The last time we saw this Eduardo Rodriguez? That would be 2015.
Baby-faced Eddie.
"I don’t know man, I just shaved because my daughter she’s been on top of me all the time for the last two weeks," Rodriguez said after the Red Sox' 4-0 win over the Yankees. "Every time I hug her she just goes ‘Daddy I don’t want that, shave it please.' And I was home during the All-Star break and she kept doing it and I went to my restroom and saw my razor and said, 'OK I’ll do it for her.' I’ve had a beard for the last five or six years so it feels good. I feel like I lost five years. Even my teammates say ‘Bro you look younger.' So I feel happy with that."
Friday night, he also offered a different image in another way. He was a better pitcher than any of the other versions that had taken the mound in 17 previous starts.
Rodriguez pitched with confidence and purpose throughout his 5 2/3 innings at Yankee Stadium, giving up just two hits while shutting out a depleted New York lineup.
The fastball was popping. The cutter was cutting. And then there was the changeup.
He threw his revamped off speed pitch 25 times, averaging 85.3 mph. On this night, it was a difference-maker.
"I would say probably five or six starts ago I was with Bushy (Dave Bush) in the bullpen and joking around I said, 'Let me try to throw this changeup slower,' and I threw it and we had Rhapsodo there, Trackman, and the ball was 82, 83 (mph)," he said. "And you know 82, 83 in the bullpen is going to be like 85, 86 in a game. We had really good movement on it and I told him I’m going to throw it in a game my next start and I start throwing it and it worked really good. Four or five starts ago against the Yankees, the first changeup I threw was like 84, 83 and now I tell Vazqy (Christian Vazquez) every time he’s behind the plate I tell him Bro every time you see a changeup up there 88, 89 just slap me in the face or tell me something because I feel like that’s working."
While Christian Arroyo's three-run homer added to the intrigue surrounding the second baseman, with Tanner Houck's three innings of scoreless relief also spicing things up, it was Rodriguez's outing that represented the most important development.
In his last four starts, Rodriguez carries an ERA of 2.38, with the lefty striking out 27 and walking just four. Simply put, he has become the top-of-the-rotation threat the Red Sox had been banking on.