Rodriguez Named Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year
The Pittsburgh Pirates today named Endy Rodriguez the organization’s Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year and Quinn Priester the organization’s Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year. The announcement was made by Director of Coaching and Player Development John Baker. The 22-year-old Rodriguez led all Pirates minor leaguers in batting average (.323), OBP (.407), slugging (.590), OPS
The Pittsburgh Pirates today named Endy Rodriguez the organization’s Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year and Quinn Priester the organization’s Bob Friend Pitcher-of-the-Year. The announcement was made by Director of Coaching and Player Development John Baker.
The 22-year-old Rodriguez led all Pirates minor leaguers in batting average (.323), OBP (.407), slugging (.590), OPS (.997), hits (148), doubles (39), extra base hits (68) and total bases (270) in a combined 125 games in 2022 between Greensboro, Altoona and Indianapolis. At the conclusion of the 2022 campaign, Rodriguez emerged as one of the industry’s top 100 prospects by both Baseball America (95th) and MLB Pipeline (97th). Rodriguez was also recognized by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline as a first-team All-Star at catcher at the conclusion of the 2022 campaign.
Rodriguez began 2022 with Greensboro, where he ranked second in the South Atlantic League in slugging (.544) and OPS (.936), seventh in batting (.302), fifth in OBP (.392) and tied for second in both doubles (23) and extra base hits (42) at the time he was promoted to Altoona on August 9. The South Atlantic League player-of-the-month for July spent 31 games with Altoona, which was highlighted after becoming the fifth player in Curve history to homer from both sides of the plate after doing so on September 1. Following his promotion to Triple-A on September 20, the switch-hitting Rodriguez hit .455 (10-for-22) with two doubles, a triple, home run and eight RBI in six games with Indianapolis.
Rodriguez was one of five players acquired by the Pirates in a three-team trade with the San Diego Padres and New York Mets on January 19, 2021. He ended his 2022 season ranked fifth among all qualified full-season catchers in MiLB in OPS (.997) and tied for ninth in total bases (270) at that position.
The Honus Wagner Player-of-the-Year is awarded to the Pirates minor leaguer who had the most impressive overall season. The award is named in honor of the legendary Pirates Hall-of-Fame shortstop who played 2,437 games in a Pirates uniform.