Giants recall reliever for MLB debut

The Giants announced Thursday that right-handed reliever Randy Rodriguez has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. Fellow righty Daulton Jefferies was optioned to Sacramento in his place. It’ll be Rodriguez’s MLB debut if he gets into a game.

Rodriguez, 24, is out to a terrific start in Sacramento, tossing 10 2/3 innings and yielding only a pair of runs on seven hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts. 

He entered the 2024 season ranked 11th among Giants prospects at FanGraphs and 28th at MLB.com. Both outlets praise him as a potential big league reliever, with FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice being a bit more bullish on Rodriguez’s athleticism improving his chances of eventually improving his currently shaky command.

Rodriguez misses plenty of bats with an upper-90s heater and hard slider, but he also walked 14 percent of his Double-A opponents last year and turned in a mammoth 20.7 percent walk rate in a sample of 37 2/3 innings following a move to Triple-A. 

He’s more than halved that walk rate in his first 10 appearances of the 2024 season (9.5 percent). That’s an encouraging trend, particularly since Rodriguez’s window to hone his command and cement himself as a big leaguer is dwindling — despite only just being called up for his debut. 

The Giants selected him to the 40-man roster following the 2021 season, meaning Rodriguez is already in the last of three minor league option years. He’ll be out of options in 2025.

Overall, Rodriguez has a 3.75 ERA in 261 2/3 minor league innings, but nearly all of his success has come at the Low-A, High-A and Double-A levels. 

This early stretch in 2024 is his first run of success in Triple-A. He’ll give the Giants a fresh arm following a bullpen game that saw them use five different pitchers to get through eight innings in a road loss to the Red Sox.