The Grayson Rodriguez gamble is finally starting to pay off, but Angels be cautious

Last offseason, the Los Angeles Angels made a interesting trade. Taylor Ward was coming off a career season in which he had been one of baseball's best power hitters. With one year of team control left, L.A. did the smart thing and traded him, but the return wasn't what anyone expected.

Ward was sent to the Orioles for starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez. The 26-year-old was one of baseball's top prospects, but that was three seasons prior. Health issues had really hurt his stock. Between 2024 and 2025, the righty dealt with five different injuries, and he missed the entire 2025 season.

When the Angels traded for him, using their best offseason trade chip in a one-for-one deal, it was slightly confounding. Not only did it feel like the Orioles got a steal based on Rodriguez's value, but the Angels are not known as a team to fix or help develop a pitcher. For most of the season, that sentiment rang true. It took most of the season, but finally, Rodriguez has strung together back-to-back nice outings.

On August 20, Rodriguez threw seven innings without allowing an earned run against the Astros, while striking out six and walking two. He came back on August 26 and went 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts and one walk.

Angels fans finally seeing results from Grayson Rodriguez should temper their hope until the end of the season

It's a small sigh of relief to finally be getting results from the player they traded a lot to get. A player like Taylor Ward could have netted a prospect near or in the top 100 or a couple of a team's top 10-15 prospects, especially in an offseason move where the team was buying an entire year of the player and not just a few months.

Rodriguez will need to keep up a similar level of success if the Angels want to consider this trade a success, but it's also past the point in the season where that fully matters. Now it's time for the front office to take stock of what they have for next season. They gave up a lot for Rodriguez, so he will be in the rotation to start next season, but how long a leash he gets will be determined by the end of this season.

If Rodriguez can look like a competent starter through the final month, then he'll get a long runway in 2027. If these two starts are blips on the radar and he reverts to what he had been this season, he'll be on a short leash next year.

The biggest test for Rodriguez, though, is going to be his health. He struggled to stay healthy for an entire season in Baltimore, and he's already hit the IL once since he debuted with the Halos in May. Rodriguez has the talent to be a major league starter, and the Angels could really use another starter like him. He just needs to keep his recent form and stay healthy.

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