Now fully healthy, Joely Rodriguez is proving his value
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The 2023 campaign has been full of ups and downs for Joely Rodriguez. The veteran reliever signed with the Red Sox in the offseason after appearing in a career-high 55 games for the Mets in 2022. However, injuries have limited him to ten games. Although things haven’t gone as planned, Rodriguez has started to turn his season around now that he is fully healthy.
Since being activated from the injured list on July eighth, Rodriguez has not allowed a run in five appearances. In that span, the 31-year-old has struck out six batters and held opponents to a .176 batting average. After entering the month with an ERA of 18.00, his ERA now sits at 8.00.
Rodriguez’s success this month is partly due to his ability to limit baserunners. The Dominican native has only allowed three hits and not walked a batter. In his first five appearances of the season, the veteran lefthander allowed seven hits and walked six batters.
Although his sample size is small, Rodriguez has been a different pitcher of late. He is proving to be a reliable option for Alex Cora after it appeared earlier in the season that his signing would go down as a failure. Rodriguez’s recent success has been a welcoming sign for the Red Sox, who own the best record in the AL since June 14th.
Over the last few weeks, the Red Sox bullpen has been a strength due to the emergence of young pitchers such as Chris Murphy and Josh Winckowski. Having an experienced arm such as Rodriguez at his best down the stretch will be critical.
As the playoff race heats up, the key for Rodriguez will be control. So far this month, 43 of the 65 pitches he has thrown have been strikes. His ability to throw strikes has allowed him to be aggressive and attack hitters.
After months of waiting, the Red Sox are finally seeing the version of Rodriguez they were hoping to get when they signed him to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2024 season in November.
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