2024 Cleveland Guardians Prospect Scouting Report: #21 OF Johnathan Rodriguez

Will Rodriguez get to his power enough to make an impact at the big league level?

Johnathan Rodriguez Bio

• Age (2024 season): 24

• Acquired: 2017 Draft (Round 3)

• 2023 Level: Double-A/Triple-A

• Height: 6’0

• Weight: 224

• Bats: Right

• Throws: Right

Johnathan Rodriguez Stats

• PA: 565

• AVG/OBP/SLG: .286/.368/.529

• 2B: 26

• HR: 29

• SB: 0/1

• K%/BB%: 28.8%/10.4%

Johnathan Rodriguez 2024 Scouting Grades

• Hit: 40

• Power: 55

• Speed: 40

• Defense: 40

• Arm: 70

• Overall: 40

• Risk: High

• ETA: 2024

Build & Background

Classic corner type build. Broad shoulders. Strong legs. No projection left in frame. Very moderate corner type player. Drafted in 2017 out of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico in the third round. Signed for $450,000. Was formerly a switch hitter but focused on hitting right handed full time last year after beginning to make that transition previously. 

What Rodriguez Does Well

Rodriguez can supply plenty of power. He has easy 60 maybe 70 grade raw power. He produces high exit velocities (110.1 95th percentile exit velocity at Triple-A last year) and can hit the ball out to all fields when he gets into one.Will draw some walks by showing some patience. Generally good about making contact in the zone.Has a great throwing arm from right field. A real threat runners have to take seriously when thinking about taking an extra base.

Where Rodriguez Needs to Improve

Defensively, Rodriguez lack range and closing speed to provide average outfield defense. Range hurts him chasing fly balls going back and laterally, and doesn’t have the speed to close in on balls in front of him. Below average runner that might lose another step as he ages. While he does show some ability to draw a walk, Rodriguez does chase out of the zone and can have an aggressive profile at times. Takes big hacks and can have a long swing. Good velocity will beat him with his long swing. May struggle with pitching recognition with breaking stuff. Doesn’t get the ball in the air often enough when he does make contact to take advantage of much of his power. 

Key Stats

48.1 GB% shows his inability to get the ball in the air consistently. 110.1 95 percentile exit velocity shows there is 70 grade power in his bat. Swinging strike rate of 17% against breaking balls compared to just 13% against fastballs shows some struggles with breaking stuff and pitch identification.

Intangibles

Has spent a good amount of time in the minors and continues to persevere. Moving from a switch hitter to a right handed hitter was something that Rodriguez embraced and adapted well to that could help his career long term.

Future

Rodriguez is on the 40 man roster now and has a chance to earn big league playing time soon. He has Will Brennan, and player like Estevan Florial and Deyvison De Los Santos in front of him right now, but with George Valera hurt again, he’s clearly next up in the pecking order. He could make his major league debut in 2024, depending if Cleveland decides it needs to see Jhonkensy Noel first (in his last option year). Huntington Park power numbers can be misleading, as can minor league walk rates, but if Rodriguez continues to hit for power, he may force a look this year anyway. With Chase DeLauter coming behind him, this is a big year for him to prove he deserves a look soon. He realistically profiles as a corner outfield/DH type with pop from the right side, maybe a platoon outfielder/DH with low on-base skills in the majors. He’s ranked here due to some minor league performance and a lighter system ahead of him, but would be lower in a system with more depth of high end hitters. Should be able to beat up on lighter pitching.

Role 

40 - Bat-only corner profile with big power, poor approach, low OBP type