Unless you hid under a rock this week, you probably heard about Eduardo Rodriguez’s stellar debut against the Rangers on Thursday. The young lefty chucked 7 2/3 shutout innings, striking out seven and walking two. For the moment, the Red Sox — whose 4.60 team ERA is third worst in all of baseball — have a six-man rotation. Joe Kelly, who will not win a Cy Young despite his statement to the contrary, is hanging on by just a thread, and could be bounced from the rotation with another poor outing today, Sunday.

According to Baseball America, Rodriguez was the Red Sox’ fourth-best prospect heading into the season. The first sentence of his capsule, however, belies that ranking, in a positive way:

“If Rodriguez were judged based solely on his first six weeks with the Sox organization after being traded for Andrew Miller, he likely would have ranked as the top prospect in the system.” 

The reason? Over his first 82 2/3 innings at Double-A Bowie (Orioles), EdRod posted a disappointing 4.68 ERA, striking out fewer than eight batters and walking more than three per nine innings. After being traded for Miller at the July 31st deadline, he was assigned to Double-A Portland, where he pitched to a sub-1.00 ERA (0.96 ERA) and increased his strikeout rate to 9.40 per nine. 

It was as if the Red Sox suddenly baptized his left arm in holy waters. When he was with the Orioles, Rodriguez mostly worked in the low nineties with his fastball and in 2014, his slider was touted as being his best pitch. Suddenly, once midsummer rolled around, Rodriguez was throwing mid-nineties darts with a new secondary weapon, a changeup — which leapfrogged the slider. Also of note, Rodriguez started throwing the pitch down-and-in, inducing plenty of swings over the top.

All said, the development of usable third pitch along with an uptick in fastball velocity is not only making the Red Sox look like geniuses, but it’s also increased his projection from back-end starter to frontline-type arm. Fellow lefty, Henry Owens ranked ahead of Rodriguez on virtually every industry prospect list, but it's safe to say Rodriguez is now the better prospect. In fact, ESPN's Keith Law recently ranked Rodriguez the 18th best prospect in baseball in his updated top 25, or the game's fourth-best pitching prospect.

Let’s take a peak at Rodriguez’s first duel with Rangers slugger Prince Fielder: 

Rodriguez starts the at-bat off with two BB’s at 95 & 96 that Fielder fouls off. Then, two errant fastballs later, Rodriguez tries to induce a swing-and-miss with his patented low-and-in changeup; Fielder watches it pass. Fielder eventually swings through a 3-2 slider on the outer edge. 

While Rodriguez was in the mid-nineties early on (he hit 97 mph late in the game, too), he was mostly 92-94 in the middle innings. That immediately makes him one of the hardest throwing left-handed starters in the game. He had better control of his slider Thursday, but the changeup looks like a legitimate out pitch, and it’s especially impressive how often he deploys it against same-handed hitters.

If there’s a worry, it’s Rodriguez’s command. He threw 68 of his 105 pitches for strikes (that’s 64.7 %), but, according to Bill Petti’s Edge % app, 53% of those pitches were out of the zone — per pitch(f/x) — and another 20% were out over the heart of the plate.  Still, his strong repertoire should allow him to get away with more mistakes than your average pitcher.

Recommendation: Should be owned in all leagues 

On Saturday, Alex "Chi Chi" Gonzalez made his major league debut, spinning five no-hit innings against the Red Sox — although he allowed five walks and struck just two. The stat-line was bizarre, but, after watching the start, it began to make sense. Gonzalez spent a lot of the game picking at the outer edges of the strikezone with his two primary pitches, a heavy sinker and slider. In the graphic above, you can see him spotting 91 & 92 mph sinkers on the outer edge to Pablo Sandoval, Mookie Betts and David Ortiz. Then, against Hanley, he gets him to swing at a slider down and away and freezes him on a front-door, called third strike. The two pitches were responsible for a lot of weak contact, which appears to be the name of the game for Gonzalez. 

Gonzalez didn't excel during his time at Triple-A Round Rock. In fact, he posted a 4.15 ERA with alarming walk and strikeout numbers (26/19 SO-BB in 43 1/3 innings pitched).The 92.6 mph he averaged with his fastball on Thursday is a couple ticks below what it was last year as well. The Rangers are desperately looking for someone to step in for Ross Detwiler, who has been dealing with shoulder issues and will reportedly be moved to bullpen upon his return from the disabled list. Gonzalez will certainly get another chance after holding the Red Sox scoreless, and it wouldn't be surprising if he holds onto the spot. Unlike EdRod, Chi Chi doesn't have the frontline starter stuff, which means he's going to have to limit walks and hit his spots. His outlook as a mid-rotation starter long-term is strong, but fantasy owners who are expecting help in 2015 should look elsewhere. 

Recommendation: Let him marinate on the waiver wire

Quick Hits

- Carlos Correa has hit his first speed bump of the season. Since blasting an out-of-the-stadium home run off Barry Zito on May 26th, Correa has just one hit, making him one for his last 16 at-bats. 

- Corey Seager had a 6-for-6 game on Thursday that included two doubles, a home run and six RBI. After a slow start, he's now slashing .300/.342/.455 at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

- Astros prospect Derek Fisher may have had the loudest debut in Cal League history. In his first game at High-A Lancaster, he went 4-for-6 with 12 RBI, hitting home runs in each of his first three at-bats. 

- Indians Prospect Clint Frazier hit his sixth and seventh home runs of the season (and the month) on Saturday. He was homerless April, but he's now puttting to rest the idea he's not an elite power hitter.

- Speaking of home runs, Joey Gallo has hit nine of those in the month of April. Here's the long one he hit yesterday:

- Yoan Moncada hit the first home run of his career

- Red Sox pitching prospect Brian Johnson, apparently motivated by the Eduardo Rodriguez call-up, hurled six perfect innings for Triple-A Pawtucket. 

- Jose De Leon, whose prospect stock is skyrocketing, struck out 11 batters in his second start at Double-A Tulsa.

Twitter: @WordSmithSilva