The Rays Rule 5 pick.
A 25-year-old starter-turned-reliever, Rodriguez was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 14th round of the 2005 amateur draft. In 2008, the White Sox decided to transition Rodriguez into relief and in his initial season working from the bullpen looked pretty decent. This mini-scouting report is from Sox Machine:
He's got an interesting style. He throws from three arm angles -- a short-armed overhand, a three-quarter slot and sidearmed, and can hit 93 from the overhand slot. It definitely makes a sound when it hits the mitt.
He topped out at 93 overhand, and worked around 88 from sidearm, and three-quarters registered in between. He also threw variations of a slider from 75 to 81 m.p.h., and liked to backdoor it on lefties.
His numbers paint him as a groundballer capable of getting strikeouts, which are good. His near 9% swinging strike rate in limited Triple-A data is also decent. Rodriguez appears to hold lefties and righties down equally well, with his career numbers actually favoring him against lefties. Here's a video on him, but what can I say, he's a no risk, potentially good pen arm.
Derek Rodriguez (via soxmachine)
Also: Eduardo Morlan was selected by the Brewers. No idea if he can make it in their bullpen or not. Let's bank on him eating through enough Brewer dogs and cheese to make it back to us.
The Rays passed in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 draft.