{"id":95249,"date":"2025-02-07T19:49:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T00:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=95249"},"modified":"2025-02-07T19:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T00:50:09","slug":"ross-atkins-discusses-role-yariel-rodriguez-blue-jays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/07\/ross-atkins-discusses-role-yariel-rodriguez-blue-jays\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Atkins Discusses Role of Yariel Rodr\u00edguez with Blue Jays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to Sportsnet writer Arden Zwelling, general manager Ross Atkins has discussed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodriya01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yariel Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s<\/a> role. Atkins <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mlb\/fastball\/news\/toronto-blue-jays-make-interesting-revelation-about-pitcher-yariel-rodriguez-and-his-chances-for-starting-rotation\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">talked about<\/a> how Rodriguez will take on a heavier workload in spring training and fight for a chance at the fifth rotation spot. Back in October of 2024, the idea of placing <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/10\/03\/blue-jays-yariel-rodriguez-bullpen-2025-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Rodr\u00edguez in the bullpen<\/a> was a plan set in place for 2025. But now he will get an opportunity to earn a starting spot. Having him open in the bullpen but even having him as a sixth starter in case of injury is also an option. But whether the Blue Jays will go with a five or six-man rotation is yet to be seen. However, according to Atkins, it appears that there will be a five-man rotation. But when injuries inevitably come into play, everything is subject to change. As the 2025 season gets under way, Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s role with the Blue Jays will become clearer.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins says Yariel Rodriguez will be stretched out in spring training and compete for fifth spot in club&#8217;s rotation<\/p>\n<p>Expect Jake Bloss, Adam Macko, Eric Lauer, and Adam Kloffenstein to form next layer of starting depth in triple-A rotation<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ArdenZwelling\/status\/1887934644777030119?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Ross Atkins Shakes Up Yariel Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s Role<\/h2>\n<h3>Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s Future With the Blue Jays<\/h3>\n<p>Adjusting Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s pitch workload before the season starts is a good mechanism to help him develop with the Blue Jays. Last season, he was operating on a pitch limit, as he hadn&#8217;t pitched competitively since 2023 in the World Baseball Classic representing Cuba. In 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/30\/blue-jays-lose-yariel-rodriguez-to-the-injured-list\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> dealt with thoracic spine inflammation which impacted his season. But overall, he pitched well in his first season in MLB. He had many decent outings, but since he usually pitched less than five innings he wasn&#8217;t eligible to qualify for a win. He finished 2024 with a 4.47 ERA across 86 2\/3 innings of work along with 85 strikeouts. If Rodr\u00edguez can remain healthy and successfully take on a heavier workload, he could find himself within the starting rotation. But at the same time, having him enter in relief and be able to eat up more innings would help out the Blue Jays bullpen situation.<\/p>\n<h3>Blue Jays Offseason Plans and Possibilities<\/h3>\n<p>While Toronto recently added a solid addition to its bullpen by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/10\/jeff-hoffman-signs-blue-jays-three-year-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">signing free-agent reliever<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=hoffmje02,hoffma003jef&amp;search=Jeff+Hoffman&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Hoffman<\/a>, having extra arms in the pen always helps. The flexibility of Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s role, as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/30\/toronto-blue-jays-sign-max-scherzer\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">addition<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/scherma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Scherzer<\/a> in the rotation, could make things interesting in the AL East. The Blue Jays have solid starters with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/berrijo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bassich01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Bassitt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gausmke01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Gausman<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/francbo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bowden Francis<\/a>. But a heavy workload for Scherzer with his age and injury history isn&#8217;t likely. It&#8217;s possible that time could be split between Scherzer and Rodr\u00edguez in the rotation. Francis and Rodr\u00edguez will likely fight for the last spot in the rotation, and spring training will be their test. Francis performed well for the Blue Jays last season in a starter role and even nearly recorded a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels last season. It&#8217;s possible that Rodr\u00edguez could pitch in both roles.<\/p>\n<p>This is assuming the Blue Jays don&#8217;t acquire any more pitchers, which would likely come through trades. Atkins announced that the Blue Jays likely won&#8217;t be signing any more free agents this offseason, saying &#8220;I think if there&#8217;s a way to upgrade any aspect&#8230;at this point it would require a trade for us to add to the team,&#8221; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/mlb\/video\/blue-jays-atkins-says-any-additions-to-team-now-will-likely-be-via-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sportsnet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Option As a Swingman<\/h3>\n<p>Having Rodr\u00edguez pitch as a swingman (starter\/reliever) would be a logical plan for the Blue Jays. A swingman has to possess the robustness of a starter while also having the flexibility to pitch in the pen. Rodr\u00edguez fits this role perfectly. If he loses out on a full-time starter role, the Blue Jays will likely use him in the swingman role. He has both a commanding fastball (mid-90s) and a sweeper (high-80s) with solid average exit velocity. Last season, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/yariel-rodriguez-684320?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Baseball Savant<\/a>, he sported an average exit velocity of 87.8 mph.<\/p>\n<p>His sweeper is effective when he has command of it, providing crucial late movement. Sweepers are generally not that effective against left-handed hitters. It is a type of slider that breaks horizontally across the plate. This makes it effective against right-handed opponents. As we wait to hear more news on Yariel Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s role on the roster, it will be interesting to see what the Blue Jays&#8217; final starting rotation will look like for the start of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Sportsnet writer Arden Zwelling, general manager Ross Atkins has discussed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yariel Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s role. Atkins talked about how Rodriguez will take on a heavier workload in spring training and fight for a chance at the fifth rotation spot. Back in October of 2024, the idea of placing Rodr\u00edguez in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4831,"featured_media":95317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1071,35],"tags":[28388,4223,4352,1043,1331,79,496,28389],"class_list":["post-95249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluejays","category-mlb","category-news","tag-bowden-francis","tag-chris-bassitt","tag-jeff-hoffman","tag-jose-berrios","tag-kevin-gausman","tag-max-scherzer","tag-ross-atkins","tag-yariel-rodriguez"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95249"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95319,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95249\/revisions\/95319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}