Expanded arsenal could help Carlos in Year 2

TAMPA — Carlos Rodón has clearly made some change to his physique. Some tweaks to his arsenal may come next.

The lefty, who showed up to camp in significantly better shape after an offseason of healthy eating, has always relied on his fastball and slider. That combo earned him All-Star nods in 2021 and 2022, followed by a huge payday from the Yankees two offseasons ago.

However, Rodón (photo) had far less success in 2023, recording a 6.85 ERA while battling numerous injuries in his first season with the Yankees.

While those injuries, among other factors, surely contributed to Rodón’s poor performance, some also wondered if he became too predictable. The 31-year-old threw his four-seamer, which is already up to 97 mph in camp, 60.5% of the time and used his slider at a 28.9% clip. He has a curveball and a changeup, but he used those 6.5% and 4.1% of the time, respectively, in 2023.

“Just upping the usage of those pitches, obviously, will help my arsenal, and I know that,” Rodón told the Daily News. “I was so dominant the year before featuring the fastball-slider, and then sprinkling in some curveball. I was so dialed in with those that I was trying to get back to that point. I just wasn’t there.”

Rodón’s fastball and slider actually graded well last season, according to the Stuff+ metric, which measures the physical characteristics of pitches, including spin rate and movement. However, major league hitters are always evolving. Pitchers need to do the same.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Rodón use his secondary stuff a little more in 2024.

“Giving him more options is important,” pitching coach Matt Blake told The News. “Obviously, the bread and butter is the fastball-slider, and then kind of always thinking about what are the ways he’s going to continue to evolve and grow, whether it’s a changeup, whether it’s the curveball, whether there’s other things in the conversation. But ultimately, it comes down to him executing the fastball and the slider and then going from there.”

While it sounds like Rodón could expand his repertoire a tad, he didn’t want to tip his hand too much. Odds are his heater and slider will still lead the pack by a large margin, but time will tell.

“I’m not gonna tell you everything I’m doing,” Rodón said. “That’s part of the game. That’s for hitters to see when the time comes.”

MARINACCIO MATTERS

Ron Marinaccio had an excellent rookie season in 2022, recording a 2.05 ERA over 40 games. By the end of the season, he had entered Aaron Boone’s circle of trust, but a shin injury kept him off the Yankees’ playoff roster.

That same shin hindered the righty that winter and last season, when he struggled in the majors and minors.

“I don’t think he had a good base coming into camp last year just from the lack of lower half strength work and power development,” Blake said. “I think he was kind of playing from behind the eight ball last year and it just kind of snowballed on him a little bit. The delivery got out of whack.”

Boone added that Marinaccio’s shin, while never serious, required maintenance last year. Now, however, the manager said that the 28-year-old is “probably in as good a spot as he’s been in a couple years.”

With Scott Effross officially out of contention for an Opening Day roster spot, Marinaccio could reclaim a job in the Yankees’ bullpen with a strong spring. So far, he’s off to solid start.

“He’s a factor for us if we can keep him healthy,” Blake said.

TREVINO UPDATE

Jose Trevino (calf strain) has begun hitting, Boone said. The catcher has been active in the early days of camp, but the manager still doesn’t expect Trevino to play in the first week or two of spring games.

“He couldn’t play in a game and run full bore, but everything else, he’s pretty much doing now,” Boone said. “So he’s probably a couple of weeks behind, but able to do quite a bit.”