Over the next six weeks, the Athletics organization will be the land of opportunity. After getting swept by the Kansas City Royals to begin this week, the A's now sit at 49-79 with the worst record in MLB. Tyler Soderstrom is set to undergo season-ending surgery on Friday and Jacob Wilson's season reportedly may have just ended this week too.  

When Soderstrom landed on the IL, the A's called up their last remaining position player on the 40-man roster from the minors in Darell Hernaiz. Now, with Wilson headed to the IL on Friday, the A's needed to add someone to the 40-man anyway to keep their 26-man roster filled. 

On Thursday, the A's claimed Triple-A outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez from the Pittsburgh Pirates and optioned him to Las Vegas. Given the A's positional depth needs, it's unclear if the option to Triple-A was procedural (since Wilson isn't officially on the IL yet), or if the club will be adding another player to the roster and calling them up on Friday in Houston. 

Rodríguez is a former third-round pick of the Cleveland Guardians back in 2017 at the age of 17. He made it to Triple-A in 2023 and made his big-league debut with Cleveland in 2024, but the results haven't been there in any of his stops over the past three seasons.

Over parts of three seasons in the big leagues, Rodríguez has played in 51 total games, batting a combined .177 with a .288 OBP and a 71 wRC+ (100 is league average). The bright side here is that he walks a good deal, sitting at 13.6%, while his strikeout rate is a bit high at 31.8%. 

Cleveland traded him to Baltimore in March, and then the Orioles traded him to the Pirates in July. Just three weeks later he was designated for assignment and swooped up by the A's. 

While the A's don't have the most advanced front office these days, the fixes here seem pretty straightforward, and are something they're already having success with at the big-league level. 

Rodríguez strikes out a lot, but when he makes contact, it's hard. His average exit velocity has been 91.8 mph, while league average is 88.6 mph. That's right in between 2023 Brent Rooker (91.6 mph) and 2024 Rooker (91.9). He ended up hitting 69 home runs between those two seasons. 

The problem for Rodríguez is that he's hitting the ball on the ground too often. His launch angle across 72 batted balls in MLB has been -2.7 degrees, though context matters here. It was -14 degrees in his debut season, and -1.9 in 2025. This season, with six batted balls, it was up to 14 degrees, mostly on fastballs put in play. 

His bat speed (77.3 mph) is also among the best in the game. It's a matter of getting him to make more contact and also making better contact. 

The A's have helped develop some bats in recent years, with Henry Bolte being the most recent example of a player the A's coaches have helped correct this type of problem. We noticed that his speed and ability to beat out ground balls was masking his persistent ground balls in late June, and he ended up struggling mightily in July, batting .164 with a .243 OBP.

In August he has been lifting the ball more, and has 24 hits — fourth most in the majors. He's batting .329 this month with three home runs, which shows what a little bit of consistent launch angle can do. 

The A's have also helped Zack Gelof rediscover his swing this season, turning him back into the caliber of player that he showed for a half-season when he debuted in 2023. 

Tyler Soderstrom, who has benefited from a similar refining of his approach, has become one of the most consistent bats on a terrific offensive team (when healthy). 

Whether Rodríguez begins his stint in the A's system with the big-league club or with Vegas, he'll have an opportunity to become a part of this franchise heading into 2027.