Yariel Rodríguez Earned Another Shot To Prove His Worth
After DFA-ing Eric Lauer, the Blue Jays are giving Yariel Rodríguez a well-earned chance to regain his spot in their big league bullpen.
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With yet another problem facing the Toronto Blue Jays‘ starting rotation, more names are being added to the mix. In 2025, they used 34 pitchers throughout the regular season (excl. position players), and this year they’ve already used 21 arms. Fifteen pitchers started games for the team last year, and nine different names have already done so for them in 2026.
Yariel Rodríguez spent the first chunk of the 2026 season in the minor leagues redefining himself on the mound and trying to show the Blue Jays his capabilities. He’s finally getting a chance to prove himself in the majors this season.
Toronto came into 2026 with what seemed to be a wealth of pitching options after adding Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to a rotation that already contained names like Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, and Shane Bieber. However, the injury bug has already bitten the Jays more than virtually any other team, and their depth has been tested.
The latest hit to their depth, however, didn’t involve an injury but rather a lack of success on the field. As a corresponding move for the struggling Eric Lauer being designated for assignment, the Blue Jays called up Rodríguez to give the Cuban right-hander another chance at securing a permanent role in their bullpen.
Establishing His Role
Rodríguez has proven himself at the MLB level in each of the last two seasons, the first as a starter and the second as a reliever.
In 2024, he joined the Jays on a five-year, $32 million contract and went 1-8 with a 4.47 ERA over 21 starts and 86.2 innings of work (~4.1 IP/start). He had a very high walk rate (10.9%) and was giving up a lot of hard contact. Still, he was overall a solid option on a 74-win Blue Jays team.
In 2025, he took on a role as a reliever. That’s how he earned his Jays contract to begin with, thanks to a 1.15 ERA workload over 54.2 innings in Japan’s NPB in 2022. This seemed to do wonders for Rodríguez’s effectiveness, giving him the opportunity to unleash his pitches in a more comfortable way in shorter and more frequent outings.
He posted a 3.08 ERA over 73.0 innings of work in which he allowed just 50 hits and completely reworked his arsenal. His four-seam fastball gained nearly 2.0 mph, and he featured his slider as his primary pitch, garnering a .134 opposing batting average and a 37.2% whiff rate on it. It was one of just 10 sliders league-wide to notch a Baseball Savant Run Value of +11 or higher.
Rodríguez was incredibly effective, with a 1.55 ERA in 42.0 innings over the months of May to July. Among all relievers who pitched at least 35 games over this span, Rodríguez had the second-best ERA, only behind his future teammate Tyler Rogers (1.38 ERA).
This is to show that Rodríguez has proven himself effective at the MLB level and is capable of holding down a spot on Toronto’s pitching staff. But will he return as the 2024 or 2025 version of himself?
Dominance in Triple-A
Rodríguez spent the first six weeks of 2026 with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. In 11 games, he posted a 2.63 ERA and 2.08 FIP over 13.2 innings. He struck out 25 batters and allowed just seven hits (zero home runs). The 29-year-old performed very well against the highest competition that MiLB has to offer, and it was about time he got the chance to return to the MLB level.
Rodríguez got phased out of Toronto’s bullpen after a poor performance late in 2025. He gave up 13 runs (12 earned) and 17 walks in his final 20 frames of the 2025 regular season, and another three runs on four walks and two home runs in 2.2 playoff innings. He was sent outright to the minors during the offseason.
This spring, he allowed seven runs over just three innings (21.00 ERA) around his three appearances for Team Cuba in the World Baseball Classic. He failed to make his way back onto the Blue Jays’ roster and started the season with Triple-A Buffalo.
This might’ve actually been a great decision for Rodríguez, as he was able to switch up his pitch arsenal and gain more confidence before being thrust back up against big league competition. He’s begun using his splitter much more frequently in 2026, tossing it 29.8% of the time in the minors for nearly an 18% increase from his 2025 numbers.
The splitter has easily been his most effective pitch, garnering a 75% whiff rate to go along with a .054 xwOBA. In 2025, it had the fourth-most horizontal break among all qualified splitters in MLB (15.4″). Two of the three pitchers ahead of him were fellow Blue Jays Kevin Gausman and Jeff Hoffman.
Rodríguez rejoins the MLB squad with a devastating pitch mix that can potentially make him one of Toronto’s most lethal bullpen options.
Where Does Rodríguez Fit In?
Rodríguez is taking Lauer’s spot on the active roster, which might indicate that he’ll get some looks as a bulk reliever/opener if the team decides to go with a bullpen game for one of their five rotation spots. Lauer struggled mightily as a starter this season, and Toronto went 2-6 in his eight appearances, so any success Rodríguez brings will be welcomed with arms wide open.
The righty made his first MLB appearance of 2026 on Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays, tossing one inning of relief with two strikeouts and one hit allowed. If his future with the Jays lies in their bullpen, where he’s at his best, he’s already proven in 2025 that he can handle the responsibilities and workload as a reliever.
Rodríguez appeared in 66 games for Toronto last season, and 47 of these outings came on two or fewer days’ rest. He also threw at least 25 pitches in nine different outings last year and pitched at least two innings in seven games, proving that he can give some longevity if the Jays want him to fill more of a long-relief role.
The main reason for this move, however, was to get rid of the unsuccessful Lauer from the team’s active roster. Lauer has a 6.69 ERA over 36.1 innings and leads the American League in home runs allowed (11). He’s seen an all-around drop in his production from a strong 2025 season.
Lauer’s tenure as a Jay might be over, but Rodríguez still has some time left to prove himself, and this is his chance.
Closing Thoughts
Yariel Rodríguez has a golden opportunity to re-capture a spot in Toronto’s bullpen after having an up-and-down season in 2025. Thanks to the Jays’ decision to move on from Eric Lauer, he’ll have that chance. Boasting a strong pitch arsenal and one of the better splitters in the league, Rodríguez will have to show that he deserves the chance to hold this position.
After a rough 2025 postseason and spring training earlier this year, he’s proven himself at the Triple-A level and is getting acclimated back into an MLB workload. The Blue Jays are 18-24 through their first 42 games, and they sit fourth in the American League East division, so they’re going to be looking for as many good outings as possible from all their players.
Hopefully, Rodríguez can make the most of this opportunity and help the Jays in the process, as they’ll need to go on a really good stretch soon if they want to keep themselves in the playoff picture.
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Ethan has been writing for Just Baseball since 2024 and is fascinated by how sabermetric statistics can assist our understanding of outcomes and probability in baseball.…