Finding a role for Angels pitcher Chris Rodriguez

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Chris Rodriguez battled injuries throughout his time in the minors most notably back issues detailed in this story by Sam Blum of The Athletic (subscription required).

Rodriguez had worked his way to the bigs and was throwing the ball well before a lat injury ended his season prematurely. Rodriguez underwent capsule repair surgery on his throwing shoulder and missed the entire 2022 season.

When asked about where he stands right now, Rodriguez wouldn't quite say that he's 100 percent, but he does feel close. This is encouraging for the Angels. Now, whenever he is fully healthy, what should his role be?

Finding a role for Angels pitcher Chris Rodriguez

Chris Rodriguez was brought up primarily as a starter. 29 of his 32 minor league appearances have come as a starter. The problem is, since debuting back in 2016, he hasn't thrown more than 57 innings in a season. Hard to be a starter if you can't throw more than 57 innings in a season.

Rodriguez has a five-pitch mix which includes a sinker that he threw 63% of the time and a really good curveball. In his big league appearances, opponents have hit .136 with a .168 xBA and a 34% whiff rate against the curve. He's only thrown it 24.2% of the time and has only made 15 appearances, so it is a small sample, but one that is encouraging. While opponents did hit .250 against his sinker, they had a .215 xBA so he got unlucky with the results of that pitch. He averaged 95.8 mph with that pitch. He has two really solid pitches.

Given Rodriguez's injury history and the fact that he uses those two pitches 87.2% of the time maybe Rodriguez would be best served as a reliever. It's less likely he'd get hurt in that role, and he can still get more than three outs if need be.

Given the fact that Rodriguez has just two MLB starts under his belt and 15 appearances overall, the odds of him earning a role in the Angels rotation to begin the season are slim to none. Let Rodriguez get back into the swing of things as a reliever.

The Angels lack an ideal sixth starter candidate and don't have much quality depth either, but at this point I'd rather get something out of C-Rod rather than hope he develops as a starting pitcher and is able to stay on the field.

Let Rodriguez start the year in the bullpen in AAA and see what happens. With his stuff he can most definitely develop into a very good reliever in this league.