Grayson Greer Rodriguez (born November 16, 1999) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). The Orioles selected Rodriguez in the first round of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In ad ...

. He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Rodriguez attended

Central Heights High School Central Heights High School is a public high school located in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States, and classified as a 3A school by the UIL. It is part of the Central Heights Independent School District located in north central Nacogdoches Cou ...

Nacogdoches, Texas Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchito ...

. As a junior, he had a 14–1

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 0.38

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA), leading Central Heights to the 3A state title. He signed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

Professional career

The

selected Rodriguez in the first round, with the 11th overall selection, of the

. On June 12, 2018, Rodriguez signed with the Orioles for $4.3 million. He made his professional debut with the

Gulf Coast League Orioles The Florida Complex League Orioles are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Before 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Orioles. The team plays its hom ...

and spent the whole season there, going 0–2 with a 1.40 ERA in nine games (eight starts). Rodriguez spent 2019 with the

Delmarva Shorebirds The Delmarva Shorebirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Salisbury, Maryland. They are members of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Their home games are played at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. The Shor ...

, earning

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

All-Star honors. That July, Rodriguez represented the Orioles at the 2019

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National Le ...

. Over twenty starts with Delmarva, he went 10–4 with a 2.68 ERA, striking out 129 batters over 94 innings. Rodriguez did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. To begin 2021, he was assigned to the

Aberdeen IronBirds The Aberdeen IronBirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in the city of Aberdeen in Harford County, Maryland. They are the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles and compete in the South Atlantic League. They were previously members of ...

. He was promoted to the

Bowie Baysox The Bowie Baysox are a Minor League Baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and play in the Eastern League. Their home ballpark is Prince George's Stadium. History From 1989 to 1992, ...

during the season. Over 23 starts between the two teams, he went 9–1 with a 2.36 ERA and 161 strikeouts over 103 innings. Rodriguez was assigned to the Triple-A

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

to begin the 2022 season. On June 2, 2022, it was announced that Rodriguez would miss time with a right lat muscle strain. He had compiled a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts with Norfolk at the time of his injury. On November 15, the Orioles added Rodriguez to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. On March 27, 2023, the Orioles announced that Rodriguez would not be part of the

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

rotation and would begin the year in Norfolk. On April 4, it was announced that Rodriguez would be starting on April 5 against the Texas Rangers. In his debut, he pitched five innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 4 hits, while striking out five, resulting in a

no decision A no decision (sometimes written no-decision) is one of either of two sports statistics scenarios; one in baseball and softball, and the other in boxing and related combat sports. Baseball and softball A starting pitcher who leaves a game witho ...

. He went eight innings without a walk in an 8–0 home win over the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

on September 16.Trister, Noah. "Henderson and Rodriguez help Orioles go a game up on Rays in AL East with 8-0 victory," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Saturday, September 16, 2023.
Retrieved September 16, 2023. For the season, he was 7-4, with a 4.35 ERA.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Grayson 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Nacogdoches, Texas Baseball players from Houston Major League Baseball pitchers Baltimore Orioles players Gulf Coast Orioles players Delmarva Shorebirds players Aberdeen IronBirds players Bowie Baysox players Norfolk Tides players