Erik Boland: Why Yankees are quietly high on pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez
Yankees pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez throws during a spring training game on Feb. 20, 2026, in Sarasota, Fla. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
ARLINGTON, Tex. – Carlos Lagrange stole the show during Yankees spring training and for good reason.
Consistently throwing a 100+ mph fastball will do that, especially when you dominate hitters in live batting practice and immediately carry that success into Grapefruit League games.
But as much excitement as Lagrange stirred around the Yankees, privately the organization was more excited about their “other” top pitching prospect.
That pitcher was Elmer Rodriguez, a 22-year-old righthander slated to make his big-league debut Wednesday afternoon against the Rangers. He’ll likely get just a few starts in the majors, for now, with the rehabbing Carlos Rodon due back within the next three weeks.
“A dream of mine since I was a little kid,” Rodriguez, a Yankees fan growing up, said in the visitor’s clubhouse at Globe Life Field before Tuesday night’s game.
Rodriguez, who grew up on a chicken farm in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, flew a bit under the attention radar in the spring as the 6-7, 248-pound Lagrange continued overwhelming batters.
Part of it was Rodriguez departing spring training early as he was among the slew of Yankees who left for the World Baseball Classic, in the pitcher’s case to play for Team Puerto Rico.
But part of it, too, was Rodriguez’s stature and stuff. Rodriguez is 6-4, tall for a pitcher, yes, but he’s a sinewy 177 pounds. Unlike Lagrange, who dominates with his heat-seeking missile of a fastball, Rodriguez relies on what manager Aaron Boone called his “pitchability.”
Pitchability is a term often used by scouts to describe a pitcher who isn’t reliant on power, but who has a vast repertoire of pitches he can consistently dot the strike zone with to keep hitters off balance.
“First of all, I think he’s a guy we view, or I certainly do, as a guy who’s going to have a long career in this game as a starting pitcher,” Boone said. “He’s got a good arsenal that can get you a lot of ways. Good movement on his fastball, both two and four-seam. Spins the ball well. Athletic. Polished. Moves well on the mound. Good stuff.”
That stuff includes, as Boone referenced, a four-seam fastball and sinker, both of which sit in the 93-96 mph range. He throws a changeup that generally comes in 86-88 mph, and also mixes in a curveball, slider and cutter.
“He’s like a starter kit for a big-league starter,” one NL scout assigned to the Yankees’ system said. “Throws a lot of strikes with a lot of different pitches. Quality stuff.”
Rodriguez, who received word at 11:40 Monday night he’d be headed to Texas, showed that stuff in his first four starts of the year with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, posting a 1.27 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and a .171 batting average against. In those four starts, comprising 21 1/3 innings, Rodriguez struck out 20 and walked seven.
“I’ve feel like I’ve been attacking guys with every single pitch,” Rodriguez said. “Feel confident throwing any single pitch in any single count. I feel like being more in the zone has helped me get better results.”
That Rodriguez has flown somewhat under the radar is not a surprise. When the Yankees traded for him during the winter meetings in December 2024, sending catcher Carlos Narvaez to the Red Sox, the deal caused barely a ripple as Rodriguez had not yet pitched above Double-A.
But it was known around the Red Sox organization that manager Alex Cora, fired last weekend by Boston, that Rodriguez was a pitcher he had high hopes for and preferred to stay in the organization.
Rodriguez had a solid 2024 season, posting 2.91 ERA between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville. But it was in 2025, his first year in the Yankees organization when he really took off, starting the season with High-A Hudson Valley and finishing it in Scranton (and posting a combined 2.58 ERA).
“He showed the ability to throw more consistent strikes than when he was with the Red Sox,” a rival AL scout in the spring of Rodriguez. “A legit 70 fastball (scouts use a 20-80 scale) that he can locate to both sides. Secondary stuff needs to improve, but that should come with more experience.”
In a WBC warmup game against the Red Sox in Fort Myers shortly before the start of the tournament, Rodriguez allowed one hit and struck out two in three scoreless innings.
“The WBC is going to make him a better player,” Cora said that day, according to The Boston Globe. “We’re going to have to deal with him at one point in his career.”
Cora, at least this season, won’t.
But the Yankees, and Rodriguez, get to see how he deals for real at this level starting Wednesday.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
