After injury setbacks, promising pitcher Grayson Rodriguez is set to bolster the Angels' rotation, eager to make 30 starts in 2026.
The Los Angeles Angels enter the 2026 MLB season with a lot of question marks, especially in the starting rotation.
At the start of the offseason, the Angels traded away outfielder Taylor Ward to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for pitcher Grayson Rodriguez.
Ward's name had surfaced in trade talks at the deadline, but the Angels managed to keep him and move him in the offseason instead.
Rodriguez has dealt with lat issues, and his last start in the MLB was on July 31, 2024. Rodriguez hit some injury setbacks in 2025 before undergoing debridement surgery on his right elbow that saw him miss the rest of the year.
However, Rodriguez is looking forward to a new start and pitching again.
“It feels a lot better,” Rodriguez said, via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “I'm pretty excited. Obviously, not pitching at all last year, it was terrible. But it just makes me twice as excited for this season, to go out there and try to make 30 starts.”
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki added that there are "no limitations" for Rodriguez, which is a promising sign for the Orioles.
Rodriguez was rehabbing in the minor leagues before he was ruled out for the season.
In 2024, Rodriguez went 13-4 with a 3.86 ERA in 20 starts, and the year before, he went 7-4 with a 4.35 ERA in 23 starts.
So, if Rodriguez can stay healthy, then he could be a solid addition to a rotation that has a lot of unknowns.
Jose Soriano, Yusei Kikuchi and Reid Detmers figure to be the locks for the starting rotation, and after that, it remains to be seen who grabs the final spots.
The Angels brought in former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah, but he needs a bounce-back year and an impressive spring training to get a spot.
Can Rodriguez get a spot in the rotation? If he is healthy and if he can pitch anywhere close to his 2024 form, it will be hard not to give him a chance, at least.
For now, Rodriguez isn't focused on that, but said he can only "control what you control."
“I haven't really focused on that,” Rodriguez said. “Just getting my work done. Control what you control, and everything will kind of handle itself. Obviously, I expect myself to be in that rotation. But that's not really what I'm worried about right now.”
Rodriguez certainly has a reason to expect to be a starter, especially since the Angels traded Ward to Baltimore for him.
As the spring gets underway, Rodriguez's health will be a situation to monitor, and if he does well, Suzuki and the team might have no choice but to give him the ball once every five days when the season begins.