Former Guardians outfielder lands in perfect spot thanks to Athletics' injury struggles

While outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez spent parts of six seasons climbing through the Guardians’ minor league ranks ahead of his big league debut, he didn't do much with his time spent at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario before he was designated for assignment at the end of this year's spring training. 

But that hasn’t stopped him from earning big league opportunities, and he gained another one on Thursday when the Athletics claimed him off waivers from the Pirates and assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas. 

Even if he’s going to be headed to Sin City, it may not be long until he’s in West Sacramento on the Athletics’ big league roster thanks to the plethora of injuries that have hit their big league roster. 

Johnathan Rodríguez has a chance to play his way into the Athletics’ 2027 plans 

Rodríguez first hit waivers at the end of spring training when Cleveland cut him loose to make room for Rhys Hoskins, where he was promptly scooped up by the Orioles, who are led by former Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz. 

He appeared in seven games with the Orioles across two big league stints, and went 2-for-11 before being designated for assignment again. 

That led to him getting scooped up by the Pirates, who stashed him at Triple-A. He played in 15 games with Triple-A Indianapolis and posted an eye-popping .351/.424/.509 slashline with two home runs and 12 RBI. 

But he was always outfield insurance as the Pirates navigated their outfield injuries, and the writing was on the wall for his DFA as soon as Oneil Cruz returned from the IL earlier this year. 

But he’s going from one uncertain outfield situation to another, as the Athletics have been hit hard with the injury bug in recent weeks. 

Along with losing outfielder Tyler Soderstrom to a season-ending hip injury, they’ve also currently have Jacob Wilson, Denzel Clarke, Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker on the IL. 

Those injuries are the biggest reason why the Athletics haven’t lived up to their potential this year, but the one silver lining for the franchise is they’ve opened up plenty of opportunities for other players as they play out the string. 

That said, it may take a lot for Rodríguez to earn a spot for 2027.

He’s already out of big league options, so the Athletics would need to keep him on their big league roster all of next season (to say nothing of the fact they’d need to keep him on their 40-man roster for the entire offseason). 

Rodríguez has nothing left to prove in the minors (.896 OPS in 329 games at Triple-A), but he has yet to put together in the big leagues. This could finally be the opportunity he needs.

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