Scouting Report Wandy Rodriguez

The 32 year-old 5'11" lefty was signed by the Astros in 1999, and made his debut in 2005. He has improved every year, and the last two year he seemed to put it all together, throwing 195+ innings each year. In 2009, Wandy won 14 games and had a 3.02 ERA, 1.24 WHIP. People were expecting him to take another step forward last year, but he got off to a terrible start before rebounding nicely; he had a 2.03 ERA in his last 18 starts on the year,and his 2010 numbers were: 11-12, 3.60 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9.. For his career, he's 62-66 with a 4.23 ERA and 1.36 WHIP.

Wandy is a three-pitch pitcher who changes arm angles (overhand to low 3/4s) as well as speeds, with a fastball that averages 89 mph, a SLOW 12-6 curveball (75 mph), and a change-up (84 mph). The turn-around last season was attributed to Wandy starting to add more sink to his change-up. His curve-ball is his strike out pitch, but it wasn't nearly as effective last year than in prior years, as he had trouble throwing it for a strike.

He signed a 3-year, 34 million dollar contract this off-season, but has once again struggled to start the season. In his 3 starts, he's 0-2, with 2 bad starts flanking a good start. His first start versus the Phillies he let up 7 runs in 4 innings, and in his last start he lasted 5 innings versus the Cubs, and allowed 5 runs. In between those starts, he threw a great game vs the Marlins, 7 innings and allowing only 1 run on 8 hits, 0 walks, although he only struck out 2. He's only getting 6.8% swing and misses (career average is 8.4%), and his K/9 is down thus far to 6.2, the lowest of his career. Yes I know this is too small of a sample size to make any assumptions, but just worth noting to see if this continues throughout the year (important for you fantasy baseball players out there).





He's made 6 starts versus the Mets, and is 2-2 with a 3.22 ERA. He threw well in an August start in 2010, but got a no-decision (7 innings, 1 run on a HR, on 4 hits, 3 walks, while striking out 6).