Orioles to promote top pitching prospect, will make MLB debut Wednesday

The Baltimore Orioles are on the verge of promoting top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez to start Wednesday's game against the Texas Rangers, according to Geoff Pontes of Baseball America.

Rodriguez, 23, competed for a spot in the club’s Opening Day rotation, but struggled to a 7.04 ERA in 15.1 innings of work during camp, prompting the club to option him to Triple-A. Since then, however, right-hander Kyle Bradish left his start yesterday with a foot contusion in the second inning, prompting Tyler Wells to pitch five innings in relief of Bradish rather than make his scheduled start on Tuesday. With Kyle Gibson moving up to take the ball in place of Wells, that left no one to start Wednesday’s contest against Texas.

It appears Rodriguez will make that start, which will mark the 11th overall pick of the 2018 draft’s MLB debut. Once a consensus top-five prospect in the sport, Rodriguez struggled with a lat strain for much of the 2022 season, which caused him to slip slightly down some prospect rankings, though he remains a top-20 prospect in the eyes of virtually every prospecting service, with a career 2.49 ERA in the minor leagues supported by an eye-popping 35.9% strikeout rate.

Had Rodriguez made the club’s Opening Day roster, stuck in the big leagues throughout the season, and placed in the top three of AL Rookie of the Year voting this offseason, the Orioles would have received an additional pick in the 2024 draft. Unfortunately for Baltimore, that is no longer a possibility with Rodriguez joining the big league club a week into the season. Should Rodriguez finish top two in AL Rookie of the Year voting, he will earn a full year of service time even if he hasn’t been on the major league roster for the otherwise required 172 days, though if he sticks with the Orioles for the rest of the year he would figure to reach that 172-day benchmark anyway.

While Rodriguez is already on the 40-man roster, leaving the club with no need to make a 40-man move to accommodate him, room will need to be made for Rodriguez on the club’s 26-man active roster. If Bradish’s foot contusion will require a stint on the injured list, that move could open up a roster spot for Rodriguez, though it’s still possible Bradish won’t miss an extended period of time, as x-rays came back negative.