Dereck Rodriguez has become a dark horse NL ROY candidate

The San Francisco Giants may have a prime National League Rookie of the Year candidate

Watch out, Juan Soto: there’s another young phenom threatening your Rookie of the Year run. And I’m not referring to Ronald Acuña Jr., although he’s been the best baseball player in the Majors this past week and builds a more compelling case for dethroning Soto. I’m talking about Dereck Rodriguez, a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants who’s inserted himself into the National League ROY debate despite only making his first big league start in June.

If you’re skeptical about Rodriguez’s legitimacy as a Rookie of the Year candidate along with Soto and Acuña Jr., look no further than his impressive numbers. D-Rod is 6-1 in 12 big league starts (14 total appearances) with a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 65 strikeouts to 19 walks. If you dig even deeper, his advanced stats are a further indication of his success; though he only has pitched 80 innings, his .207 opponents’ avg., .613 opponents’ OPS, 6.86 H/9, 2.14 BB/9, 15.5 pitches/inning would rank T-4th, 6th, 5th, 5th (again), and T-5th (yet again) in the entire National League if he had the minimum number of innings to qualify for the league lead.

Rodriguez has begun to gain recognition around the baseball world due to his stellar pitching, but the person behind the stats is equally intriguing. Dereck’s father is Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, a Hall of Fame catcher who spent 21 seasons in the Majors and was inducted into Cooperstown just last year. As a result, Dereck’s always been overshadowed by his famous lineage. When the Giants called him up to the big leagues for the first time on May 28, it drew headlines, but only because of his last name. That’s the only reason. Nothing else.

D-Rod has tried to distinguish himself from his dad his entire professional baseball career, first by choosing to go by his middle name — he was initially born Ivan Dereck Rodriguez. Additionally, Rodriguez’s long-flowing locks provide a physical distinction from his pops, and his shoulder-length brown mane certainly has Giants fans reminiscing of Tim Lincecum in his prime.

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However, Dereck’s position on the field is what separates him the most from his dad. This wasn’t the case at the start of D-Rod’s professional career; when the Minnesota Twins drafted Rodriguez in the 6th round in 2011, he was an outfielder. But after hitting a paltry .216 in three seasons of rookie ball, Dereck decided to make the switch to pitcher and hasn’t looked back since.

Rodriguez’s story is even more special because he was grinding through the minors for seven years — and spent almost half of that time as a position player.

Now he’s found his home on the mound, where his case for Rookie of the Year relevancy continues to snowball with every start. He’s been untouchable recently, having given up two or fewer runs while averaging nearly 7 IP in each of his past nine starts.

Rodriguez’s poise while thriving in his first couple months in the bigs has made a good impression among the biggest names in the Giants’ clubhouse. Batterymate and six-time All-Star Buster Posey has voiced D-Rod’s tenacity and attitude as an indicator he’s mature beyond his years. Even manager Bruce Bochy raves about D-Rod’s veteran-like composure, and the skipper thinks the rookie phenom deserves to be in the NL ROY conversation.

Make sure to keep tabs on Dereck’s next start, which will be on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds, as he’ll attempt to continue his tear and further build his case as a dark horse candidate for National League Rookie of the Year. One can only hope D-Rod’s blazing start to his MLB career for the San Francisco Giants follows the trajectory of his father’s.