Pirates Prospect Watch: Endy Rodriguez Emerging As Bucs’ Most Interesting Prospect

When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Endy Rodriguez in January 2021 in the three-team trade that sent Joe Musgove to the San Diego, Padres he wasn’t necessarily considered the main piece heading to Pittsburgh.

In fact, the Pirates essentially acquired Rodriguez from the New York Mets in exchange for left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi, who went from the Padres to the Mets in the deal via the Pirates.

Rodriguez had a solid track record in his first couple seasons of professional baseball, but hadn’t quite emerged on the national scene. In 2021, Rodriguez was rated as the Bucs’ 19th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Now, the 22-year-old is considered one of the top prospects in Pittsburgh’s system, and is trending towards becoming a Top 100 prospect across multiple outlets.

Rodriguez has really emerged on both sides of the ball this season. He began the year in High-A Greensboro, where he hit .302 with a .936 OPS, 23 doubles and 16 homers in 88 games.

The success at the plate led to a promotion to Double-A Altoona, where Rodriguez has been red hot. In his first 15 games with the Curve, Rodriguez is slashing .373/.448/.746 with with seven doubles, five home runs and 17 runs driven in.

Rodriguez’s defense behind the plate is coming along nicely. He has caught 36% of attempted base stealers so far in Altoona.

His success this season on both sides of the ball is just part of what makes him so intriguing.

Rodriguez is athletic and is a versatile player capable of manning multiple positions. In addition to playing catcher this season, Rodriguez has appeared at first base, second base and in left field. That gives the Pirates multiple avenues to get his bat in the lineup.

Rodriguez’s emergence this season has given the Pirates’ farm system a nice boost following the graduation of Oneil Cruz and Roansy Contreras.

Credit to the Pirates’ front office for eyeing Rodriguez in trade talks, and credit to their developmental system turning him into such an important prospect.

Rodriguez has just a couple more weeks left this season to continue to make an impact. How high his stock will continue to rise will be something to watch the rest of this year and heading into 2023.

It looks like the Pirates have something special on their hands.