The Road to The Show™: Grayson Rodriguez

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken to reach the brink of realizing his Major League dream. Here's a look at Baltimore Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez. For more player journeys on The Road to The Show, click here.

When the Orioles made Texas high schooler Grayson Rodriguez the 11th overall pick in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, it came as something of a surprise -- the final MLB Pipeline mock Draft had him going much later in the first round.

Two years on, it looks like Baltimore got a steal.

A 6-foot-5 right-hander, Rodriguez worked on his conditioning and added strength during his senior year at Central Heights High School in Nacogdoches, Texas. The commitment paid off when the Orioles, impressed with his heavy mid-90s fastball and solid four-pitch mix, signed him for $4.3 million. He was the third prep pitcher selected that year, behind Ryan Weathers (Padres) and Carter Stewart (Braves, but did not sign).

Reporting to the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in Sarasota, Florida, the 18-year-old immediately showed he belonged. In nine brief outings, Rodriguez posted a 1.40 ERA and struck out 20 without yielding a homer over 19 1/3 innings.

The real test came in 2019, his first full season as a professional. Despite being nearly three years younger than the average South Atlantic League hurler, Rodriguez, now 19, opened the campaign with Class A Delmarva. The Shorebirds knew right away they had something special, as the youngster fanned 10 batters over five scoreless, one-hit innings at Lexington.

In his home debut seven days later, Rodriguez was even better, holding Lakewood to one hit and striking out 10 more in six scoreless frames.

"The way he moves and the poise he has on the mound, that's probably what's really impressed me the most," Delmarva pitching coach Justin Ramsey told MiLB.com after Rodriguez’s second consecutive gem. "You're looking at the kid, he doesn't look like an immature high school kid that's in his first full season."

Rodriguez averaged 95 mph with his fastball in 2019 and has two breaking pitches -- a low-80s slider and mid-70s curveball -- with the potential to be at least average Major League offerings. One area of concentration throughout his season with the Shorebirds was developing his changeup, which MLB Pipeline already rates as above-average. It was his second-best pitch at times, and Rodriguez has gained the confidence to throw it against right-handed hitters as well as lefties.

“He's done a really good job of [mixing pitches]," Ramsey said. "And that's really our focus as an organization, which is developing weapons. He's done a really good job with what we've asked, in terms of trying to get the fastball on plate, get the breaking balls over, the changeups, get the development of those feels. That's the main focus for him right now."

If the rest of Rodriguez’s 2019 season wasn’t quite as dominant as those first two outings, it wasn’t far behind. He didn't yield an earned run in six of his remaining 18 starts, threw a perfect frame at the All-Star Futures Game in July and wrapped up the regular season with three hitless appearances in his last four starts.

In all, Rodriguez went 10-4 with a 2.68 ERA, 129 strikeouts and only four homers allowed over 94 innings. He held South Atlantic League foes to a minuscule .171 average, notched a 0.99 WHIP and earned a raft of awards, including the South Atlantic League’s Most Outstanding MLB Prospect award, and shared the Orioles organization's Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year award with Double-A righty Michael Baumann.

Thanks in no small part to his poise and performance at age 19, Delmarva finished the season with an outstanding 90-48 record and was named MiLB.com’s Team of the Year for 2019.

Now MLB.com’s No. 31 overall prospect -- and No. 2 in the Orioles system behind 2019 top overall pick Adley Rutschman -- Rodriguez came into camp this spring looking to improve his command while facing the challenge of better hitters at higher levels. That didn’t happen due to the coronavirus, but Rodriguez was assigned to Baltimore's alternate training site in late July and got the opportunity to hone his craft along with the top players in the organization.

Rodriguez turns 21 next month. When he next takes the mound in an official game, he’ll no longer be the 19-year-old phenom tearing up Class A -- he’ll be a mature pitcher on the doorstep of the Major Leagues.