Rodriguez wins one position player battle, helps solve another

He’ll open the season as the Pirates’ top backup at catcher and first base.

The Pittsburgh Pirates opened spring training with a glaring hole at first base and a handful of candidates looking to take advantage of the opportunity to make the Opening Day roster.

With Spencer Horwitz sidelined after surgery on his right wrist, everyone from veterans Darick Hall and DJ Stewart to rookies Billy Cook and Nick Yorke to versatile infielders Adam Frazier and Jared Triolo got a chance to play first base.

Everyone except Endy Rodriguez.

“To say that was the plan all along,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, “I would be lying to you.”

Shelton’s telling the truth. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington ruled out Rodriguez at the start of spring training, with good reason.

Rodriguez was battling 2021 No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis to be the backup catcher to Joey Bart, so the Pirates wanted him to concentrate on his top position after missing the majority of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow.

“I think, for right now, we’re just going to focus on catcher,” Cherington said Feb. 12, the opening day of big-league camp. “He missed a full season, obviously a significant rehab. We really believe in him as a catcher, believe he can be an everyday catcher in the future. Coming off the rehab, we want to give him a chance to settle in at that position. We know he can do other things, and down the road if circumstances suggest that we should revisit that, we can revisit it but certainly early in spring training, I expect he will be focused on (catching).”

The Pirates always knew that, if all else failed, they had Rodriguez playing first base as a possible backup plan. And, one by one, everybody else failed. That left Triolo, a natural third baseman who won the NL Gold Glove as a utility player last season. Triolo proved he can play every infield and outfield position, but keeping him at first base limits the versatility that makes him so valuable.

When the Pirates optioned Davis to Triple-A Indianapolis on Saturday night, Rodriguez became the top backup at two positions.

“Honestly, I think we had to make sure he was going to be the decision for the second catcher, that he was going to be the guy. We didn’t want to shortchange that decision,” Shelton told reporters before Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. “If we push him somewhere else, say ‘Hey, you’re going to do this first,’ and then decide that it’s not him, I don’t think it would’ve been fair to him, in terms of it. So, we knew we had it in our back pocket.”

Although he came up primarily as a catcher, Rodriguez also played first base, second base, left field and right field in the minor leagues. That includes eight games at first in 2023 and one game last season, all at Triple-A Indianapolis. Where Shelton had reservations was counting on Rodriguez at first with the potential of keeping Davis as backup catcher.

“It wouldn’t have been thoughtful of us to throw something else on his plate and then he doesn’t make the team,” Shelton said. “I think we wanted to make sure. It wasn’t anything we hid. We wanted to give the full chance because we view him as a catcher. We view him as a catcher long-term. So now that we have the ability to pivot a little bit, we will do that.”

The switch-hitting Rodriguez offers a complement to the righty-hitting Triolo, so keeping him as the backup catcher made sense after he hit .321/.486/.571 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, six RBIs and more walks (nine) than strikeouts (five) through 14 Grapefruit League games. Rodriguez has filled out his 6-foot frame to 210 pounds, adding noticeable upper-body muscle without sacrificing his athleticism.

“I think it’s a credit to him,” Shelton said. “I know how he came back and played a little bit down here, Altoona and Indy last year, but I think it’s a credit to how he dominated his offseason. His body looks completely different. He’s added strength. But, really, just the quality and patience within his at-bats is what really stood out.”

The rest of the Pirates’ starting position players were penciled in before camp started: Bart at catcher, Nick Gonzales at second base, Isiah Kiner- Falefa at shortstop, Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base, Tommy Pham in left field, Oneil Cruz in center and Bryan Reynolds in right. With Andrew McCutchen as the designated hitter and Frazier assured a spot as the utility infielder, that leaves two spots among position players on their Opening Day 26-man roster.

The ability for Rodriguez to play two positions gives the Pirates some flexibility with those final roster decisions. They can go with five outfielders and keep both Ji Hwan Bae and Jack Suwinski, who have had outstanding springs at the plate and in the field. The Pirates could get creative and choose to keep a versatile veteran like Stewart or Nick Solak but to do so would require a 40-man roster move.

If there’s one thing the Pirates should have learned throughout the process of finding a first baseman this spring, it’s that there’s no need to get cute when the obvious answer is already there.