Thankfully, Carlos Rodon Looks Like a Different Pitcher in 2024

Hello everyone, sorry for the confusion today. I accidentally sent the newsletter this morning before it was finished, which was obviously a stupid and inexcusable mistake. And then, Beehiiv won’t allow more than one newsletter to be sent within 12 hours, so that’s why you’re not receiving the game recap portion until now. I trimmed off Pinstripe Past because you already received that, so if it still matters to you, here’s what I wrote about Carlos Rodon and the Yankees 3-2 win on Tuesday. Again, sorry for the screwup.

April 9: Yankees 3, Marlins 2

Even before Gerrit Cole was sidelined by his sore arm, we knew Carlos Rodon was going to be a critical player for the Yankees.

After a disastrous 2023 season, his first year in pinstripes after signing a six-year, $162 million contract, Rodon was going to have to bounce back and be the pitcher the Yankees thought they were signing if they were going to make a serious run at the AL East title or at least a wild-card berth.

There were too many other question marks in the starting rotation, so Rodon needed to pitch at least closer to the way he did in 2021 with the White Sox and 2022 with the Giants when in both years he was an All-Star, received Cy Young votes, his ERA was a combined 2.67, his WHIP was 0.988, and his strikeouts per nine innings was 12.2 in 55 starts. Cole needed a wing man.

Now with Cole out until at least June, Rodon’s role has taken on even greater significance and three starts into the season, he has responded quite favorably to the added pressure. Tuesday night, he pitched six scoreless innings against the Marlins before running into trouble in the seventh, and Ian Hamilton and Clay Holmes got the game across the goal line as the Yankees won their fourth straight.

Rodon has long been primarily a fastball-slider pitcher, but this season he has been working on incorporating a changeup into his repertoire and against the Marlins he threw it 10 times among his 89 pitches. It followed a strategy the Yankees employed the night before with Nestor Cortes against the Marlins as they tried to take advantage of a Miami lineup that comes up swinging for every at bat.

“A lot of righties in the lineup that we thought that changeup would work well against, and today I had it,” Rodón said. “The profile was good and the location was good. Got some good swing and miss on it, and just hope to keep using that further on. A step in the right direction today. Just keep going. The confidence is growing, for sure.”

Both of the runs that were charged to Rodon in the seventh were unearned, so his ERA is now down to 1.72. He worked through significant traffic on the bases in his starts against the Astros and Diamondbacks which cut short both outings, but he limited them to three runs combined which showed some moxie that was clearly missing in 2023.

Tuesday he was sharp from the outset. He allowed a baserunner in four of the first six innings but never two at once. Twice a Marlin made it to third with two outs but Rodon escaped by striking out Emmanuel Rivera in the second and getting Tim Anderson on a groundout in the fourth.

“He’s in a really good space right now and he’s earned that,” Aaron Boone said. “Just three starts but good results, and it’s a result of a talented guy being prepared and ready.”

Here are my observations:

➤ The Yankees’ 10-2 start matches their best in franchise history through 12 games, a mark also accomplished in 1922, 1949 and 2003. In all three of those seasons they went to the World Series.

➤ Compared to Monday’s fun romp, this game was far less enjoyable. The Yankees had seven hits and drew seven walks but they were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They had at least two men on base in five of the first six innings but had only three runs to show for it, and when Rodon ran into trouble in the seventh, it felt like all that RISP failure was going to burn them. Alas, these are the Marlins so it did not.

➤ Alex Verdugo hit his first Yankee Stadium home run as a Yankee, a towering shot to the short porch in the second. And then were was a bunch of hard contact by the Yankees, but Marlins starter A.J. Puk was living the good life. Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe missed home runs by inches, and a few stingers were hit right at fielders so it stayed 1-0 until the fifth when it could have been at least 5-0.

➤ In that fifth, Juan Soto reached on an error, Aaron Judge walked and Giancarlo Stanton kept his little awakening rolling with an RBI double. Then in the sixth Jon Berti singled, Austin Wells walked, and with two outs, Soto came through with a big RBI single. Every time Soto comes to the plate I just expect that he’s going to do something big. What a nice feeling that is.

➤ Rodon’s night ended in the seventh, partially his fault but more his defense’s fault. He walked leadoff man Josh Bell, and then Anthony Rizzo completely whiffed on a grounder and the error put men on first and second. Tim Anderson then hit a shot to third that Berti didn’t field cleanly and while he didn’t get charged with an error, it could have been.

➤ With the bases loaded and no outs, Ian Hamilton came in and got three straight outs, but two of Rodon’s runners scored. Look, it was a good job by Hamilton, but I always pay attention to inherited runners scored when I judge relievers. It’s a tough job, but when they’re called on in these tough situations, the role is to put out the fire. Hamilton did, but he allowed some fire damage because he wasn’t able to ring up a strikeout or two. Anyway, it didn’t matter because he pitched an easy eighth and Cardiac Clay Holmes gave us a stunningly easy seven-pitch 1-2-3 ninth.

➤ As you’re already well aware of, tonight’s 7:05 finale is on Amazon Prime, which is irritating. Marcus Stroman started for the Yankees against Ryan Weathers of Miami. Weathers is the son of former Yankees pitcher David Weathers who had very little success in parts of three seasons in the Bronx, but in the 1996 postseason was a stud as he threw 11 innings of relief and had a 0.82 ERA.