Young and talented Emmanuel Rodriguez hoping to stay healthy this season for Cedar Rapids Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS — When the Cedar Rapids Kernels arrived in town a week and a half ago from spring training to get ready for the 2023 Midwest League season, one player physically stood out from the rest.

Not because he was tall or short. Not because he had an ultra-muscular build.

Emmanuel Rodriguez had red hair. A bright red, mullet-like hairdo.

“Every year, my affiliate, the color, I change my hair to that,” he said, through translator Yeison Perez.

A glimpse of his personality, perhaps. A kid acting like a kid in a sense, and Rodriguez is a kid, just turning 20 years old in late February.

His game, though? It continues to grow up ... and up and up.

The outfielder from Santiago, Dominican Republic, is the highest rated prospect of the parent Minnesota Twins on this Kernels club, third by most outlets who rank these things. He’s generally considered just behind former Kernels Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee.

“He has gotten better through the years,” said Perez, a hitting and development coach for Cedar Rapids. “He’s a great kid, on the field and off the field, too. He’s very respectful. And very talented, too. I love working with him.”

“He’s got good talent,” agreed Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman. “He can throw, run, has power. And he has a good baseball IQ, too. He has it all. Now it’s just stay healthy, stay on the field and gain that experience.”

Rodriguez signed with the Twins as an international free agent in 2019 for a bonus of $2.5 million and was in the midst of a breakout year last year for low-Class A Fort Myers. He’d hit nine home runs in 47 games for the Mighty Mussels, showing power, speed and uncommon patience at the plate for a player his age, working 57 walks.

But he injured a knee that forced him to miss the final three months and undergo surgery.

“I felt down,” Rodriguez said, through Perez. “I was having a great season before I got hurt. I was down a little bit. But after that, I feel like I came out stronger, a better mindset, setting goals for myself to be ready. Talking to other people, trying to learn. When I got the opportunity to get back, I prepared every step I could.”

Rodriguez returned to baseball activities late last fall and was a full go this spring training. He says he’s completely healthy and feels good.

The lefty swinger and thrower has been C.R.’s center fielder through four games this early season and has batted second in the order. In today’s baseball, that’s where your best hitter is placed.

Rodriguez went just 1 for his first 13 with eight strikeouts, but his second hit of the season was a 438-foot walk-off grand slam that gave the Kernels an 8-4 win Tuesday night over Quad Cities in the home opener. The ball had an exit velocity of 111 miles per hour.

Rodriguez backed that up with a three-run home run in C.R.’s 10-5 win Wednesday night, a ball hit to center that measured “just” 431 feet.

“Having ninth months off, only having at-bats in spring training, 30 to 40 at-bats that he got down there,” Dinkelman said. “You never know how a guy is going to start off the season. But hopefully that will kick start him into a hot streak.”

“He focuses on what he needs to do to improve every day,” Perez said.

And will focus on what he needs to do to stay healthy and play every day.

“Everything is good,” he said, through Perez. “My main goal is to be and stay healthy through the season. If I can stay healthy the whole season, I can give everything I have. I can support this team.

“I love the talent on this team. It’s going to be a good year with the talented teammates I have.”

Cedar Rapids moved to 5-0 with Wednesday night’s victory over Quad Cities. The Kernels got a two-run home run from Ben Ross and solo shot from Jeferson Morales.

Noah Miller singled twice and walked three times. The teams play again Thursday night at 6:35.

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