Detroit Tigers claim Dereck Rodríguez; son of former catcher Pudge Rodríguez
By Tyler Kotila
On trade deadline day, the Detroit Tigers claimed starting pitcher Dereck Rodríguez, son of former Tigers catcher Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez.
While the focus for most teams was the trade deadline, the Detroit Tigers only made a minuscule move, and frankly, the bigger move for the current Tigers roster is the waiver claim. The Tigers sought out some starting pitching talent who is none other than a former Tigers great’s son.
The San Francisco Giants recently waived starting pitcher Dereck Rodríguez who has just not been the starter he was coming up with the Giants in his early years. Avila says that he called former Tigers backstop Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez to talk about the team’s roster move.
After a tough go with the Giants organization where things turned south, a change of pace for Rodríguez may be for the best, what better organization to take a flyer on him than the Tigers who have the room to take on an investment project who could work on things.
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In 2020, Rodríguez has thrown only four innings where he has allowed ten hits, six earned runs, three walks, and allowed two home runs.
Rodríguez has seen better days on the mound, and a disastrous outing in 2020 seems to have ruined his standing with the Giants organization.
Last year, in 2019, Rodríguez still had some struggles on the hill where he found his way into 28 games, with 16 of them being starts, totaling 99 innings pitched.
He pitched himself to a 5.64 ERA, a 1.46 WHIP, but only striking out seventy-one hitters.
While things were not great in 2019, they took a downward spiral in 2020, leaving him to be designated for assignment (DFA), where the Tigers saw a chance to capitalize on an investment chance.
The Tigers must see the original version of Rodríguez, who made his debut during the 2018 season. In 2018, Rodríguez pitched in 21 games, making 19 starts for the Giants, pitching in 118.1 total innings. During those appearances, Rodríguez had a 2.81 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and struck out 89 opposing hitters.
The Tigers will work with Rodríguez to work on some things and ensure that he returns to the form that he was coming onto the scene for the Giants. Rodríguez could return to that form; it just may take some tweaks from the coaching staff between Toledo and Detroit.
The organization feels that with some work on both ends, coaches making changes to Rodríguez craft and Rodríguez buying into the changes, he can be “salvaged.”
While the Tigers already claimed a 2020 DFA’d player in Carson Fulmer who did not work out well, it seems that the organization feels they can get something out of Rodríguez. If things go well for Rodríguez, he could find himself on the mound for the Tigers sooner than later.
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The Detroit Tigers have a new reclamation project/investment in the form of Dereck Rodríguez, but this time, being the son of Pudge, he may have a bit of a chip on his shoulder.