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Yariel Rodríguez pleased to rejoin Blue Jays after losing 40-man spot, hoping improved arsenal can lead to renewed success
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Photo credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
May 12, 2026, 13:00 EDTUpdated: May 12, 2026, 13:06 EDT
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TORONTO — At several points over the off-season, it seemed Yariel Rodríguez’s tenure with the Blue Jays might be over after the organization ultimately outrighted him off the 40-man roster following last season’s disappointing second-half struggles. But now he’s back and looking to find a home inside this bullpen again.
The 29-year-old righty, who was passed over on waivers by all 29 other MLB clubs and is owed $17 million through 2028, began this season at Triple-A Buffalo and had been enjoying a strong start to his 2026 campaign, striking out close to 50 per cent of his batters faced while also pitching to a 2.63 ERA and 2.08 FIP across 11 games (one opener start).
“Very happy to come back over here,” Rodríguez said pre-game on Monday via translator Hector Lebron. “I put in a lot of good, hard work over there in Buffalo and [I’m] very happy to be back here with the guys.”
Rodríguez’s major-league return comes in place of Eric Lauer’s departure, as the struggling southpaw was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays prior to Monday’s 8-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. But they aren’t bringing Rodríguez up to be a starter again. He’s strictly a reliever now.
When asked about the right-hander’s role, manager John Schneider shared he anticipates using Rodríguez similarly to last season’s one-to-two-inning usage. To start, he’ll be thrown into low-leverage situations, which was the case in Monday’s season debut with the club, receiving the ball in the top of the ninth inning as Toronto trailed by three runs.
Despite issuing a four-pitch walk to begin his outing, it was pretty smooth sailing from there — especially after Brandon Valenzuela neutralized that leadoff walk with a caught stealing at second base — as Rodríguez punched out the next two batters to end the frame.
Failing to minimize free passes, admittedly, is a big part of what has gotten Rodríguez in a “little bit of trouble in the past.” When he’s at his strongest, he’s aggressively attacking the strike zone early in counts, consistently gaining count leverage so that he can tempt the opposition to chase outside the zone.
Locating that ideal balance hasn’t been easy, though.
Even at Triple-A this season, where the Cuban reliever was inducing a strikeout nearly half the time, he still produced a 15.5 per cent walk rate in 13.2 innings. As a stuff-over-command pitcher, toeing that line will likely remain a constant battle. But maintaining his impressive swing-and-miss output should at least help keep it in check.
“I always knew I was coming back,” Rodríguez said after being outrighted off the organization’s 40-man roster over the winter. “It’s part of the business, I guess. But I prepared myself very well, physically and mentally. But I knew I was coming back.”
Coming out of spring training, the Blue Jays’ brass had a few messages for Rodríguez: most importantly, improve the command of all your pitches. And second, further develop the splitter he’s toyed with over the last few years — and, for the most part, he checked both those boxes down in Buffalo.
The quality of Rodríguez’s pitches ticked back up with the Bisons, particularly his two fastballs (four-seamer and sinker), both of which are averaging in the mid-90s — an increase that Schneider noted as an encouraging factor to his recent call-up — and have been considerably more around the zone than compared to last year.
As for his split, you could argue it’s now become his best pitch. It was responsible for both of his strikeouts on Monday night against the Rays, further building on an already dominating start to the year, after it produced a 73 per cent whiff rate against Triple-A hitters prior to rejoining the big-league squad.
It’s most effective versus left-handed batters, who had gone 1-for-17 with 12 strikeouts against it at Triple-A, thanks to its late-breaking, nose-diving effect when located down and away to lefties.
The emergence of Rodríguez’s refined splitter has contributed to his drastically altered pitch usage this season, as he now features a more balanced deployment amongst his four-pitch arsenal. His slider led the way in the minors at nearly 40 per cent. But his splitter was used almost a third of the time, and his four-seamer just over a quarter, while his sinker remained a complementary weapon at a five per cent usage.
Making Rodríguez less predictable should also help his chances of sticking in the majors this time around. Another factor that could lead to improved major-league results is that, unlike in his 2025 spring training, he entered this past spring working exclusively as a reliever. He’s had months to prepare for this type of workload, partially because he had to start building up early to pitch for Cuba in March’s World Baseball Classic.
That’s a luxury he didn’t possess after the club had him stretched out as a starter leading into last season before assigning him to the bullpen as a multi-inning reliever.
“At the beginning of spring training last year, I was preparing myself to become a starter and then, obviously, I started the season as a reliever,” Rodríguez said, also noting that his early-season workload resulted in considerable fatigue the rest of the way.
“At the end, I got a little bit out of gas, maybe a little bit tired.”
Rodríguez hit the ground running to start the ’25 season, pitching to a 2.61 ERA with 29 strikeouts and 11 walks over 31.0 innings to begin the year. But with Yimi García missing extended time due to injury, paired with Chad Green’s concerning woes, most of those bullets were fired in a high-stress environment.
Next to former closer Jeff Hoffman (8.2) and Brendon Little (seven), Rodríguez logged the third-most innings (five) in high-leverage situations in the bullpen across the first two months of the year. It was out of necessity, of course. Still, once the fatigue began to set in, so did his command issues, causing him to finish the campaign with a 12.6 per cent walk rate, to go along with an underwhelming 20.3 per cent strikeout rate, over his final 42.0 innings.
But now all his expectations are gone. At the very least, he’ll be asked to provide a bit of length for a Blue Jays staff that’s down to just four healthy starters again. Anything beyond that, such as recapturing a medium-to-high-leverage bullpen role, will be perceived as a bonus.

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