Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez has been diagnosed with subluxation of the patella tendon after undergoing an MRI on Sunday according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Rodriguez originally suffered the injury on Saturday.
The knee remains structurally intact and the ligaments are fine, though there is swelling, per Mastrodonato, leaving a timetable to the southpaw’s recovery unclear.
At the least, he’ll be sidelined from baseball activities for 72 hours, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.
Rodriguez tweaked his knee when catching his spikes while backpedaling for a fly ball, per Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. Red Sox manager John Farrell indicated it was on a pitcher-fieldng-practice play, and the discomfort subsided when he was taken to the training room, per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.
Rodriguez is currently fourth in Boston’s rotation as he enters his second full season, but the Red Sox have huge hopes for the 22-year-old who last year showed glimpses of early greatness.
Boston believes Rodriguez can become an elite lefty that eventually elevates his way through the rotation and complements offseason signee David Price.
“I’m not sure why, even nationally, they don’t have much more attention on Eddie Rodriguez,” Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski said, per Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal. “I think he has a chance to be an outstanding pitcher.”
Rodriguez currently has a three-pitch repertoire—a mid-90s fastball, a changeup and a slider that needs work—which has created a ceiling of sorts for the young starter, per FanGraphs:
For a left-hander with a 94 [mile per hour] fastball and good changeup and decent projections, there’s a surprising amount of risk in [Rodriguez’s] line. Still, those things—and a good slider—mean that he has the upside to pay third- or fourth-starter prices in the hopes that he puts it together and turns into an ace.
Opposing batters last year hit .350 against his slider—well above the .263 against his fastball and .185 facing his solid changeup, per FanGraphs. Like a slew of young pitchers breaking into the bigs, work is usually needed on a select few pitches.
But that’s what Rodriguez is focused on this spring training, and it looks like he’ll be back on the mound early next week.
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