Getting to know the Brewers' 2025 Home Opener starting pitcher, Elvin Rodriguez

Milwaukee Brewers Photo Day
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The Milwaukee Brewers had a rough time in New York against the Yankees on Opening Weekend. With the help of oddly shaped custom bats, the Bronx Bombers teed off on the Brew Crew’s usually reliable pitching staff, launching 15 home runs in three games, including nine in Saturday's contest.

To make matters worse, Milwaukee was operating shorthanded as Abner Uribe was on the roster, but unavailable as he serves a four-game suspension dating back to last season. Going forward, their starting rotation is also a mess as Jose Quintana is on minor league assignment continuing to build up and Brandon Woodruff is also continuing to progress his pitch/innings count. Tobias Myers, DL Hall, and Aaron Ashby are all on the injured list too.

This has led to non-household name in Elvin Rodriguez, being announced as the Brewers starting pitcher for their Home Opener against the Kansas City Royals on Monday, March 31.

Getting to know the Milwaukee Brewers 2025 Home Opener starting pitcher Elvin Rodriguez

Rodriguez will be the Brewers Home Opener starting pitcher while celebrating his 27th birthday and making his first MLB appearance since July 7, 2023.

Since the summer of 2023, Rodriguez had been pitching in Japan. The right-hander dominated overseas in 2024, recording a 1.74 ERA in 88 relief innings. His 94-95 MPH high spin rate fastball played well over there and he ultimately inked a MLB contract with Milwaukee this offseason.

Before going to Japan, Rodriguez had 33 MLB innings to his name. The vast majority of these innings came in 2022 with the Tigers and just 3 1/3 in 2023 with the Rays. His career 9.55 ERA is an eyesore, but he has the stuff to get big league hitters out as he nicely pairs a slider with his fastball.

Rodriguez surely will have his work cut out for him on Monday. The Royals were a playoff team a season ago and are led by Bobby Witt Jr., but also added former Reds second baseman Jonathan India in a trade before the start of 2025.

The good news is that Milwaukee will only be expecting 2-3 innings out of Rodriguez. He is built up to pitch multiple innings, but not much beyond that. This essentially makes him an "opener" as opposed to a starter, and the Brewers will rely heavily upon their bullpen to navigate their first home game of the season.

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