A Few Notes on Eduardo Rodriguez’s Velocity
Eduardo Rodriguez debuted yesterday for the Red Sox. There was instantly something remarkable about him.
My goodness. Did you see it? Probably not. How about now.
Yeah. That’s easy cheese. His fastball sat at exactly 95 mph by PITCHf/x, which puts him high up on this list of gaseous starters.
| Name | Age | FB% | FBv |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noah Syndergaard | 22 | 65.20% | 96.7 |
| Yordano Ventura | 24 | 60.10% | 95.9 |
| Joe Kelly | 27 | 70.10% | 95.9 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | 25 | 55.30% | 95.8 |
| Matt Harvey | 26 | 58.60% | 95.7 |
| Gerrit Cole | 24 | 68.80% | 95.6 |
| Danny Salazar | 25 | 62.20% | 95.5 |
| Carlos Frias | 25 | 55.40% | 95.5 |
| Garrett Richards | 27 | 63.70% | 95.4 |
| Andrew Cashner | 28 | 65.90% | 95.2 |
| Eduardo Rodriguez | 22 | 68.60% | 95.0 |
| Chris Archer | 26 | 54.20% | 94.8 |
| Stephen Strasburg | 26 | 63.70% | 94.8 |
| Mike Foltynewicz | 23 | 73.00% | 94.7 |
| Jacob deGrom | 27 | 63.20% | 94.5 |
| Carlos Martinez | 23 | 57.80% | 94.4 |
| Aaron Sanchez | 22 | 74.00% | 94.4 |
| Wily Peralta | 26 | 63.70% | 94.4 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 28 | 55.60% | 94.4 |
| Taijuan Walker | 22 | 66.10% | 94.4 |
But he’s a lefty! You might notice that list is full of righties. Lefties average a mph less than righties, on average. Look at the list, except now it’s only lefties.
| Name | Age | FB% | FBv |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eduardo Rodriguez | 22 | 68.60% | 95.0 |
| James Paxton | 26 | 72.10% | 94.0 |
| Chris Sale | 26 | 57.90% | 93.9 |
| Robbie Ray | 23 | 83.70% | 93.8 |
| David Price | 29 | 65.80% | 93.8 |
| Danny Duffy | 26 | 61.50% | 93.8 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 27 | 56.90% | 93.4 |
| Carlos Rodon | 22 | 68.70% | 93.3 |
| Jorge de la Rosa | 34 | 35.80% | 93.2 |
| Francisco Liriano | 31 | 46.60% | 92.4 |
Well, fine, he’s got the best lefty velocity among starters in the game. Whatever. But did he keep the velocity up all game?
Not quite, but he did hit 97 with his 91st pitch, so it’s not like he wilted as he went on, either. It’s more than what he had with Baltimore, but as Kiley McDaniel noted in his Top 200 list (where Rodriguez ranked 23rd), he’s been sitting 93-96 since slightly before he was traded to Boston. And both the guns on MLB.tv and the Brooks Baseball PITCHf/x game report match up more with a 95 mph average than the 93.4 currently on Rodriguez’s page (which would still be top-five velocity for a lefty starter).
With a really nice changeup and a decent breaking ball, and no obvious command issues, the speed above makes Eduardo Rodriguez immediately interesting.
This has been a few notes on Eduardo Rodriguez’s velocity.
With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.
Kind of unfair to ask the reader a “Did you see it?” in a gif, where the thing you are referring to is not actually in the gif.
It’s a joke.