Red Sox tab Rodriguez for Opening Day after missing 2020 with myocarditis
The Boston Red Sox named Eduardo Rodriguez the club's Opening Day starter against the Baltimore Orioles.
"I'm proud that he will be the guy on Opening Day," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com.
The left-hander missed the 2020 season when he was diagnosed with a heart condition called myocarditis after contracting COVID-19.
Before his lost season, Rodriguez put together the strongest campaign of his career in 2019, going 19-6 with a 3.81 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in 203 1/3 innings across 34 starts.
Rodriguez continued his strong spring on Wednesday, recording six strikeouts over five innings of one-run ball against the Minnesota Twins. The 27-year-old still hasn't issued a walk across 11 2/3 innings of work.
"Right now, everything is on point," Cora said, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.
The Red Sox have not announced the rest of the rotation, but Garrett Richards, Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez, Nick Pivetta, and Tanner Houck are among options to get starts. Boston ace Chris Sale remains without an official timeline for his return from Tommy John surgery, but he should be back at some point this summer.