Brewer Fanatic 2024 Offseason Top 20 Prospects, No. 10: Yophery Rodriguez

#10 Yophery Rodriguez (Carolina Mudcats, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers)

The Brewers handed Rodríguez their largest signing bonus in the 2023 international class, giving him $1.5 million to join the organization. He spent 2023 in the Dominican Summer League, posting a 125 wRC+, and was viewed as a potential breakout candidate heading into 2024. The Brewers had Rodriguez follow the Jackson Chourio and Luis Lara path of skipping the Arizona Complex League. However, unlike Chourio and Lara, he made the Opening Day roster for Carolina and would wind up spending the entire regular season there.

What to Like:
Rodriguez was one of the youngest players at Low-A. In fact, he only had five plate appearances the entire season against a pitcher who was younger than him. He went two for three, with two doubles and two walks, in those plate appearances. 

Rodríguez projects to have an above-average hit tool in the future, with plus bat speed and a short path to the ball. After posting a lowly 13% line drive rate in 2023, he boosted that to an above-average 23.2% in 2024. Line drives are the brand of batted balls that are most likely to end up a hit, and that held true for Rodríguez, as he batted a staggering .814 on them in 2024. Continuing to elevate will be important for him, and he has the type of swing that should help him to do so.

Spending the majority of his time in center field this year, Rodríguez performed very well. Like most outfielders in the Brewers system--and at the major-league level, for that matter--Rodríguez plays with reckless abandon in center. He’s not afraid to run into a wall. Nor is he afraid to lay out for a ball. His reads and jumps both made significant progress throughout the season and he currently grades out as a good defender in center. Because his speed is not on the level of most of the current and past center field prospects the Brewers have had, he may wind up in a corner. He could be a plus defender if he does end up making that move, and his arm is good enough to handle either left or right field.

One other thing that jumps off the page with Rodriguez is his maturity and his ability to speak fluent English. He showed both of those traits off as he was featured heavily in the Brewers video showcasing their new complex in the Dominican Republic earlier this year. The baseball tools will always be the most important part of the equation for a player, but off-field abilities matter as well and can take stress off of the player and the organization. Rodríguez appears to have a good mix of all of the above.

What to Work On:
After showing fantastic ball/strike recognition in the Dominican Summer League, Rodríguez did struggle a bit with that portion of his game in Low-A. His 26% whiff rate is not a huge cause for concern, but it is higher than what would have been expected of him, based on the DSL reports. Chase rates are not publicly available for Rodríguez, but he did appear to struggle to lay off many of the offspeed offerings he saw with Carolina. This is not uncommon for an 18-year-old who is likely seeing the best breaking balls he has ever seen. While his strikeout rate ended up worse than average for the season, he improved significantly as the season progressed. In April, his strikeout rate was over 35%, it dropped to 25% in May, and then was never higher than 21.8% in any month for the rest of the season.

While Rodríguez does have the potential to hit for power, home run pop has yet to really show itself in games. He has natural loft to his swing, and his exit velocities are above-average for his age, so it was a bit surprising not to see more than seven home runs this season. He did at least show gap power, posting 23 doubles and six triples. There’s a chance that the power numbers will suddenly show up in 2025 as he continues to mature, but for now, that is all still based on power projection, rather than in-game production.

As mentioned above, Rodríguez grades out as better than average in terms of pure speed, but he has struggled to steal bases in pro ball, including a 58% success rate in 2024. His jumps need a lot of work, and his instincts don’t appear to be great. Learning more about how to read a pitcher and improving those jumps could go a long way, as he has the speed to be more successful than he has been so far.

What’s next:
While his results in 2024 likely didn’t blow anybody away, he did post a 117 wRC+ as one of the youngest hitters in the league. It’s important to keep that in context. Rodríguez was actually promoted to High-A Wisconsin for the Midwest League championship series and had four hits in 13 at-bats in his three-game sample there. He will likely begin 2025 back in Appleton, where he will once again be one of the youngest players at his level. 

What are your thoughts on Rodriguez? What are you hoping to see from him in 2025? Let us know in the comments!

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