Rodriguez was announced as a shortstop,but can play second,third and the outfield as well.
This makes tons of sense for Pittsburgh as they have been unsuccessful in dealing for Jason Bartlett (traded to San Diego) or J.J. Hardy (looks headed to Baltimore as of this writing) and someone needs to spell Ronny Cedeno.I'll go further than that shortly,but Rodriguez will be a more effective and less costly version of the utility infielder that Neal Huntington goes after every off season and pays far more than the player is worth.
The last few examples of this were Chris Gomez,Luis Rivas,Ramon Vasquez and Bobby Crosby,who proved to be awful with the stick and leather and the Pirates were linked to another one of these types in Alfredo Amazega,which hopefully goes away with the drafting of Rodriguez.
Rodriguez's main tool is the bat and I think he hits a bit at the big league level.
Rodriguez hit well last season with an OPS of .862 at AA Akron (and mostly) AAA Columbus and I could see him hitting 10-15 homers if given the at bats.
Josh turns 26 in ten days and I can see that as somewhat of a red flag,but keep in mind that he missed most of 2009 and lost a year of development time.
I love the pick and will go as far as this-IF the Pirates give him the chance,Josh Rodriguez will be the everyday shortstop in Pittsburgh by the end of the season.
How's that for confidence?
The Pirates lost a player as well,as the Kansas City Royals took righthanded pitcher Nathan Adcock with the fifth overall pick.
Adcock was one of the players that the Pirates acquired from Seattle in the Jack Wilson trade and had his best pro season last year at High A Bradenton with an 11-7 record to go with a 3.38 ERA.
I saw him once after the trade with Lynchburg and he seemed to be average.
Nothing outstanding,but his 2010 placed him back on the radar.
I suspect the Pirates will have a decent chance of having him offered back sometime during the season.
Pittsburgh selected two players in the AAA phase of the draft in which you pay an amount and the player is yours without a return policy.
Bradley Chalk was a Padre second rounder in 2007,but the outfielder has had few highlights since.
Chalk has a grand total of two homers as a professional and looks like an organizational soldier type.
Travis Scott was selected from the Angels and looks to be a Tim Pahuta with a catchers mitt type.
The type of veteran that is nice to have at High A or AA,but is not a prospect of any sort...
In house story on Josh Rodriguez.
In 2006 when Rodriguez started at short season Mahoning Valley,Ryan and I stopped in Niles to catch a game,which turned out to be a season ending doubleheader.
Rodriguez was the star of the team and collectors had warned us that he was erratic in his signing (he proved to be pretty good when he played for Kinston).
On this day after some post-game festivities,it was obvious that he wanted to get out quickly.
As the team went through this stuff,a fellow that looked a lot like Tommy Chong stood next to us and wouldn't shut up about his "former POW" status.
He pimped this constantly and used it to have a shot at getting anything free that he could.
A line that still lives here with us and Battlin' Bob (who wasn't there) was this "Can a POW get a free t-shirt,man?"
"Chong" then rambled on about liking "number seven" and had a batboy tell Rodriguez (still in center with the team) that this guy wanted to meet him and "sign his POW hat".
Finally,when Rodriguez reluctantly came over,the guy did not have a sharpie or any other write apparatus either.
Ryan jumped in,offered his and then said "Josh,would you mind signing these few"?
Rodriguez signed and then left on a dead sprint out of Niles Ohio forever.
And I hope the POW still has his t-shirt and hat!!
Photo Credit-Jonathan Quilter-Columbus Dispatch
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