Eduardo Rodriguez (SP, BOS) - Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: The Boston Red Sox have battled pitching woes throughout this season and they finally decided to pull the trigger on Eduardo Rodriguez to help alleviate those problems. Rodriguez had started 100 games with over 500 IP in the minors and has the stats to back up an early promotion. His career 3.23 ERA and his 1.21 WHIP are solid numbers going into Boston. However his real growth has been his refined control by lowering his BB/9 every year since 2012.

Rodriguez has also become a strikeout pitcher throughout his minor league career and it has already paid dividends for Boston in the early going. He is already averaging near 9 K's per game while keeping his walk total below 2.5 per nine innings. The impressive 0.44 ERA and 0.73 WHIP will undoubtedly take bumps but Rodriguez's pure ability should keep them relatively low as the season goes along. His elite fastball which sits around 95 MPH has helped his growth tremendously. Add to that his focus to improving his slider and changeup and he has become a nightmare to face.

The Red Sox added him as a back-end option to their rotation but there are clearly still issues throughout the staff as no one has proven to be consistent. Clay Buchholz, Rick Porcello and Wade Miley are probably safe bets to end out the season as the top three options but Rodriguez figures to surpass most if not all of those players by season's end.

Even if you are not necessarily looking for pitching help or depth to your fantasy roster, Rodriguez is going to be around for the long haul and grabbing him now should pay off immediately.