Yankees Could Give Young Pitcher an October Opportunity

Simply put, Rodriguez could be an option for the Yankees out of the bullpen in the ALDS. The Wild Card Series is only a max of three games. Now the Yankees and Rays could go to five games in the division series.

We still don't know if Carlos Rodon will start in one of those games after New York announced on Friday morning that Gerrit Cole will get the Game 1 spot. If Rodon does start, he won't be in the bullpen in case of an emergency, which could open the door for Rodriguez to take that spot. It's not like there are many other options with Clarke Schmidt out for the year and Ryan Weathers' status still up in the air.

Waiting game for the rest of the roster

Rodriguez didn't play much after being activated in late August, as he didn't see an inning of big-league play in September. However, an uptick in velocity in his two brief appearances should create some intrigue.

In two starts against the Astros and Angels, Rodriguez averaged 96.6 MPH on his four-seam fastball and 96.7 MPH on his sinker. That's a full MPH up for him when he saw some spot starts during the year in 2026. Before August, he averaged 95.4 on the fastball and 95.8 on the sinker. In the minors, he averaged 95 on the four-seam and 94.9 on the sinker.

Rodriguez's big issue is walks. They spiked in 2025. He had a 3.42 BB/9 last season. That jumped to 4.57 in 2026. In his two minor league starts in September, that was still an issue.

In nine innings between the two starts, he walked eight and struck out just six. If there's an argument against using him, it's that. That isn't a ratio that would play up in the playoffs. Teams don't want to issue any free passes when outs are so precious.

The Yankees activating Rodriguez for the division series could depend on what happens with Weathers. Ahead of the Wild Card Series, manager Aaron Boone told reporters that Weathers "looks healthy," but he wasn't ready to say he was an option for that round, per Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.

If he is activated, it doesn't feel like there's a spot for Rodriguez. Weathers is obviously the better of the two.

As of now, the Yankees roster still feels up in the air, even with a series win in the books. Given the talent on the injured list, it feels like a bit of a waiting game to see what happens with guys like Weathers, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees are obviously better if all of those guys are 100%, and right now, they aren't. It feels like it can go either way with them.

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