The New York Yankees have been scuffling a little as of late, and while they’ve looked fantastic at points throughout the past few months, they’ve also struggled offensively to find consistency.
However, in their last eight games, the Yankees have posted a 6-2 record, and with the American League East crown still within their reach, this is a team that hopes to build momentum ahead of the potential return of Aaron Judge. In game one of their series with the Houston Astros, the team came up short, and now in game two, they’ll hope to get a good performance out of a promising 23-year-old rookie.
Yankees Name Elmer Rodriguez to Start Against Houston
GettyElmer Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.
That rookie would be Elmer Rodriguez, who has made four appearances with the Yankees throughout the 2026 campaign, with his last outing for New York coming on June 21st, with the team set to trust him as their starter in a critical game for the Astros series, according to Gary Phillips of NYDN Sports.
In four outings this season with the Yankees, Rodriguez has a 4.76 ERA across 17.0 innings of work, allowing 19 hits and 11 walks in that time, as he’s shown potential without finding his consistency at the big league level. That shouldn’t come as a major surprise, as his four appearances were split with one outing in April, two in May and his last outing in the big leagues to date being in June.
Can Rodriguez Give the Yankees Some Depth Moving Forward?
While the Yankees have one of the most star studded rosters in all of baseball, especially their pitching staff, they’ve struggled with injury throughout the year, with Max Fried heading back to the Injured List shortly after returning. On top of that, players like Clarke Schmidt have missed time while Luis Gil has struggled to find his consistency as a starter, and until they’re 100% healthy, the team will need to rely on other pitchers to give them some innings.
When healthy in the post-season, New York will turn to a four-man rotation of Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Cy Young candidate Cam Schlittler, but until then, players like Rodriguez are in a perfect spot to help this team and get them through to October when the pressure and the moments ramp up immensely.
In Rodriguez, the Yankees believe they have a solid depth player that can work either as a starter or out of the bullpen, and given that the bullpen struggled in game one of this series, allowing six earned runs after starter Will Warren gave them 5.0 innings of two-run ball, getting any length out of Rodriguez here will be a major boost as they look to build momentum heading into the final month of the campaign.
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