The last time Eduardo Rodríguez pitched for the Boston Red Sox, he wanted to hit a milestone, with 20 wins in one season.
It has not reached the magic number. And then everything got worse.
Rather than returning in July like the rest of his colleagues, the Venezuelan had to stay in bed after the delay due to the pandemic. He had contracted the corona virus.
The condition caused myocarditis, which ultimately cost him the entire 2020 season.
“After all I’ve been through, it makes me very excited to be here with the kids,” said the 27-year-old left-handed Friday during a video conference at the Red Sox preseason complex in Fort Myers, Florida. “I just thank God for the chance to survive and get back to baseball.
‘I really feel blessed to have the opportunity to come back here. You see a lot of people with serious problems. People who die every day. Getting the chance to be back makes me very happy ”.
Rodriguez was 13-5 for a Boston team that took a 108-game franchise record and won the 2018 World Series. The following year, he seemed overshadowed in the rotation by Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi.
But Rodriguez led them all, with a 19-6 record and a 3.81 ERA. He finished sixth when voting for the American League Cy Young Award. He made his 34th start, highest in the majors, on the last day of the season, with a chance of his 20th victory.
He left without a decision. Still, his wins, ERA and starts were the best stats of his life, as were his 203 1/3 innings and 213 strikeouts.
Rodriguez was seen as the opener of the 2020 opening game, before testing positive for COVID-19 and diagnosed with inflammation in the heart muscle. He said he couldn’t even throw 25 throws without feeling exhausted.
On August 1, just a week after the start of the campaign, it was thrown out for the rest of the year.
“As a player you always do something,” he said. “Being there alone, turning on the television every night and seeing everyone play except me was very difficult.”
After showing up at the preseason camp this year, he says he is ready to go through “a normal preseason.”
“I don’t get tired anymore,” said the Valencia pitcher. “I feel normal, just like in other preseason. So I think everything will be fine. “