Yariel Rodríguez

Yariel Humberto Rodríguez Yordi
(El Gallero de San Saperio)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 0", Weight 165 lb.

Debut April 13, 2024

Born March 10, 1997 in Camagüey, Camagüey Cuba

Biographical Information[edit]

Yariel Rodríguez pitched for the Cuban national team and in Japan before making it to the majors in 2024.

He debuted for the Ganaderos de Camaguey in 2015-2016, going 0-5 with a save but a 2.35 ERA. In 2016-2017, he was 5-5 with 2 saves and a 3.61 ERA. One issue was his control as he walked 54 in 94 2/3 IP. He was 7th in the Serie Nacional with 64 strikeouts (between Dachel Duquesne and Liván Moinelo), 8th in WHIP (1.31, between Alaín Sánchez and Erly Casanova, 10th in ERA but first in walks (3 ahead of teammate José Rodríguez). ^[1] He was 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA for Cuba in the Canadian-American Association though he walked 15 in 23 innings.

He was 6-3 with a 2.88 ERA for the Ganaderos in the first half of 2017-2018; when the team did not qualify for the second half, he was picked up by Las Tunas and went 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA for them. He got the nod in game 7 of the finals but was outpitched by Granma's Sánchez. He finished among the league leaders in shutouts (4, 5th), wins (tied for 7th with Sánchez, Vladimir García and Jonder Martínez) and walks (49, 4th). ^[2]

Rodríguez debuted for the Cuban national team in the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games; the 21-year-old was the team's youngest pitcher (Yoelkis Céspedes was the only position player younger). He saw their least action with 1 IP (Casanova was next at 2) and his 9.00 ERA easily led a team with a staff ERA of 2.08 (Casanova was next at 4.50). In his lone game for the Silver Medal winners, he relieved Sánchez in the 7th with a 6-1 deficit against Gold Medal winner Puerto Rico. He gave up three hits, a walk and a run in his inning of work before Casanova closed it out. ^[3]

He played for the Cuban national team in the Can-Am Association in 2019, then moved to the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Pro Baseball's Central League in 2020. He pitched three seasons for Chunichi, with the final one in 2022 being the best as he went6-2, 1.15 in 56 games as a reliever. In the meantime, he also appeared with Camaguey in the 2020-21 Cuban League season and then was selected to represent Cuba in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, making two starts in the event. However, he did not return to Japan after the tournament, becoming a defector, as his ultimate goal was to pitch in Major League Baseball. This became more feasible when he was declared a free agent by MLB.

On January 17, 2024, it was reported that he had come to an agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays on a multi-year contract, although details were not immediately available. The deal was made official on February 9th, and it was for five years and $32 million. He started the season in AAA, given his lack of recent mound work, but he was called up to Toronto after a couple of weeks, after he had made two starts and not allowed any runs in 6 1/3 innings for the Buffalo Bisons, as the Jays knew that his innings would by necessity be restricted that season and did not want to see too many of them spent against minor league batters. He made his debut on April 13th, starting at home against the Colorado Rockies and went 3 2/3 innings, allowing just one run, before reaching his pitch count limit of 70. In his second start, against the San Diego Padres on April 19th, he struck out seven batters over four innings in a 5-1 win. This time, he made 83 pitches before once again Bowden Francis succeeded him on the mound, and once again received credit for the win that Yariel had forged. He went on the injured list on April 30th with thoracic spine inflammation, then returned to the majors after a few rehabilitation appearances in the minors. His first start back came on June 21st against the Cleveland Guardians. After a perfect 1st inning, he completely fell apart in the 2nd however, allowing a double followed by three walks, then a single after a first out before giving way to Francis. Cleveland eventually scored seven runs in the inning and won the game, 7-1. After that disastrous start, his next two outings were much better, as he combined to allow just 1 run in 12 2/3 innings, earning his first major league win on July 6th, 5-4 over the Seattle Mariners. The Blue Jays' bullpen was riddled with injuries and giving up a ton of runs at that point, so even six innings of one-hit ball could not guarantee a win for the underperforming squad: a 5-0 lead was whittled down to a single run in the final two innings, but Toronto escaped on top. His performance was wildly unpredictable: on July 29th, he could not escape the 1st inning in a start against the Baltimore Orioles, walking everyone in sight, and from August 18-27, he gave up 15 runs in three starts, but he also had games when he was nearly unhittable, even if making it through five full innings was always a challenge due to high pitch counts and hesitancy by the team about letting him throw too many innings. With Francis now a full-time starter, it was trading deadline acquisition Ryan Yarbrough who was now piggy-backing with Yariel in most of his starts, and the tandem was proving to be quite effective most times out. He finished the season at 1-8, 4.47 in 21 starts and 86 2/3 innings, with 85 strikeouts.

In 2025, the Blue Jays decided to move him to the bullpen, and he had a productive season, making 66 appearances with only 1 start while finishing at 3-2, 3.08 with 2 saves. While he was not among the team's most trusted relievers, he was just a notch below that, as manager John Schneider was willing to send him to close out games a couple of times when Jeff Hoffman and other top-tier options were unavailable. He made his postseason debut that year with two scoreless outings against the New York Yankees in the Division Series, but he was hit hard in the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners, as in his first outing in Game 2 he walked all three batters he faced before being replaced, then in Game 3 on October 15th, he gave up solo homers to Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh in the 8th inning; thankfully, the Jays had built a comfortable 12-2 lead at that point, so the harm was minimal, except for forcing Schneider to use another reliever, rookie Mason Fluharty, to pitch the 9th. Yariel was not used again after that and was left off the roster for the World Series.

After the 2025 season, he was removed from the Jays' roster in order to free up his spot for another player, with the Blue Jays having little fear that another team would want to pick up the remainder of his contract. He pitched again for Cuba in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and while he allowed 4 runs in 6 innings over three games, only one was earned. He started the 2026 season in the minors with the Buffalo Bisons and pitched well, going 1-0, 2.63 in his first 11 outings with 25 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings. With the Blue Jays facing a rash of pitching injuries in the early going, he was added to the roster again on May 11th, but continued to exhibit see-saw tendencies over the next month, one good outing being followed by a disastrous one, and so on. In 10 games and 9 1/3 innings, he was 0-1, 7.71, with a few more unearned runs. On June 8th, he was designated for assignment with the aim of outrighting him to Buffalo, in order to make room on the roster for Simeon Woods Richardson, who had been purchased from the Minnesota Twins a couple of days earlier. As had been the case the previous off-season, the Jays had little fear that anyone would want to take over his contract, and if a team did, they would only feel relieved at getting out from the financial commitment.

He throws a fastball in the low 90s, a slider and a changeup. ^[4]

Sources[edit]

Related Sites[edit]

[1] 2016-2017 Serie Nacional stats from INDER

[2] 2017-2018 Serie Nacional stats from INDER

[3] 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games

[4] Ecured

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[4]

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Yariel Rodríguez

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