A season where it's "best I've ever thrown" resumes Thursday for Grayson Rodriguez

ABERDEEN, Md. – Grayson Rodriguez was in good spirits as usual and was his usual friendly and articulate self. Now if he pitches on Thursday as he usually does, he might end his season as it began. Pitching in dominant fashion on a minor league mound.

And that could lead him to end his year on a major league mound.

When he pitches for high Single-A Aberdeen tomorrow, it will mark three months exactly to when we last saw him. He was dominating for Triple-A Norfolk then and closing in on a major league callup.

At the time of his Grade 2 right lat strain June 1, he was 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA and 0.84 WHIP for Norfolk.

“I would say going back and watching tape and reflecting on outings in Norfolk the first two months, I mean that’s, hands down the best I’ve ever thrown a baseball in my life,” Rodriguez told reporters Tuesday at Ripken Stadium. “So really just kind of taking into account what I was doing, how I was pitching to hitters, how I was utilizing certain pitches in certain counts, really just kind of being able to sit there, sit on it (during rehab) and game plan for about two or three months about how to attack hitters coming up.”

He remains very motivated to make his MLB debut.

“The fire burns a little hotter now,” he said when asked if the O’s success makes him want to reach the majors even more.

Rodriguez is ranked as the No. 4 prospect in baseball and the No. 1 pitching prospect by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com.

Rodriguez said he didn’t know the schedule the Orioles will have for him after Thursday’s game but he guessed he would be pitching every fifth day. His goal now for what is left of this season is pretty clear.

“Finishing healthy is No. 1,” he said. “Taking care of myself the last month down the stretch and being able to roll into spring training 2023 fully healthy.

“You know obviously an injury is not something you want to happen. But I think it kind of made me realize I guess that you can’t take starts for granted. Obviously, seasons get long and you know going out there and being able to throw the ball is something I’m going to look forward to from here on out. But being able to come back healthy before the year is over, that was big. You know if you end the season hurt, that is something you don’t want to do. But now coming back to get more innings, more outings, and seeing hitters again the last month, that is pretty special.”

Rodriguez may only throw about two or maybe three innings on Thursday. He said he threw about 40 pitches in his most recent sim game.

“So, you know, the throwing programs are pretty scheduled out. Been pretty fortunate not to have any road bumps. The throwing program – the build up has been perfect so far.”

While putting up great stats this year with a 2.25 walk rate and 12.86 strikeout rate, Rodriguez even made some individual pitch improvements too.

“I learned how to throw pitches to hitters I had not necessarily thrown before. I learned really how to pitch with a cutter, in and out, to both left-handed and right-handed hitters. Cutter was something that (previously) I was just throwing late in the game, really didn’t have command over it. It was a good pitch and graded well. But, being able to actually go to it, be confident, know that I can throw it for a strike, being able to throw back-foot sliders to lefties, that was a huge door that I was able to open as well. So, hopefully we’ll keep that going, going forward,” he said.

Rodriguez figures to have a great chance to break north on opening day 2023 in the Baltimore rotation. But his chances to impact the team in 2022 is still alive and resumes on Thursday night.

At Double-A: The Bowie Baysox got two homers and four RBI’s from Connor Norby last night in a 6-5 victory over Erie. The teams opened a huge six-game series tied for first place in the second half. Bowie moved to a game ahead at 34-18 and the second-half winner advances to the playoffs. Norby produced his third multi-homer game for Bowie. He has hit 14 homers for Bowie and 22 on the season.

Lefties Bruce Zimmermann and DL Hall combined on a three-hitter as Triple-A Norfolk blanked Lehigh Valley, 5-0. Hall got the last four outs after Zimmermann allowed three hits over 7 2/3 with no walks and eight strikeouts on 89 pitches. In his Triple-A debut, Joey Ortiz went 2-for-4 and drove in two while Colton Cowser went 0-for-5 and fanned three times.

Low Single-A Delmarva lost 8-4 to Fredericksburg. Dylan Beavers had two hits, including an RBI double. Top draft pick Jackson Holliday went 0-for-2 but walked and scored twice. He is 2-for-15 (.133) in his first four Shorebirds games.

Aberdeen was rained out and hosts Hickory today at 5:05 p.m. for a doubleheader.

O’s lose series opener: The Orioles had won 10 straight series-opening games (in series that were more than one game) before losing at Cleveland 5-1 last night when their batters went 1-for-27. The Orioles lost ground in the wild card race and are three games back of the final playoff spot.

Baltimore’s offense has produced just two runs the last two games and only seven runs and 21 hits in the four games on this road trip. Right-hander Jordan Lyles (9-9, 4.45 ERA) gets the start tonight at Cleveland.

Cleveland bound: Late last night, MASNSports.com's Roch Kubatko was first to report that Gunnar Henderson and DL Hall are headed for Cleveland today. They will join the Orioles taxi squad for a day and are expected to be activated to the active roster on Thursday when rosters expand to 28 players. Click here for that story.