Is Grayson Rodriguez a Budding Superstar for Baltimore Orioles?

It was a tough end for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, as they were eliminated for the second straight season in the first playoff series they played in. 

While the season didn’t end the way they would have liked, the Orioles were able to win 91 games in 2024, following up a 101-win season in 2023. Over the last two years, Baltimore has been one of the best teams in the league in terms of wins, and the future is still very bright. 

This campaign, the downfall of the Orioles really started in the second half of the season, as injuries to their pitching staff really led to their demise. 

Even though Baltimore had a great lineup, they were unable to pick up the banged up pitching staff enough. One of the starters that went down with an injury was right-hander, Grayson Rodriguez. 

The 23-year-old was the 11th overall pick of the Orioles in the 2018 draft, and the past few seasons he has started to make an impact. In 2023, Rodriguez got called up and totaled a 7-4 record, 4.35 ERA, and averaged 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings. While his rookie season was solid overall, the young pitcher was superb in the second half of the season, as he totaled a 5-2 record and 2.58 ERA in 76.2 innings. 

With the strong second half of his rookie season, it was easy to get excited about Rodriguez in 2024. Even with expectations higher coming off the strong second half, the 23-year-old had a great 2024 prior to seeing his season end prematurely. 

In his second season, Rodriguez had a 13-4 record and 3.86 ERA. Dating back to 2023, Rodriguez is starting to establish a big sample size, that he can be a very good pitcher and potentially an All-Star for Baltimore. 

His injury certainly hurt the Orioles in the second half of the season, as they ended up coming slightly short in the race with the New York Yankees in the AL East. If their young pitcher was healthy, he might have helped be the difference maker in winning the division. 

As Baltimore prepares for 2025, they will certainly be trying to bring back Corbin Burnes, as the franchise showed what they could accomplish with a healthy team in the first half of the season. 

For Rodriguez, his third season could end up being his breakout and potentially his first All-Star campaign.