Red Sox call up LHP Eduardo Rodriguez for spot start

The Boston Red Sox will promote prospect Eduardo Rodriguez for a start on Thursday, according to Tim Britton of the Providence Journal:

Source: Eduardo Rodriguez is on his way to the big club. Might just be for a spot start.

— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) May 27, 2015

Rodriguez was ranked as a top 100 prospect in baseball entering the season by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com and the 22-year-old has justified that with a 2.98 ERA and 1.10 WHIP with seven walks and 44 strikeouts in 48⅓ innings in his first eight starts this season at Triple-A Pawtucket.

The plan is to bring up Rodriguez for a lone spot start and then send him back to Pawtucket, Britton reports:

Rodriguez starts Thursday. Six-man rotation this time through.

— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) May 27, 2015

The plan is to send Rodriguez back down after his start.

— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) May 27, 2015

The Red Sox's starting rotation has struggled this year, with a league-high 5.10 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP that ranks 27th in baseball. The lone Red Sox starter with an ERA below 4.00 is 30-year-old knuckleballer Steven Wright, who has made just two starts and thrown 22 innings this season with a 3.68 ERA overall and 3.12 ERA as a starter. None of Boston's five regular starters has an ERA+ above 94.

Rodriguez came to the Red Sox in a trade with Baltimore for reliever Andrew Miller at the trade deadline last season. He made six starts in the Boston system last season, all at Double-A Portland, allowing four runs in 37⅓ innings, a 0.96 ERA, with eight walks and 39 strikeouts. He had a 3.60 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 120 innings overall last season, walking 37 and striking out 108, all of which came at the Double-A level.