Wearing a camouflage Norfolk Tides jersey, white pants pulled up to the knees and high black socks, Grayson Rodriguez peers with malice aforethought over the tip of his glove toward an imaginary batter, the way he always does before a windup.
His head is tapped. It wiggles back and forth.
This isn’t actually Rodriguez, an imposing 6-foot-5 Texan who’s made a living throwing blinding fastballs. It’s his bobblehead likeness, given away to fans as part of a club promotion last month.
The toy, which sits in the offices of several Tides front-office staffers, has prompted some good-natured ribbing from teammates.
“It’s a lot of fun,” the real Rodriguez said this week. “Some jokes are made, but it’s definitely a lot of fun.”
Rodriguez, a 23-year-old right-hander, will continue his attempt to rejoin the parent Baltimore Orioles when he starts Monday’s series finale against Charlotte at Harbor Park.
After one start to open the season at Norfolk, Rodriguez was promoted to make his major league debut April 5.
In 10 starts with the Orioles over nearly two months, he went 2-2 with a 7.35 earned-run average, prompting a return to Triple-A in late May with a directive to hone his fastball command and sharpen his slider.
Since then, Rodriguez has gone 4-0 with a 2.22 ERA in five starts. He’s walked 12 and struck out 39 in 28 1/3 innings since his demotion, holding opponents to a .191 batting average in that span.
His signature pre-windup stare-down was only one part of what the bobblehead’s manufacturer got right, Norfolk manager Buck Britton said.
“I think it’s great,” Britton said. “He’s got a big head, so he’s got a bobblehead when he walks around every day. I thought they did a decent job with it. They got the hand and the glove in the right position. I think they did a good job with it.”
The Tides, who won the International League first-half title to bring the league championship series to Harbor Park in September, will give away bobbleheads honoring former Norfolk standout Gunnar Henderson on July 28. The horizontal figure depicts Henderson, who is now with the Orioles, sliding into third to complete a triple.
Rodriguez, the 11th overall pick in the 2018 draft, was especially pleased with what his own likeness was wearing.
“I’m a big camo guy,” he said. “So, yeah, the camo jersey was the icing on the cake.”
The self-deprecating Britton, who had a quite respectable nine-year playing career given the fact he was a 35th-round draft pick out of Lubbock Christian University in 2008, laughed when asked how his fellow Texan’s bobblehead compared to his own.
The older brother of former Orioles and New York Yankees star reliever Zack Britton, the skipper and former role player was never the focus of such a promotion.
“My bobbleheads were ones where I taped over the name and just put ‘Buck Britton,’ ” he said, laughing. “Bobbleheads weren’t bringing people to the yard to watch me play.
“I like to take credit for, like, Dollar Beer Nights: a Buck Beer Night. Everywhere’s got ’em.”
David Hall, [email protected]. Twitter @DavidHallVP.
