Series Review: Henry Rodriguez

Over the last few days I sat down and charted out each at bat by Henry Rodriguez in a recent series against the Gwinnett Braves. Here is how he performed over those four games.

	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO
Game 1	5	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	1
Game 2	7	3	3	0	0	0	2	0	0
Game 3	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0
Game 4	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	20	3	9	1	0	0	4	0	2

Observations

Rodriguez only saw 70 pitches in 20 at bats (3.5 pitches per at bat), so he clearly has an aggressive approach at the plate. Of those 70 pitches he saw, several of them were clearly taken the entire way with no intent on swinging. With all of that said, he didn’t expand the strikezone all that much, but when you threw him a pitch close or in the zone, he was going to be swinging at it. His swings are very different from each side of the plate, but both are effective. He seemed to struggle a bit with breaking balls directly under his hands (most guys do), but if you leave it over the plate even a little bit, he will hit it.

Here is the breakdown of his at bats, pitch by pitch.

Pitch	Type	Location	Result	Play Result	P	Notes
1	FB	Middle Outside	Takes	Ball	RH
2	CH	Middle High	Swings	Swing K	RH
3	CH	Middle Middle	Swings	Foul	RH
4	FB	Middle Outside	Swings	FO to LF	RH	Out
5	CH	Middle Middle	Swings	Swing K	RH
6	FB	Middle Middle	Swings	LD to CF	RH	Single
7	CV	Low Inside	Swings	Swing K	RH
8	CV	Low Inside	Takes	Ball	RH
9	CH	Inside Middle	Swings	PU to C	RH	Out
10	FB	Outside Middle	Takes	Ball	RH
11	FB	Middle Low	Swings	LD to CF	RH	Single
12	FB	High Outside	Takes	Ball	RH
13	FB	High Outside	Takes	Called K	RH
14	CV	Low Outside	Swings	Foul	RH
15	CV	Low Middle	Swings	Foul	RH
16	CV	Low Middle	Swings	Swing K	RH	Out
17	FB	Low Inside	Takes	Ball	LH
18	FB	Middle Outside	Swings	Foul	LH
19	CV	Middle Middle	Swings	GB to LF	LH	Single
20	FB	Middle Outside	Takes	Ball	RH
21	FB	Middle Inside	Swings	Foul	RH
22	FB	Middle Inside	Swings	Foul	RH
23	CV	Low Inside	Takes	Ball	RH
24	CV	Middle Outside	Swings	LD to CF	RH	Single
25	CV	Low Outside	Takes	Ball	RH
26	FB	Low Outside	Takes	Ball	RH
27	CV	Low Inside	Swings	Swing K	RH
28	CV	Low Outside	Swings	GB to 2B	RH	Out
29	FB	High Middle	Swings	GB to 2B	RH	Out
30	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Called K	LH
31	FB	Middle Dirt	Takes	Ball	LH
32	CH	Low Outside	Swings	Swing K	LH
33	FB	Middle Inside	Swings	Foul	LH
34	CV	Middle Inside	Swings	GB to 3B	LH	FC Error
35	CV	Outside Low	Swings	Swing K	LH
36	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	LH
37	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	LH
38	CV	Outside Middle	Swings	LD to CF	LH	Single
39	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	RH
40	CV	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	RH
41	CV	Outside High	Swings	FB to RF	RH	Out
42	FB	Outside High	Takes	Ball	RH
43	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	RH
44	FB	Inside Middle	Swings	GB to 1B	RH	Out
45	CV	Middle Middle	Takes	Called K	RH
46	FB	Middle Middle	Swings	Foul	RH
47	FB	Middle High	Takes	Ball	RH
48	CV	Outside High	Swings	GB to 1B	RH	Out
49	CV	Middle Inside	Swings	LD to RF	RH	Single
50	FB	High Outside	Takes	Ball	RH
51	FB	Low Middle	Swings	Foul	RH
52	FB	High Inside	Swings	Foul	RH
53	CV	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	RH
54	FB	Middle Outside	Swings	LD to LF	RH	Double
55	FB	Low Inside	Takes	Ball	LH
56	FB	Middle Outside	Takes	Called K	LH
57	CV	Middle Outside	Swings	Swing K	LH
58	CV	Low Outside	Swings	GB to 3B	LH	Out
59	FB	Middle Outside	Takes	Ball	LH
60	CV	Middle Low	Takes	Ball	LH
61	CV	Low Inside	Takes	Ball	LH
62	FB	Middle low	Takes	Called K	LH
63	FB	Outside Low	Swings	Swing K	LH
64	FB	Outside Low	Swings	Foul	LH
65	CV	Outside Low	Swings	Foul	LH
66	CV	Inside Low	Swings	Swing K	LH	Out on good CV
67	FB	Inside Low	Swings	GB to 2B	LH	Single off glove of 2B up the middle
68	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	RH
69	FB	Outside Low	Takes	Ball	RH
70	FB	Inside Low	Swings	LD to RF	RH	Single

Final Notes

While he didn’t really show any power to speak of, and if you have gotten The Prospect Guide in either of the past two years you know that his power is very limited except for the pull side (from either side of the plate), he is still rather fresh off of a broken thumb, which can sap some power. Of course he also isn’t a big power guy, so perhaps he just didn’t tap into it in this series and showed off his slap hitting skills. Ideally you would like to see him be a little more patient at the plate, but he shows off a good ability to make contact and can hit the ball to all fields. I still wonder if because of his size and his move to third base if he won’t be pigeonholed into a utility type of role without ever being given a shot as a full time player at the MLB level because he doesn’t profile as your typical corner bat.

Looking at the future: Cincinnati Reds Third Basemen

Looking at the future: Cincinnati Reds Second Basemen