00:00The Yankees kicked off their Grapefruit League schedule here in Sarasota on Friday
00:04and the biggest impression I took away from this game was seeing Elmer Rodriguez pitch.
00:08He's one of the club's top pitching prospects.
00:12Out of a notable stage here, it's only Grapefruit League, but it's the opener
00:17and it was facing an Orioles lineup that was pretty close to what should be their opening day lineup.
00:22And he handled them pretty well.
00:24Threw three shutout innings, scattered three singles, struck out one.
00:28Kind of flashed a six-pitch arsenal, was able to kind of dice up opponents in different ways,
00:34but really also just leaned on getting outs to be on the ground.
00:37Seven of his nine outs were on the ground.
00:39But more than anything, he showed stuff-wise, you know, the Yankees were interested to see
00:43what he looked like, how he handled the environment.
00:46Just kind of his poise, both Aaron Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake said that they were impressed by it.
00:51You never know how young guys kind of react to a stage like this,
00:56just facing big league hitters for the first time.
00:58And even though it is just, you know, a Friday afternoon in Florida in February,
01:02but they said they were impressed with how he handled it.
01:05It looked like he was under control, didn't make the moment too big, which is good for Rodriguez.
01:09Obviously, he's going to get a, you know, level up in competition here soon.
01:12He's going to go pitch for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic next week,
01:16which he's looking forward to very much.
01:18But, you know, that's another opportunity for him, too, to show the Yankees what he's capable of.
01:24It's a guy that, you know, he finished last year in AAA.
01:27He's probably going to end up starting the year back there,
01:30assuming the Yankees get through camp with relatively full health.
01:33But, you know, him and Carlos LeGranje are two of their top pitching prospects
01:37that have a lot of people in the organization excited.
01:40And Rodriguez, who pitched here today, showed a lot of people why.
01:42You get to see Carlos LeGranje tomorrow in the home opener, spring debut tomorrow at San Bernardino Field.
01:49But Rodriguez got the first shot and didn't disappoint.
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