Grayson Rodriguez came in and shut the door in the 8th! #FuturesGame pic.twitter.com/DUJIbkpqgF
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 8, 2019
Not even two years ago, Grayson Rodriguez was changing the game as a participant in the first ever International Week event put on by the New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series powered by Program 15. Now, he becomes the first alum to play in the Futures Game, and he put on a performance indicative of what got him invited to Sugar Land back in 2017.
With the game switching to a seven-inning format, the 19-year-old Orioles farmhand was relied upon to pitch an “extra” eighth inning, which started with Braves prospect Christian Pache on second base thanks to MiLB’s new extra inning rules. Facing a star-studded trio of Joey Bart, Isan Diaz and Alec Bohm, Rodriguez spun a 1-2-3 inning to keep it a 2-2 game, and needed just 11 pitches to do it.
Rodriguez, who was the fourth-youngest player in the game, was reported to have seen his fastball top out at 96 miles per hour at the event, with a 74-77 MPH curveball and 79-81 MPH changeup mixed in as well.
Enjoy this video of him on the mound — and even a few clips of him at the plate — from the inaugural International Week event at Constellation Field.
