Last night on the Louisville Bats pregame show, Matt Andrews talked with Delino DeShields about Yorman Rodriguez and the Bats manager said that he wouldn’t play again this year. What wasn’t clear was whether or not that meant he wouldn’t play again this year for the Bats, who finish their season on September 7th, or if that was meant as in he is done for the year and wouldn’t even be able to play as a September call up with the Reds.
With that said, I’m not sure just how much it would matter which way it was meant. The last game that Rodriguez played in was on July 21st. So even in a scenario where he’d be able to play at some point after the Louisville season is over, it would be at least six weeks since he had last played a game and there would be nowhere for him to go to get even a quick rehab stint to get back into the feel of facing live pitching.
The timing of the calf injury for Rodriguez couldn’t have come at a worse time for him, as it has coincided with the Reds needing several outfielders to step up with the trade of Marlon Byrd and the shoulder injury to Billy Hamilton. The Cincinnati Reds would likely have called up Rodriguez to fill out one of those spots, as he had hit .309/.356/439 since June began with the Bats.
Instead he found himself on the disabled list and unable to join the Reds, where he could have gotten plenty of big league playing time that has gone to outfielders Jason Bourgeois, Skip Schumaker and Ryan LaMarre over the last several weeks. Next season, unless I’ve completely misread the rules, Rodriguez will have to stick on the big league roster as he will be out of options. This would have been the perfect opportunity to get the playing time under his belt on a regular basis before the start of 2016.