In Aberdeen, Grayson Rodriguez is ready for return to game action

ABERDEEN, Md. – The Orioles' top pitching prospect, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, headed north this week to continue his rehab. In two days Rodriguez will pitch in a game for the first time since his appearance June 1 for Triple-A Norfolk.

Rodriguez, ranked as the No. 4 prospect in baseball by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com, will take the mound Thursday for high Single-A Aberdeen at Ripken Stadium against Hickory.

It will be three months to the day that Rodriguez walked off the mound after throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings for Norfolk against Jacksonville. Rodriguez had suffered a Grade 2 right lat strain and has been in rehab mode since. Just recently, that escalated when he added live bullpen sessions and a simulated game. The next step comes Thursday.

“I feel good,” he said today at Ripken Stadium. “Obviously, it’s great to just be back here in Maryland, where full-season ball is. So getting out of Florida was pretty nice.

“It really happened the inning before I came out," Rodriguez said, recalling his injury. "I just thought it was a cramp or a muscle spasm. Went back out and, obviously, the velo was down. So being precautionary, took myself out of the game. Then them saying I could miss the rest of the season, thought it was pretty crazy. But been able to rehab in Florida and everything went pretty smoothly.”

With the Tides this season he was dominant at times, going 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts. Over 56 innings he allowed 33 hits and just one home run, with 14 walks and 80 strikeouts. He posted an 0.84 WHIP while allowing a .168 batting average, 2.25 walk rate and 12.86 strikeout rate.

Rodriguez is ranked as the No. 2 Orioles prospect, behind only Gunnar Henderson.

So, from hearing his season could be over to getting back with a month or so left is important for the Orioles’ 2018 top draft pick.

“Definitely huge,” he said. “There was a question whether I would pitch again and that was kind of tough. But now being back, knowing I’m going to get the last month is huge. I would say the last simulated game I threw in Florida was as close to 100 percent as I could get. I’m as prepared as I can be.”

There remains a chance Rodriguez could pitch for the Orioles before the season ends and make his major league debut. He was close to getting his call to the bigs at the time of the injury.

“Right there,” he said. “Obviously, not my decision on when the moves are made, but you know, to me it was any minute. Pretty challenging to go down (with injury) at that time. But battled through it and now we’re here.”

The chase to the bigs is still on for the club’s top pitching prospect.

“Absolutely," he said. "I think no matter where you are at in the minor league system, your goal is the majors as soon as possible. And you know, being so close and here we are now, the goal hasn’t changed. Camden is pretty close.”

And being injured gave Rodriguez even more time to watch the Orioles this season.

“It’s been really fun. Playing with Adley (Rutschman) since 2019. Kyle Stowers. Terrin Vavra. Actually got to throw against him in 2019 when he was with Asheville. But seeing those guys go up, obviously DL (Hall) and being there for his debut, it’s been a lot of fun to watch. Being able to see them and the success they’re having,” he said.

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

So he feels ready to pitch Thursday for the IronBirds. One might guess that he goes about two innings. He said he has thrown bullpens for about a month and faced hitters in live situations twice in Florida. He threw 40 pitches in his last sim game.

He was having a brilliant season in Triple-A and now he'd like to pick up where he left off.

"The first two months, that was hands down the best I've ever thrown the baseball in my life," he said.

Aberdeen manager Roberto Mercado already has a team headed for the playoffs. The IronBirds are 73-47 (.608) overall but clinched a playoff spot by going 43-23 (.652) in the first half. He said it’s great for his young pitchers to get to be around Rodriguez this week.

“We’re excited to have him,” said Mercado. “It’s great for our guys, and he is throwing a bullpen today and I know a bunch of our guys will be out there watching. It’s exciting for a guy like him, with his talent and what he has done.

“And every guy we’ve had this year has been absolutely amazing. We’ll have guys come in (from higher levels) and they ask, ‘What do you need me to do? I want to be a good teammate.’ Guy like Adley Rutschman when he was here. Awesome teammate, came to work every day and just his presence was different. More than any coach could tell a guy, so it’s always special for these guys to come in and our guys, so young, watch how they go about their day. This is where I want to be and here is a guy showing what it takes.”