The Red Sox re-signed left-handed reliever Joely Rodriguez. Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe tweeted this morning that Rodriguez was at the Red Sox’ spring facility in Fort Myers, Fla. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo added that he’s in camp on a minor league deal. Rodriguez is a client of L.A. Sports Management.
Rodriguez, 32, was with the Sox in 2023 but pitched just 11 innings due to oblique, shoulder and hip injuries that combined to result in three different stints on the injured list. He posted a 6.55 ERA in his short time on the mound, striking out 27.5% of his opponents against an 11.8% walk rate and 45.2% ground-ball rate.
It wasn’t a strong year overall for Rodriguez, but the lefty has posted far better numbers over the three preceding seasons in his return from an excellent two-year stint in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. From 2020-22, Rodriguez pitched 109 1/3 frames between the Rangers, Yankees and Mets, working to a 4.28 ERA with even more encouraging secondary marks. Rodriguez fanned 25.5% of his opponents in that time and induced grounders at a huge 55.7% clip. His 10.3% walk rate was still a couple ticks north of the league average, but the lefty offered an enticing blend of missed bats and grounders while excelling at keeping the ball in the park (0.58 HR/9). Metrics like FIP (3.14) and SIERA (3.51) were rather bullish on his work.
The Red Sox have little in the way of established left-handed bullpen options on the 40-man roster. Brennan Bernardino surprised with 50 1/3 innings of 3.20 ERA ball as a 31-year-old rookie last season, but the only other southpaws on the roster are Joe Jacques and minor league starters Brandon Walter and Chris Murphy. Rodriguez joins Lucas Luetge as a veteran southpaw who’ll compete for a job in Alex Cora’s bullpen. With a healthy spring, he ought to have a decent chance at winning a spot in a bullpen that’s seen a fair bit of turnover this offseason in the wake of a front office shakeup.
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