Washington Nationals: Time for Jefry Rodriguez to tap into his potential

The Washington Nationals need a huge performance from Jefry Rodriguez on Sunday night against the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s time to tap into his potential.

Washington Nationals starter Jefry Rodriguez has a huge task in front of him, trying to tame the Philadelphia Phillies. But we’ve seen flashes on his potential, and if he can tap into it he’ll have some success.

So far, Rodriguez has made two big league appearances with the Nationals. An impressive emergency outing against the Atlanta Braves, but then a dud against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.

But among those two performances, there’s been plenty to be hopeful about. The young right-hander has flashed a great fastball that sits in the mid-90s, and one that he locates well. He also has a plus curveball that has gotten him six of his nine big league strikeouts.

More from District on Deck

However, he hadn’t used his changeup as his third pitch too much in those two outings. Byron Kerr of MASN mentioned that he will be looking to incorporate this more on Sunday.

If he can, then expect him to have a solid outing against the Phillies. They currently have the lowest runs above average in the majors against the changeup, according to FanGraphs, with negative 15.8.

Sunday’s start will likely be his last with the big league club in this stint. Jeremy Hellickson is making a rehab start with the Potomac Nationals on Sunday. This puts him on course to take Rodriguez’s spot in the rotation on Saturday next week.

With his impressive stuff, and showing he’s almost MLB ready, it could make him a valuable trade chip in July.

Plenty of non-contenders will have the patience the Nats won’t for a controllable starter that needs to work out some kinks.

We speculated that Rodriguez could be handy in acquiring Francisco Cervelli from the Pittsburgh Pirates. We saw them take a similar approach when they acquired Felipe Vazquez in the Mark Melancon trade. They bet on a young arm with all the tools, who just needed slight refinement with huge rewards.

The Nats can afford to deal him, with the likes of Erick Fedde, Seth Romero and Wil Crowe in the farm. But if not, he could easily be back in the rotation next year, given that he’s already on the 40 man roster, if Jeremy Hellickson and Gio Gonzalez leave.

Next: Mike Rizzo should target these catchers

Whether he’s traded or not, Jefry Rodriguez has certainly left a positive impression on the Washington Nationals. Hopefully, he can round out this stint in the bigs with a good outing on Sunday.

Home/Nationals News