may be jumping the gun. Angels fans would do well to take in the positives from his performance on Sunday versus the Dodgers, and hope that Rodriguez continues to show improvement in his next start.

Rodriguez's next opportunity should come later this week against the Texas Rangers, whose lineup is nowhere near as dangerous as the Dodgers.

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