Rodriguez Has Big Expectations to Fill
With fan unrest ebbing and flowing over the past year, and with several big boppers and starting pitchers still left on the board, perhaps this wasn’t the best time to roll the dice on a draft pick. Yet that’s what YS0 GM Ron Collins has just done, drafting unheralded catcher Jesus Rodriguez with the last pick in the first round supplimentals. Fans, who were clearly looking for one of the above, appeared restless at first before sprouting a smattering of boos and catcalls.
“Nothing against the kid,” said Nancy Mae Davis, a machine operator at the local steel shop. “But we wanted someone with some serious lumber or a fastball that does the dipsy. Our front office is for shit.”
Instead, they got a left-handed hitting catcher Jesus Rodriguez, whose bat projects to be only mediocre, but whose glove is already being dreamed of as elite. Key words: “dreamed of.” Rodriguez grades out well, but he’s got a long way to go.
“Jesus is a unique talent,” said assistant GM Phillip Watson, who was sent out to meet the fans and press after the announcement while fulltime GM Ron Collins stayed sequestered in order to prepare for the second round. “He’s a guy who should be able to dominate the game from behind the plate. That we think he’ll project to be a real contributor with the bat made him like no other player on the board. Honestly, we considered him with our first pick, but decided early on that if he was available here we’d jump on him.”
Watson went on to discuss how impressed the YS9 scouting group was at Rodriguez's arm and the way he worked behind the plate during a pre-draft workout. "He had all the skills: blocking, framing, and a big arm that should help shut down the run game," Watson said. The club also praised his approach to the game and his focus on team mates.
It’s the second time in two seasons that the team has reached for such a contributor, having picked elite shortstop Luis Pena with a deep supplemental pick last year. Pena is another player the team hopes will be able to post league-average offensive numbers but play shutdown defense at a key spot. In his case, that plan has been so-far-so-good to date, as Pena has danced his way through Rookie ball and into A-level this year, where he’s posting solid numbers both offensively and with the glove. There are some whispering that he should be playing shortstop for the parent club now.
While the front office clearly has visions of a club that includes Pena at short and Rodriguez behind the plate (a vision that YS9 pitchers are probably drooling over, too), the jury is out on Rodriguez’s true future. That said, the lefty hit .315/.417/.580 with RCA in the college circuit. Expect him to start in the same rookie level Pena did, and let’s see what happens. Rodriguiz is considered an easy sign by team insiders, so can expect to get a full season of development in.
Of course, some more adroit fans might ask about what this means for the current top catching prospect in Kazuki Saito, who was also drafted last season and had a solid enough first year. “We like The Great Kazu, too,” Watson said. “Nothing would be better than to have both those guys pushing each other for playing time.
The fans, however, seem perplexed—a situation that might only be remedied by a collection of “W”s next sim.
