i think Hrod might end up a reliever
 so he gets to the majors faster. ..maybe ends up like a zumaya, low end another jesus colome/franklyn german

Story featured in his blog on ESPN.com.


"Peter Gammons mentioned Oakland flamethrower Henry Rodriguez in a column earlier this week, so I wanted to see if he could live up to the hype. Rodriguez has the quickest arm I've ever seen, and he uses that arm speed to generate plus velocity. He ran from 92 to 96 mph against the first hitter he faced in a Double-A game against the Cubs' affiliate. The next hitter was Carlos Zambrano, who came over with Ted Lilly to get some at bats. Rodriguez's next three fastballs came in at 98 mph, including one that broke Zambrano's bat on a groundout. After he retired Zambrano, Rodriguez went back to working in the 93-96 mph range, touching 98 just one more time. Rodriguez throws a solid-average changeup at 85-87 mph, maintaining his arm speed, with some tumbling action to it. His slider is primitive, hard without much break. His fastball command is below average, and his control historically has been poor, although he was around the plate all day Wednesday and wasn't afraid of Zambrano, who had homered earlier in the game off left-hander Brett Anderson. If Rodriguez begins to throw strikes, the A's should get him to the majors quickly, because there's no telling how long an arm like this will last. "