PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Healthy, not thinking about an elbow injury that ruined much of the last two seasons, catcher Endy Rodriguez was all smiles talking to reporters before the Pirates-Rockies game on Wednesday afternoon.
“You can’t imagine how excited I am to be here, around the guys, around the energy that we have,” Rodriguez said. “It’s one of the greatest things to happen this year.”
First and foremost, Rodriguez is healthy. For someone who has only played 36 games over the last two seasons, that is a great thing for him through his first 36 games with AAA Indianapolis. A designated hitter for some of his limited time in 2024 and 2025, he’s been mostly behind the plate in 2026.
“It’s improved,” Rodriguez said. “Arm has been pretty good. Framing has been pretty good. I’ve been blocking more balls consistently and throwing more guys out. It’s been better.”
“He’s been doing well and I think that for him coming up, defensively having caught, something happens yesterday, if something happened with Henry, to go in and catch Paul (Skenes), Endy has a little more experience doing that than Flo’ (Rafael Flores) has at the time, which was really the edge right there.”
Kelly said it was a tough decision between the two. Flores came over in a trade in July, but Rodriguez has been with the Bucs since 2021.
There isn’t a definitive timeline for Joey Bart to return as he went on the Injured List with a foot fungus, which might just be seven days, or longer. Rodriguez said he will help the team in any way he can.
“The things we just talked about with Endy, the energy, the positivity, switch-hitter that can go up there and provide good at-bats and good defense and I think that that opportunity is always there, whether it’s here or in Triple-A,” Kelly said. “Finding a way to compete and Endy’s done a really good job of that.”
“Growing up, I always learned to control what you can control,” Rodriguez said. “The past two years have been that: control what you can control, try to get my body healthy, in a good position, learn about my body.”
In 2022 in the minors, Rodriguez hit 39 doubles, 25 homers, .997 OPS. Now in 2026, he’s trying to find that consistency again, in 34 games hitting .221 with a .326 on-base percentage with six doubles and one home run with a .627 OPS.
Forget the numbers for a moment, Rodriguez is healthy and that’s allowed him another opportunity.
Catcher Endy Rodriguez called up to do whatever to help
Catcher Endy Rodriguez called up to do whatever to help
