Pirates Designate Johnathan Rodríguez For Assignment

The Pirates announced that outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez has been designated for assignment. That opens a 40-man spot for outfielder Oneil Cruz to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, as move that was previously reported.

Rodríguez, 26, has never appeared in a big league game for the Bucs. He was acquired from the Orioles in a cash deal last month and has been kept on optional assignment since then, putting up a huge .351/.424/.509 line in 15 Triple-A games.

Minor league success is nothing new for Rodríguez. He now has 1,403 Triple-A plate appearances under his belt with 62 home runs, a 12.5% walk rate, a .298/.388/.508 line and 135 wRC+. But in 132 big league plate appearances, he has hit just .177/.288/.301 with a 31.8% strikeout rate.

That’s a small sample size but it might be somewhat telling regardless. Scouting reports from Baseball America suggest he has the Pedro Cerrano profile, with huge power but an inability to hit spin. Pitchers can just stay away from the fastball and watch him struggle, which is easier for big league arms to do since they tend to have better command of their secondary stuff. That might explain the gap between his minor league and major league results, even with the small sample size.

Rodríguez is in his final option season, so he will be out of options next year. Perhaps that has also played a role in him bouncing around the league a bit. Cleveland designated him for assignment in March. He was traded to the O’s but got the DFA-and-trade treatment again last month.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, he can’t be traded again. The Bucs will have to place him on waivers. Perhaps another club will be intrigued by the huge minor league numbers, especially since he can be kept in the minors for the remainder of the season.