Welcome to Cleveland, Johnny Rockets!

Johnathan Rodriguez makes his anticipated Guardians’ debut

Johnathan Rodriguez will be arriving in Cleveland today to take the role of corner outfield lefty masher from Ramon Laureano, who has been designated for assignment.

This move has been long desired among Guardians fans online, including in a recent article on Covering the Corner. Ramon Laureano was worth a flier in the desert wasteland of the Guardians’ outfield last year, but his 2024 was alarmingly bad, so far. Laureano had a 53 wRC+ (43 wRC+ vs. LHP) with a .260 xwOBA. His production against fastballs had fallen off a cliff since last season, perhaps indicating that the aging cliff has hit the post-PED user a little early. The Guardians have decided to eat the remainder of Laureano’s $5.15 million salary to take a look at an up and coming prospect, making this the second year in a row that veteran hitter additions to the roster have not exactly panned out.

Meanwhile, the Guardians welcome to the major league roster a player in Rodriguez who, since being promoted to Triple-A last season, has a 126 wRC+, a .230 ISO, and a 29.2/14 K/BB% while spending time defensively mostly in right field, as well as some time in left field and at DH. FanGraphs recently ranked Rodriguez as the 30th best prospect on the 2024 Guardians, saying he has potential to help on the short-side of an outfield platoon in the majors. Now, Rodriguez does have a 13.4% swinging strike rate at Triple-A (only 9.4% this year, however!) and a groundball rate over 48%, illustrating some whiff, chase and launch angle issues. But, what Rodriguez does is hit the ball extremely hard with an average exit velocity in the low 90’s.

Perhaps most importantly for the role Rodriguez will be asked to play, he has an OPS over .900 against LHP since 2021. It’s always a challenge for young players to succeed in part-time roles, but I think that’s what Rodriguez will be asked to do, handling right-field duties against left-handed starters and getting pinch-hit appearances against lefty relievers. If he can’t pull it off, the team and Rodriguez will know that a major league career for him is unlikely. If he handles opportunities against lefties, further opportunities against right-handers will present themselves.

Here’s a couple of those patented rockets from Johnny with the Captains:

And here’s one from this season:

Guardians fans should be excited to see a good, young player get his oppportunity to prove himself as a slugging outfielder at the majors, while remembering that the swing-and-miss issues and groundball issues are real. I met Rodriguez at Guards Fest and he was very kind in pitching batting practice to my four-year old son, so, for my money, he certainly deserves our support in rooting for him to succeed.

It’s also exciting to see the Guardians, this season, be willing to cut their losses on players like Myles Straw and Ramon Laureano without prolonging the experience when the likelihood of veteran players figuring it out becomes clearly slim. Designating Laureano and promoting Rodriguez is also part of the process of making the way to promote other prospects such as George Valera, Daniel Schneemann and, eventually, Chase DeLauter when and if the opportunity presents itself. Cleveland recognizes they have an opportunity to compete for a playoff berth and they are doing everything they can to make that possibility become a reality in terms of roster management.

Good luck, Johnny, and welcome to the show!