Back on November 22nd Escogido had a doubleheader on the schedule. The game began with a single by Hector Rodriguez, but he tried to extend the play and turn it into a double. He was tagged out on the play. His manager challenged the call but it was upheld. The next inning Rodriguez was due up 5th and after a 2-out walk and a single his spot came around but he was pinch hit for. That was the last time he played in a game for nearly two weeks.
On Tuesday night he came off of the bench as a pinch hitter. Wednesday evening he was back in the lineup for Escogido, playing center field, and he was leading off. The 20-year-old was hitting .333 entering the game, having had hits in nine of his 11 games. That average went up as Rodriguez picked up three singles in his five at-bats.
With his three hits against Estrellas, Hector Rodriguez raised his average to .364 through 12 games. He’s 16-44 with a double, home runs, and a steal. His slash line is up to .364/.375/.455 in his 48 plate appearances. That .830 OPS is much better than the league average, where hitters are posting a .244/.327/.351 line at this point of the season. The average age of a hitter in the league is also 29-years-old. Rodriguez can’t legally buy alcohol in the United States until halfway through spring training in 2025.
Another young player who is performing well in winter ball this year is Edwin Cervantes. The 20-year-old left-handed reliever spent the 2024 regular season pitching in the Arizona Complex League and things didn’t exactly go his way. In his 15 games he posted an ERA of 9.89, giving up 37 hits and walking 15 batters in 23.2 innings. He did strike out 31 of the 123 hitters he faced.
For the third time in the last four seasons he’s pitching in the Mexican Winter League. He pitched in one game back in 2022 and then seven of them in 2023. This year he’s back with Guasave, along with several other Reds prospects, and he’s getting the job done. In 10 games he’s allowed one earned run and thrown 8.2 innings. He’s walked a fine line, though, as he’s given up five hits, walked four batters, and hit three others while picking up seven strikeouts. Half of the batted balls against him have been on the ground and that’s certainly helped him keep runners from rounding too many bases.
Like Rodriguez, Cervantes is very young for the league. The average pitcher is 28. The average hitter is 29. Cervantes just turned 20 back in September. He’s having more success in 2024 than he had in his previous two stints pitching with Guasave, where he had allowed four earned runs in 6.1 innings (5.69 ERA).