Despite dealing with elbow issues last year, Red Sox pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz still enjoyed a relatively productive 2023 season with Low-A Salem.
Rodriguez-Cruz made 14 starts for Salem, which is where he ended his first full professional season in 2022. In 2023, the 20-year-old right-hander posted a 2.60 ERA and 4.37 FIP with 51 strikeouts to 27 walks over 55 1/3 innings of work in which he held opposing hitters to a .219 batting average against.
Prior to the major-league All-Star break in mid-July, Rodriguez had gone 6-2 with a 2.53 ERA (4.45 FIP) in his first 12 outings (53 1/3 innings) of the season. He was then placed on Salem’s injured list on July 21 with right elbow inflammation and did not return to action until the first of September.
Rodriguez-Cruz made two more starts for Salem before the minor-league campaign drew to a close and went an inning in each, allowing one earned run on two hits, one walk, and three strikeouts. He later told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith at the Red Sox’ fall performance program in Fort Myers that he thought his season “went well.”
“Nobody expects to be injured but besides that, I started the season strong,” Rodriguez-Cruz said. “I feel like I was doing great. I was developing some stuff the organization wants me to do. I feel like I was doing all those things.”
Among the 111 pitchers who tossed 50 or more innings in the Carolina League last year, Rodriguez-Cruz most notably ranked 33rd in batting average against, 42nd in WHIP (1.27), 36th in groundball rate (48.3 percent), and seventh in ERA, per FanGraphs.
Rodriguez-Cruz was originally selected by the Red Sox in the fourth round (105th overall pick) of the 2021 amateur draft out of Leadership Christian Academy in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The Trujillo Alto native forwent his commitment to the University of Oregon by signing with Boston for $497,500 as a 17-year-old that July.
Since debuting in the rookie-level Florida Complex League the following June, Rodriguez-Cruz has compiled a 2.31 ERA (3.76 FIP) with 93 strikeouts to 42 walks over 27 total appearances (24 starts) spanning 93 2/3 innings in pro ball thus far.
Standing at 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, Rodriguez-Cruz throws from a three-quarters arm slot and operates with a four-pitch mix that consists of a 91-93 mph fastball that tops out at 95 mph, a 76-78 mph curveball that features long, 11-to-5 break, an 86-88 mph changeup, and an 84-86 mph slider that is considered by SoxProspects.com to be a “work in progress.”
To that end, Rodriguez-Cruz indicated to Smith back in September that one of his main goals of the offseason was to build strength as he continues to fill out.
“That’s going to help me to improve velo and all that and stay healthy,” the righty explained. “I feel like working on my body is my main priority.”
Having said that, it will be interesting to see if Rodriguez-Cruz benefits from the new pitching infrastructure the Red Sox are putting in place under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Brian Abraham, Boston’s farm director, described Rodriguez-Cruz to Smith as a “development staff’s dream because he’s young, he has a live arm, he’s athletic, he’s got a good frame to put on weight, and he works hard.”
Rodriguez-Cruz — who does not turn 20 until August — is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 30 prospect in Boston’s farm system, which ranks ninth among pitchers in the organization. He is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to High-A Greenville for the start of the 2024 season.
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