Eduardo Rodríguez is having the best statistical season of his Arizona Diamondbacks tenure over his first 19 starts of 2026. He has allowed 39 walks and 94 hits in 114 innings of work. These statistics have contributed to his allowing only 29 runs, resulting in an earned run average of 2.29.

Capitalizing on Rodriguez’s Stellar First-Half Numbers

Eduardo Rodríguez’s 2026 success is tied to a statistical improvement in his four-seam fastball. Opposing hitters have a batting average of .196 with 3 home run against the pitch.

That is substantially better than the first half of 2025 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the first half of 2025, opponents hit .306 with a total of 7 home runs.

The four-seam fastball improvement can be attributed to Eduardo Rodríguez’s altered arm angle. When he threw the pitch in 2026, he had an average arm angle of 42.4 degrees, 2.6 degrees higher than the first half of 2025, when it was 39.8 degrees.

The increased arm angle has allowed him to get more vertical movement on his four-seam fastball. He is averaging 15.9 inches of vertical movement on the pitch, 1 inch higher than the first half of 2025. Consequently, it has altered his pitch location as he is throwing it up in the zone. 

Fastball usage up in the zone

Over the first half of 2026, he has thrown a fastball up in the zone 226 times, 31.9% of his total fastballs. This is a 35.3% increase from the first half of 2025, when he threw 167 fastballs up in the zone.

Despite increased fastball usage up in the zone, opposing hitters have a lower whiff rate, down from 34.4% to 24%. Furthermore, only 26 fastballs up in the zone have been called a non swinging strike. 

The overwhelming majority of the fastballs up in the zone have been fouled off or called a ball. 32% of the balls up in the zone fall in these two categories. Part of the reason Eduardo Rodríguez is getting these results is that he throws his fastball at low velocity. 

Since 2024, the four-seam fastball has averaged 92 miles per hour. His fastball velocity put him at 430th among starters.

The combination of these factors has led him to throw a significant number of pitches per inning. Since 2024, he has averaged 16.59 pitches per inning. That high pitch count has hindered his ability to go deep into games. Since 2024, he has averaged 5.4 innings per start.

Ultimately, Eduardo Rodríguez’s pitching process indicates that he will not be able to repeat this season’s success. This is because his primary pitch, the four-seam fastball, has a lower swinging-miss rate.

 Opposing hitters are either late making contact with the pitch, causing them to fight it off, or laying it off for a ball. This suggests hitters will eventually start to time the pitch, causing more damage.

Given these signals, the Arizona Diamondbacks need to put Eduardo Rodríguez on the trade market. The best pitcher currently on the market is Freddy Peralta, who is having a bad statistical season. As a result, the move becomes the best option on the trade market, with the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Houston Astros all in need of starting pitching.

Potential trade package

The current speculation within media circles is that Freddy Peralta will get at least one top-100 prospect. On June 30 2026, Tim Britton of Athletic stated that Freddy Peralta could be acquired as part of a package similar to the one used when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim acquired Lucas Giolito.

“The best recent comp for Peralta might be the Los Angeles Angels’ 2023 trade for Lucas Giolito from the White Sox. At the time of the deal, Giolito had been worth 1.7 WAR that season and 7.6 WAR over the previous three seasons for Chicago. Right now, Peralta has been worth 1.2 WAR this season and 7.1 over the last three, with another month to catch up a bit”.

“The Halos sent catcher Edgar Quero, then a top-100 prospect, along with pitcher Ky Bush, a recent second-round pick, for Giolito and Reynaldo López. Given that Giolito had underperformed his peripherals in a significant way the prior season, I’d venture Peralta could generate about the same value individually as Giolito and López did together. So think a back-half top-100 prospect and a solid second prospect as the return”.

Consequently, if Arizona were to trade Rodriguez, it would get a return of two to three times what the media expects for Freddy Peralta. Not only because of his performance, but because of his contract structure. Rodriguez is under contract through the 2027 season with a mutual option for 2028.

Therefore, it is the ideal time to trade Rodriguez as he is unlikely to replicate this type of performance in future years.