{"id":143319,"date":"2026-03-20T01:34:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/143319\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:34:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:34:26","slug":"pirates-decision-on-endy-rodriguez-tough-but-logical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/143319\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Decision on Endy Rodr\u00edguez Tough But Logical"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"EndyPhoto provided by Matt Lynch\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Despite a strong showing during spring training, the Pittsburgh Pirates optioned catcher\/first baseman Endy Rodr\u00edguez to Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez appeared in 10 Grapefruit Leagues for the Pirates and posted a .308\/.400\/.577 batting line with eight hits in 26 at-bats, one double, two home runs, six RBI and 10 runs scored. <\/p>\n

Given that Rodr\u00edguez has been far and away the Pirates\u2019 best catcher this spring, the decision to send him to the minor leagues is a tough one, but it\u2019s one that is logical and was always the likeliest outcome.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez missed most of last season due to a pair of injures. He missed about six weeks with a right hand laceration that took longer than expected to heal. After returning in late May, Rodr\u00edguez was again placed on the injured list due to an elbow injury that required season-ending surgery.<\/p>\n

It marked the second time in a little over a year and a half Rodr\u00edguez had significant elbow surgery. He had Tommy John surgery in the 2023-24 offseason and missed essentially all the ensuing season.<\/p>\n

While Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s performance coming off another surgery was encouraging, getting him regular playing time is more important considering he\u2019s only played in 36 games between the minor leagues and majors the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez is one of four catchers on the Pirates\u2019 40-man roster and will split time behind the plate with Rafael Flores at Indianapolis. He will also likely spend time at first base, and if healthy, will be needed by the Pirates at some point during the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Pirates Catching Plans Confirmed<\/p>\n

The expectation all along was that Henry Davis and Joey Bart would make up the Pirates\u2019 catching tandem to start the season. Optioning Rodr\u00edguez confirms that will be the case. <\/p>\n

Davis has turned into a strong defensive catcher and is a personal favorite of reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes. Bart, meanwhile, is the most veteran option of the group and has been a relatively solid offensive performer during his time with the Pirates.<\/p>\n

Neither player has looked particularly good this spring \u2014 Davis is 2 for 22 and Bart is 5 for 31 with 13 strikeouts \u2014 but the duo will look for much better results to start the season. Otherwise, Rodr\u00edguez will be waiting in Indianapolis as a potential replacement. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: Endy Rodriguez<\/a> Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> <\/p>\n

More about:Pirates<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo provided by Matt Lynch Despite a strong showing during spring training, the Pittsburgh Pirates optioned catcher\/first baseman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[34782,73,75,74,10997],"class_list":["post-143319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-endy-rodriguez","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-pirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}