Former hard-throwing St. Louis Cardinals prospect signs with A's

Jason Burke | 4 Hours Ago

Apr 16, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; A general view of the St. Louis Cardinals scoreboard as a plane passes by during the seventh inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

According to the MiLB.com transactions page, the Athletics have signed former St. Louis Cardinals prospect Gustavo Rodriguez to a minor league deal, and assigned him to Double-A Midland.

Rodriguez originally signed with the Cardinals in uly of 2018, and in '19 and '21 he was taking his turns in the rotation. Starting in 2022 he began to be exclusively a bullpen arm, albeit in a multi-inning role. The righty held a 4.32 ERA this past season combined between A Ball and High-A, totaling 33 1/3 innings in an injury plagued season. He also posted a 1.56 WHIP and a .284 batting average against, which aren't necessarily encouraging.

Yet, the 23-year-old from Cumana, Venezuela has one key attribute that the A's have been targeting with seemingly all of their pitcher acquisitions this offseason, and that is that he gets loads of ground balls. Last year in particular he held ground ball rates of 58.1% (A Ball) and 55.1% (A+), and while he held a 4.76 ERA in the upper level, his FIP was more than two runs lower at 2.60 across 22 2/3 innings. It's a small sample size, but it could be meaningful.

FanGraphs had him ranked as the Cardinals' No. 29 overall prospect this year because he has some tools, but lacks consistency.

"Rodriguez's development is still in a holding pattern as he struggles to find release consistency while also showing good looking stuff. At a broad-shouldered, high-waisted 6-foot-3, Rodriguez is already bumping 99 mph at peak and sitting 96-98. His low-80s curveball lacks consistency but flashes bat-missing depth.

"Essentially a not-as-nasty version of Leonardo Taveras, Rodriguez is one of several well-built relief prospects in this system for whom you hope things click, because as of now, the control/command piece isn't of viable big league quality."

Honestly, that sounds exactly like someone the A's would target, and they've had success with prospects like this in the past. If the Athletics can get his mechanics ironed out, that is another live arm that could be impactful in the next year or so.