Phillies trade RHP Julio Rodriguez to the Orioles for OF Ronnie Welty

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The Phillies sent Rodriguez to Baltimore it what is essentially org depth for org depth.

Julio Rodriguez broke out in 2010 when he jumped to Lakewood at age 19 and posted a 14.38 K/9 over 50+ IP, and joined May, Colvin, Pettibone, and Cosart as the “Baby Aces”.  JRod’s fastball tops out around 90 but mostly sits in the hi-80’s, he compliments it with mid-80s cutter, a fringe average changeup, and a big loopy mid-60s curveball.  Going into AA in 2012, JRod had to prove the stuff was for real and that he could possibly get some more velocity out of his big frame.  He continued to miss bats but he was hit hard and walked batters at 5BB/9IP.  He might have some success out of a bullpen but he is somewhere between org depth and 6th starter and is only 22.

Ronnie Welty was a late round college pick in 2008.  He jumped from org guy to borderline prospect in 2010 where he hit .282/.349/.464 at age 22 in hi-A.  He was not good in 2011 in AA and lost most of 2012 to injury, though he hit .286/.303/.564 in limited AA action.  He will go to either AA or AAA to provide outfield depth with injury to Jiwan James and Kelly Dugan (providing another OF that needs to go to Clearwater).  Welty is 25 but if he finds some of his 2012 magic he could be a 4th/5th outfielder, but for now this depth for depth.

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About Matt Winkelman

Matt is originally from Mt. Holly, NJ, but after a 4 year side track to Cleveland for college he now resides in Madison, WI. His work has previously appeared on Phuture Phillies and The Good Phight. You can read his work at Phillies Minor Thoughts

15 thoughts on “Phillies trade RHP Julio Rodriguez to the Orioles for OF Ronnie Welty”

  1. I like the trade. Welty has much more potential than J-Rod, whose fastball will be hit much off of if/when he gets to the MLB.

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  2. A “meh” kind of trade. I was hoping Rodriguez would be the type of pitcher that they could trade as compensation for Inciarte, but that probably was wishful thinking.
    There really is no place for Rodriguez to pitch anyway.

    In AAA there is: 1. Cook, 2. Cloyd, 3. Pettibone, 4. Martin, 5. Morgan, 6. Cochran.
    In A A there is : 1. Biddle 2. Wright 3. Colvin, 4. Hyatt, 5. Buchanan 6. E Garcia

    Plus there are a million relievers that need to get innings.

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    1. Aaron Cook will probably be on the 25 man MLB roster and that will create another AAA opening.

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    2. The OF is pretty crowded at those levels too. Gillies, Ruf, James, Mitchell, Mitchell, Collier, Inciarte (maybe), Hewitt, Welty, Susdorf. Castro.

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      1. I don’t know about Inciarte after the last two days of butchering balls in the outfield. He cost them games.

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      2. I agree, he outfield is crowded in the higher levels with bodies. But it isn’t crowded with quality. Looking at the numbers, I’d say Welty is better than Susdorf, Derrick Mitchell and Anthony Hewitt. Out of that whole group, there are maybe five (5) quality players in the whole bunch, and only 3 or 4 that can qualify as prospects.

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  3. This is version 2 of Golson for Mayberry Jr.

    They give up nothing for an athletic outfielder with power who can play all three outfield positions. I don’t know if Welty will ever be a starter but when you give up next to nothing for a player, I don’t think you expect an all star in return (I doubt there were a lot of teams knocking on the door for J-Rod) While I think we all agree Mayberry isn’t a full time starter, he does have value on a ball club. If Welty can develop into a Mayberry type player, I think the Phillies will be fine with that. They will definitely get more out of him than they would with Rodriguez.

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  7. Comparing Cloyd and Rodriguez is a good exercise in understanding what it takes for a slow thrower to even be considered for the major leagues. Rodriguez never had Cloyd’s command of the zone. He had a greater assortment of pitches and hid the ball well, but the command seems to be the difference for the slower pitcher to be considered for the major leagues. Even with the command, Cloyd is borderline at best. I guess they figured that being so tall, Rodriguez would develop the speed, but, alas, he never did and now he’s an Oriole.

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  8. If I were JuRod, I’d volunteer for a TJ. There is a percentage of people of people who gain velocity after this surgery.

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  10. I was at the game today and the guy in front of me was saying that the phils were releasing some minor leaguers today any news on who they were?

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