Just over a month ago, catcher Endy Rodríguez had his biggest chance yet.

And after missing all but 36 professional games over the last two years, turning 26 years old, and in a crowded catching position, one could argue it might have been his last.

Following the injury to Joey Bart back in May, the Pirates recalled Rodríguez to Pittsburgh, slotting him into the tandem with Henry Davis and giving the switch-hitter a chance to produce alongside the plate, not just behind it.

His arrival was coming at a time where the Pirates desperately needed some offense from a woefully underperforming catcher position. Before Rodríguez’s season debut, Davis was slashing an abysmal .151/.263/.256 (.518 OPS) with two home runs and eight RBI through 100 plate appearances.

Bart, meanwhile, was on a hot streak when a foot injury took him down. Through the opening weeks of the year, Bart was nearly equally as poor at the plate; until April 18th, he was slashing .143/.219/.250 (.469 OPS), but went 11-for-30 in his last ten games to spike his batting average to .259 and bring the OPS up to .670.

That was more or less the baseline that Rodríguez was hoping to clear. For any batter truly worthy of a major league spot, that is an achievable goal. But for a player like Rodríguez, who had been limited to just 75 MLB games (and was a career .210 average, 587 OPS hitter in that time), that was far from a guarantee.

In addition to fighting for his major league life, Rodríguez had to contend with an unspecified amount of time to make his case. All he had was until Bart came back to force general manager Ben Cherington and the managerial staff into making a tough decision.

He kicked off his campaign with a 2-for-3 performance against Colorado in a 7-2 win. He drilled a single to center field in the third inning to score his first pair of RBI, and also put a double and walk on the scoresheet. It was a much needed breath of fresh air to the catching department.

And since then, Rodríguez has continued to produce, giving the Pirates a depth bat in the bottom part of the order, an area that has routinely struggled at times this year.

Through 23 games, Rodríguez is slashing .267/.413/.467 (.880 OPS) with a trio of home runs and eight RBI. His calling card has been that incredibly high on-base percentage, which sits at second-best on the team behind the surging Tyler Callihan.

As was the case during his time in Triple-A this season (where his .326 on-base percentage was actually higher than his .301 slugging), Rodríguez has made a name for himself getting on base any way he can.

Though the walk rate has fallen since the calendar flipped to June, Rodríguez is still patient at the plate, drawing 15 walks this season to just 17 strikeouts. Whether it’s a base hit or a walk, he’s giving the next man up something to work with, and for the bottom part of the order, that’s really all you need.

But while the steady on-base rate is the biggest benefit in putting him in the lineup, Rodríguez has shown flashes of power as well. One of the few bright spots in that dejecting 11-2 loss in Sacramento to the Athletics, was him smacking his third home run of the season over the left-center wall. That matched his season total from 2023, doing it in 35 less games 132 less plate appearances.

Behind the dish, Rodríguez is contending with Davis. One of the biggest strengths of Davis over the last few years has been his work with the pitching staff.

Though he was outperformed with the bat last year by Bart, Davis carried Pirates pitching to a 2.87 ERA (almost a full two runs less than Bart), a .212 average and .614 OPS (50 and 150 points better than Bart, respectively).

This season, amidst a regressing rotation and absolute mess of a bullpen, pitching with Davis has not led to the same results. Taking the lion’s share of the games for the Pirates, he’s amassed a 4.08 ERA with an opposing slash line of .232/.306/.379 (.685 OPS).

In 2026, Bart actually largely had the better numbers. Pitchers had a 3.70 ERA with a .229/.327/.358 (.685 OPS) tossing the ball to Bart.

Rodríguez, for his part, isn’t doing stellar back there himself. Through roughly the same amount of work as Bart, Pittsburgh’s arms have a 4.87 ERA and batters slash .250/.336/.407 (.743 OPS). Though it’s an area largely controlled by the subpar pitching, those are numbers you hope Rodríguez can eventually help ease the swelling of.

One area that is more in his control and also needs improving is the stolen base department. Davis is still miles better at that than Rodríguez, catching 11 base runners on 20 attempts in comparison to Rodríguez, who has thrown out just two on 18 attempts.

But, both of those are aspects of his game that he is getting ample chance to improve. In June, Rodríguez has played 13 games to just six by Davis. Three of Davis’ starts have come catching Paul Skenes, and four times he has been removed early.

For Rodríguez, it is still a relatively small sample size for a player whose career at the top has come in spurts of those. But at the very least, this is the kind of performance that makes you want to see more.

And that’s the decision the Pirates seemingly have made. Late last night, just as Bart was gearing up to return to the lineup, they traded him to Atlanta. From the Braves, they received a familiar face in righty reliever in Hunter Stratton.

Rodríguez’s performance had propelled three catchers into a two-man job. And with the way he was playing, it was down to trading Bart or optioning Davis. We can debate the choice the Pirates made, but they’ve made it.

Bart is gone, Davis is the backup, and for right now, it’s Endy’s job to lose.