Elmer Rodríguez just made a statement over veteran Yankees pitcher for bullpen job

Coming down the stretch, how the Yankees manage their pitching staff is going to matter just as much as anything happening on the actual field. What the rotation looks like heading into October, how the long relief innings get covered, and who's trusted in high-leverage spots will go a long way toward deciding whether this team is built for a real run.

Plus, that picture got a lot murkier this week when setup man Fernando Cruz landed on the injured list with a partially torn UCL that's likely to end his season. Losing a reliever who'd been stranding inherited runners at an MLB-leading rate raises the stakes on every other arm on the staff — Clarke Schmidt, and now Elmer Rodriguez included.

Schmidt working his way back from a second Tommy John surgery is great news for this pitching staff, and nothing about this is a knock on him or what he could still provide once he's built back up. He has real weapons, including a deadly knuckle curve, against which hitters managed just a .153 average and a .203 slugging percentage back in 2025. It's fair to expect that pitch, like the rest of his stuff, to play up in shorter relief stints the same way it does for most starters who move to the bullpen. This isn't about doubting Schmidt. It's about the excitement building around what Elmer Rodríguez is doing right now, with real data behind it.

Elmer Rodriguez pitch mix is a great fit for the Yankees' bullpen

Rodríguez's sweeper and changeup have graded as legitimate plus pitches by proStuff+ (where 100 is league average) since he has toed the rubber in the big leagues. Back on May 5, his sweeper already checked in at 106 and his changeup at 105. Fast forward to his most recent big-league outing on Wednesday night (his first since June) and both pitches have only gotten sharper — the changeup up to 111, the sweeper up to 107.

Here's the part that should really get fans excited. Compare his fastballs from that June 21 start to Wednesday: his sinker jumped from 95.8 to 97.2, and his four-seamer climbed from 95.1 to 97.1. Two full miles an hour on both pitches, in the same start where his proStuff+, proLocation+, and proPitching+ all graded out at or above league average (98, 102, and 100, respectively).

That kind of jump late in his rookie season looks like a young pitcher simply getting more comfortable on a big-league mound, and it raises a real question: if his heater is already ticking up as a starter pacing himself through five or six innings, what does that fastball look like in a one-inning relief burst? It's not hard to imagine the sinker or four-seamer joining the changeup and sweeper as another plus pitch in short stints, rather than just being used to pitch off of as a starter.

The other benefit of a bullpen role is usage. As a starter, Rodríguez has had to spread his pitch mix, using five offerings to keep hitters off balance multiple times through the order. In relief, he wouldn't need to worry about that at all. He could lean on the changeup and sweeper far more often — the two pitches the data says are already his best weapons — and let them do the damage against both righties and lefties instead of saving them for strategic moments.

This isn't a question of who deserves it more, and let's be honest: we have no idea how the Yanks and the front office plan to manage the rotation/bullpen situation for the rest of the year and who makes the postseason roster. It's more about a 22-year-old who's already shown, with data backing it up, that his best pitches keep getting better, and that his stuff is ticking up exactly when the games really start to matter. He should have a spot no matter what the role.

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