How Giants Closer Randy Rodriguez Took Step Forward in Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League has built a reputation around developing young players and preparing them for Major League Baseball.

The whole point of the league is for the best prospects in the game to come together, play a month of baseball and further their development toward making it to The Show one day. That makes what San Francisco Giants closer Randy Rodriguez is doing intriguing.

Rodriguez is the rare player with Major League experience, and even an All-Star game appearance, and is pitching in the Arizona Fall League.

Rodriguez started Tuesday's game for the Scottsdale Scorpions, the team that Giants prospects play for in the AFL. He pitched one clean inning as he retired the side and struck out one.

Here’s why Rodriguez is there.

Randy Rodriguez’s Rare AFL Trip

The idea was Rodriguez’s. The right-hander was recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent late in the 2025 season. The timing essentially prevented him from being able to help the Giants bullpen in 2026.

So, with the season winding down and Rodriguez closing in on being cleared to pitch in game action, he approached general manager Zach Minasian about the possibility of pitching in the AFL, per a report at MLB.com last month.

Apparently, there is nothing preventing a veteran player from playing in the Arizona Fall League. So, the Giants opted to send him there to get a few innings and continue his build-up.

How often he will pitch is unclear. Given the surgery and the recovery, it’s possible he could pitch every third or fourth game for an inning each as he heads toward potential activation in 2027.

There could also be opportunities abroad as many international players participate in winter leagues in warmer climates such as the Dominican Republic. How he performs and recovers in the AFL may inform whether Rodriguez is made available to pitch in a winter league.

The Giants will want to proceed slowly. San Francisco's bullpen was a mess in 2026, and president of baseball operations Buster Posey made it clear after the season that he took too many risks with players that simply didn't provide them much out of the bullpen. Having a healthy Rodriguez available would be a huge boost to a pitching staff that needs it.

He went from set-up man to closer during 2025 as he went 3-5 with a 1.79 ERA in 50 games, with 13 holds and four saves in seven chances before he suffered the injury. He struck out 67 and walked 11 in 50.2 innings as batters hit just .187 against him.