It seems that Yorman Rodriguez has been around forever, and to be fair, he has been in the system longer than most players because he signed at age 16 for $2.7M in 2008 out of Venezuela. He has had an up-and-down career since making his debut in 2009, at times flashing big tools and production but at other times looking rather pedestrian in both parts of the game as well.
While at the Midwest League All-Star game in June I struck up conversation with a scout who is assigned to the Reds among other teams. We began talking about Rodriguez and he asked my opinion. To that point in the season I hadn’t had a chance to see him, so my answer was that I loved the tools and athleticism but was concerned about his plate discipline and how it wouldn’t allow his hitting tools to play up to their abilities. As I have noted before on the site, the scout told me that I needed to see him this year. He was right and the timing was perfect as Rodriguez made his debut with Pensacola the very next day where I would be able to watch him on Milb.tv as well as see him in person for a week while in Pensacola later in the year.
Scouting Report
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Hitting
Rodriguez hit just .259 this season between the two stops, though he was better at Pensacola where he hit .267. His raw hit tool is much better than that of a .260-.270 hitter. He can use the entire field and at this point in his career actually uses the opposite field more than he pulls the ball. He can hit the ball hard to all fields and players like that tend to be able to get a bit more out of their hitting. In terms of a pure hit tool Rodriguez has an above-average one.
Power
As it almost always happens, Rodriguez saw his power output drop off as he went from the California League to the Southern League. Overall on the season he had 35 doubles, 6 triples and 13 homers, though he slugged just .385 in half of a season in Pensacola. Of course power output and power potential are two entirely different things. As noted in the hitting portion, he goes the other way often and it doesn’t allow his power to play as well as the tool would suggest when he pulls the ball. The ball at times will jump off of his bat and carry much better than they would seem at the point of contact. As he continues to mature and learns to pull the ball when it is warranted it won’t be out of the realm of possibility to see him hit 25-30 homers annually.
Speed
Rodriguez has above-average to plus speed. He has been timed as quickly as 4.05 seconds from home to first, though he routinely falls in the 4.1-4.2 second range.
Fielding
Rodriguez could still play center field and actually spent nearly all of his time in center with the Bakersfield Blaze before shifting to right field with Pensacola. In right field, where he will likely end up in the long run he shows off outstanding range thanks to his speed at the position and he generally gets good jumps and takes solid routes to the ball. He projects as an above-average defender in the corner outfield position.
Arm
Rodriguez can really shine with his arm when he unleashes a throw. You can see an example or two in the video below of his plus throwing arm. He had 9 assists on the season this year, but had 8 while playing right field in Pensacola. In Bakersfield he only had one, but it should be noted that he played center there and center field is only 354 feet to center. Opposing teams probably weren’t pushing the limits with such a short throw.
Other
As noted earlier, the plate discipline had been a serious question in the past for Rodriguez but he really showed an understanding of the strikezone that he had not really shown in the past. With that said, there is still a bit of a concern over his contact rate, which is low at this point in his career. In order to get the most out of his hit and power tools Rodriguez will need to make more contact.
While I was in Pensacola, and you can probably notice it in the video below, there were times in which the bat speed didn’t seem to be there compared to the top end bat speed that he would show at other times. I am not sure what to really make of it, but it was something worth noting as one scout I talked to stated he didn’t see bat speed with Rodriguez and at the time he made the comment I wasn’t able to argue with him as I had noticed the same thing. However it showed up later in the series.
Overall
After a very disappointing season in 2012, Yorman Rodriguez rebounded well and re-established himself as a strong prospect in the system who wasn’t just skating by on raw tools but was once again showing skills on the baseball field. There are only a few players in the system who have five tools that are all average or better (in terms of raw ability) and Rodriguez has the best set across the board at this point in the entire system.
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Video