Endy Rodriguez Has Won the Pirates’ Catching Job

Let me take you on a bit of an odyssey here.

2019, that offseason was my first full time on the Pirates beat and one of the big stories that winter after, everyone was fired and everyone was rehired was who is going to catch for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

They had let go of Elias Diaz, who was viewed as a long time, catcher of the future.

Let him go.

They tried a couple free agents, couldn't swing a trade.

They went with Jacob Stallings.

And for two years, Jacob Stallings was a very good catcher, a gold lover, a clubhouse leader, but a rebuilding club traded him.

And then 2022, you had Roberto Pérez, a one-year mercenary.

Doesn't really work out.

It just becomes a cavalcade of catchers off the waiver wire.

23, we see Endy Rodríguez get promoted.

We see Henry Davis come up as a right fielder.

Austin Hedges, another one-year mercenary.

Doesn't last the whole year.

But you're like, okay, Endy Rodríguez is the catcher.

And then he has the elbow surgery that winter.

And in 24, Henry Davis, the other guy who was viewed as one of the catchers of the future, he struggles offensively while they trade for Joey Bart, who is a waiver-wired deal.

And he has a really good season.

The outsider usurped the catcher position.

You're like, okay, well, Joey Bart's the catcher of the future.

Doesn't have a great 25.

Andy has another elbow injury.

Henry Davis struggles at the plate.

26 rolls around.

Henry Davis struggling at the plate.

Joey Bart struggling at the plate.

Endy Rodríguez in AAA because he just needs at-bats.

Andy comes up.

He gets the opportunity.

And he has really just run with it.

And if nothing else comes from that two-minute preamble to this episode, it's me saying the Pirates have their catcher.

Finally, it has been a journey.

But finally.

Good morning, and welcome to OffBeat here on North Shore Nine presented by FanDuel.

My name is Alex Stumpf, and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wednesday was a much-needed offensive explosion.

Just a good quality win.

Spencer Horwitz exits early, but, Valdez gets some at-bats.

He has a good game.

Everyone besides Jared Triolo contributes offensively.

Triolo makes a nice catch in the field.

Braxton Ashcraft, six innings of just being gross.

He is just so gross to watch pitch.

He is having a hell of a season.

Carmen Mlodzinski, not pitching on what would have been his normal start day.

And he goes and he throws the last three innings of this ballgame.

About as perfect a ballgame as the Pirates have played this year.

And at the center of it, I look at Indy Rodriguez, who had two hits.

He had that big RBI double that broke this game open.

Two hits, hard hit balls.

He drew a walk behind the plate.

Called a great game.

He was in control.

He challenged a couple times, won those challenges.

It was one of those games where you show.

He showed, I feel like, why he belongs at the center of the diamond.

Why the catcher position has always appealed to him.

Because he could just take control of a ballgame.

And not to take any flowers away from Ashcraft or Mlodzinski or any of the other hitters.

Indy was the guy watching this ballgame Wednesday.

Where it's like, yeah.

Yeah, he's just in complete control right now.

And it really felt like that a lot.

These last couple weeks.

Last couple months.

Whenever he got called up, I remember doing one of these off beats.

In saying, like, you have to make him the starter right now.

Because he needs playing time.

And you need a definitive answer.

Is this guy a major leaguer or not?

Now, a lot of his issues stem from the injuries.

Not just that he hasn't been able to play games and contribute that way.

But it also messed with the development timeline.

He had to catch up.

There's a lot of rehabbing.

Not as many games.

In 2023, in general, wasn't a great year for him.

Like, 22, he really emerged as a prospect.

Was the minor league player of the year.

Positioned himself as, like, a real contender for the catcher of the future.

23, he has the elbow injury in the April.

He doesn't get promoted until July.

Whenever he does get promoted, he doesn't really hit that well.

Like, defensively, game calling, having that feel of a major leaguer.

He did all that.

It just wasn't showing up on the back of the baseball card.

It was enough to be like, okay, I like what I saw.

The results will come.

And whenever you have two years where you don't play, that the results will come mindset.

You go, to borrow Rich Eisen phrase, you go to a higher register, it goes, oh, the hits will come.

Then he's hurt for a year.

The hits will come.

And then, the hits will come.

That was where we were with Endy coming into the year.

And while he had a really good spring training, in my opinion, I just never really thought that he was going to be the opening day catcher.

Or on that opening day roster.

Because he needed everyday at-bats.

He had a lot of baseball that he missed the last two years.

He wasn't in a position to be in a timeshare behind the plate in the major leagues.

He needed to be an everyday player.

And I think you're seeing the results of that right now.

The batting average is great.

The stats are solid.

The near 20% walk rate is really encouraging.

Mechanically, I see a guy who is simplified.

That the hands are quieter.

As he waits for the pitcher.

He's getting his front foot down.

That was a bit of an odyssey.

Especially last year.

He adopted that big leg kick.

And I don't think it helped his timing at all.

This year, it's a simpler motion.

I think he stays grounded better.

He gets his front foot down better.

I'm thinking this might be an article on Booker O'Bucks in the not-so-distant future.

But it's a really solid showing.

He looks like the type of guy that we all hoped he would be in 2022, 2023.

And whenever you have someone who can do that.

Who can be so sure of himself behind the plate.

We'll frame the ball well.

We'll frame the ball well.

It's the whole package.

Catcher has been such a mess in my time on the beat.

Of guys who are here for a good time, not a long time.

And in a lot of those cases, not even that good of a time.

you're just rolling through all the Tyler Heinemans.

And the Zach Collins and the Andrew Susex.

I can name every catcher they used in 2022.

Can you?

That's how...

You know what?

We're going to pause it right there.

Think of every catcher the Pittsburgh Pirates used in 2022.

I'll rattle them all off for you after this commercial break.

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Okay.

It was Roberto Pérez.

It was Andrew Knapp.

It was Josh Van Meter.

Who remember that was the Josh Van Meter year?

It was Michael Perez.

It was Jason DeLay.

It was Jose Godoy.

And it was Zach Collins.

These are the things that are forever put into my brain.

after years of covering the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I cannot tell you a single thing I learned in chemistry class in 10th grade.

But, this is what's actually important.

And I remember going through that 2022 year, just this whoever behind the plate, but thinking, there are two guys in the minor leagues who could change this, who could take this

job and keep it.

And Henry Davis, as much as he's grown defensively, and he has shown that guy who was playing right field, he can be a major league catcher, and he's become a darn good one defensively.

The bat is what it is.

The bat is what it is.

And he was then the best option internally of, can he just take this job and run with it?

And yeah, I know I'm talking about roughly, what, 90, 100 plate appearances here.

There's a long way to go.

There's a long way to keep showing that what he is doing is able to be replicated long term.

But if he's getting his front foot down, I think that's huge for his timing.

And we're seeing really good swings, in part because he's getting the contact point out in front, and he's driving the ball.

We've always seen that whenever he makes contact, it could be quality contact.

It could be hard.

But right now, he's elevating it.

He's driving the ball.

He's putting it gap to gap.

He's coming through in clutch situations.

That was a big double that he hit on Wednesday.

And this is a big part of the season.

The Pirates season, there is no bucktober if the Pirates do not take care of business in July.

And I'm not saying they need to go on a long winning streak, but I have said the phrase, keep the head above water countless times.

That's all they really need to do right now.

And it's tough.

And without, Oneil Cruz, without Konnor Griffin, without a reliable bullpen, you need guys to step up offensively.

And we've talked about how Bryan Reynolds has.

And we've talked about how, Jake Mangum and Callihan, two guys who maybe you wouldn't have expected to have.

And the performance that, O'Hearn and Brandon Lowe have had all year.

And he's entering that discussion too.

He is having the best at bats we have seen from him since he was a prospect in 2022.

I know there's still concerns.

I get people, why people would have pause about the elbow.

Because for three straight years, he suffered some form of elbow injury.

That is a real issue.

That is something that's, I think, always going to be a boogeyman.

But I don't think the Pirates make the Joey Bart trade if they weren't willing to go all in on Endy.

Because even though Henry Davis is a very good defensive catcher now, if Endy went down, Henry Davis and Rafael Flores Jr. is a tough catching duo

for a team that has postseason aspirations.

Endy, on the other hand, provides a high upside offensively and a really good upside defensively, as well as just being one of the glue guys, being one of the guys who's keeping that clubhouse loose,

who's keeping the pitchers in a good headspace, who's there to receive a good ballgame.

I watched Wednesday's game from the stands, actually, instead of the normal press box seat.

And I really was drawn to just how he was taking control of that ballgame.

Like, Ryan O'Hearn had a fantastic ballgame.

Everyone contributed in some way to a win.

And while I get Endy Rodriguez's stats may not have been the best on the night, they were really good, might not have been the best out of everyone in the lineup, you might have taken O'Hearn's or Reynolds' production.

I really felt like that game ran through the catcher.

That's something that we haven't really seen a lot of from the Pirates in the seven years I've covered this team.

They have been looking for a catcher of the future.

And I think there's a real good chance that he's in Pittsburgh right now.

Thank you so much for listening to OffBeat here on North Shore Nine, presented by FanDuel.

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Or check us out on YouTube if you want to see my smiling face in section 322.

Or, hey, if you want to just hear more 2022 buckos.

If you want to reminisce about Cal Mitchell and Travis Swaggerty and, oh boy, we can do this all day.

Chase DeYoung, great dude.

Thank you so much for listening.

I'm going to cut myself off before I get to Aaron Fletcher and all the other 2022 buckos.

Thank you so much for listening.

We'll talk again tomorrow.

All right.

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