PITTSBURGH (AP) — Before Paul Skenes. Before Konnor Griffin. Before Bubba Chandler. Before Henry Davis, there was Endy Rodriguez.
An athlete behind the plate who hit 25 homers as a 22-year-old in the minors, Rodriguez was one of the foundational pieces the Pittsburgh Pirates planned to build their future around. He arrived in the big leagues in 2023, bringing energy and swagger to a clubhouse in serious need of both.
Then, thanks to one weird swing
in the Arizona Fall League in late 2023, Rodriguez shredded his left elbow, costing him all of 2024. He returned in early 2025 — and oddly found himself moonlighting at first base — only to have his right elbow give out.
As he rehabbed, the Pirates grew up without him. The fear of missing out was real, which made the feeling as Rodriguez stood on second base after his first big-league hit in nearly a year during a 7-2 win over Colorado on Thursday so sweet.
“It feels good to be back,” Rodriguez said.
Perhaps just as importantly, it feels good to be remembered. The team he returned to earlier this week, when Joey Bart went on the 10-day injured list with a left foot infection, isn't the one he left last June.
The future the Pirates have been talking about since Ben Cherington took over as general manager in late 2019 has finally arrived. Pittsburgh is 24-20 and firmly in the mix a quarter of the way through the season, with perhaps the best young pitching staff in baseball anchored by the sublimely talented Skenes and an offense far better suited to compete.
Rodriguez's spot in the present — let alone the future — is hardly assured. It didn't used to be that way.
“He's a special player,” said pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski, who came up through the minors with Rodriguez before being reunited on Thursday. “I want to say he got swept under the rug a little bit in a sense, but he was like a superstar coming up.”
Acquired from the New York Mets as part of a three-team swap that sent pitcher Joe Musgrove from the Pirates to San Diego, Rodriguez was Pittsburgh's Minor League Player of the Year in 2022 when he smashed 25 homers and drove in 95 runs while sprinting through the club's farm system.
Rodriguez reached the majors in 2023, where he showed he was capable of handling a big-league pitching staff and flashes of what could be possible at the plate.
Then the injuries hit, the Pirates brought in Bart to pair with Davis, and Rodriguez became somewhat of an afterthought.
Asked if it felt like he was being left behind while Skenes, Griffin and Chandler morphed from prospects into cornerstones in what felt like a flash, Rodriguez shrugged.
“It's a good question,” he said. “It’s been a little tough because they’ve really grown fast. They’re smart boys. They compete every day. I just have to follow them.”
It wasn't supposed to be like this. No one knows that better than Rodriguez, who turns 26 early next month. Rehabbing from one season-ending injury is difficult enough. Trying doing it twice and being forced to watch from afar as the rebuild you were supposed to be a part of goes on without you.
“Being out, it takes more out of you than you think,” he said. “Mental stuff and body-wise, it's hard.”
Rodriguez wasn't exactly knocking down the door for a return at the time of his callup. He was hitting just .221 with one homer and 16 RBIs at Triple-A when Bart saw some discoloration in his left foot that has sidelined him indefinitely.
Whether Rodriguez will have the chance to get a nice, long look is anyone's guess. He made a solid first impression, doubling off the wall in right leading off the second inning, then providing a two-run single in the third for his first multi-RBI game since June 2023.
Back then, the future was wide open. It doesn't quite feel that way now. Not that Rodriguez tries to linger on what might have been. The way he looks at it, it's better to focus on what still could be.
“Watching them, it made me feel like, I've got to give more, even if I give 100%, I've got to give more,” he said. “It's pushed me to be better.”
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