ESCAPING VELOCITY
Rodon gives up pair of homers on flat fastball
TAMPA — Carlos Rodon made his second Grapefruit League start Wednesday, which is more than he could say last spring.
But his first and last pitches ended up in the seats, and in between, though the Yankees left-hander built his workload up to 60 pitches, there was a noticeable lack of life on his signature fastball.
Rodon gave up a pair of home runs on fastballs to bookend his outing, five days after giving up four home runs in a live batting practice.
“Didn’t really have the fastball velo I wanted, but it’s one of those days,” Rodon said after allowing three runs in three-plus innings in a 4-3 loss to the Rays at Steinbrenner Field. “It’s one of those days you gotta be able to pitch without the fastball and use some other things, so that was good to feel that in a game that no one really gives a s–-t about because it doesn’t matter, it’s spring training.
“But the competing side of me, don’t want to give up a home run on the front end, home run on the back end. But there was some good pitches in between.”
Coming off a brutal first season of a six-year, $162 million contract, Rodon had arrived here in January to get a head start on spring training, and the team was encouraged by what it saw. He was in better shape, and his fastball velocity in live batting practices had been sitting around 94-95 mph and touching 97 mph, with Rodon saying in the first week of camp it was “easier to get that velocity.”
But it hasn’t exactly shown up in his first two exhibitions. In Rodon’s first start of the spring, Feb. 25 against the Blue Jays, his fastball averaged 93.6 mph and topped out at 95.9 mph.
Then, after throwing live batting practice his last time out, his fastball Wednesday averaged 93.2 mph and maxed out at 94.8 mph.
“Just not having that extra gear,” manager Aaron Boone said, attributing it to starting on the fifth day in back-to-back outings and the “time of spring.”
Rodon’s fastball averaged 95.3 mph last season, which is around where it was in 2022 and 2021 when the pitch was one of the best fastballs in the majors.
Boone indicated the Yankees would likely have Rodon make his next start on his seventh day (next Wednesday) “just for that recovery, for the life on the heater.”
Rodon said he started to feel more velocity coming in the fourth inning — which lasted just two batters — but used the day to mix in his curveball, cutter and changeup, even if he will still be predominantly a fastball-slider pitcher during the regular season.
“To end on a homer doesn’t really help [the confidence] — the last two starts, to be honest with you,” said Rodon, whose spring debut ended on a sour note when he gave up a home run on his last pitch. “But I’m trying to find that confidence again and that swagger, because that’s a part of me. That’s part of who I am on the mound.”
The Yankees need that version of Rodon this season following a disastrous 2023. He only made one start last spring before being diagnosed with a forearm muscle strain that, along with back troubles, kept him out until July. He went on to post a 6.85 ERA across 14 starts and 64 ¹/₃ innings in which he gave up 15 home runs (11 on the fastball).
Coming off that type of season, Boone wants Rodon to just focus on putting himself in position to pitch every fifth or sixth day. The manager insisted there would still be days that Rodon has “that big stuff.”
Rodon indicated he just needed to stay healthy to be himself again.
“I just need to stay on the mound,” he said. “That’s it. I’m pretty good at this game, when I’m healthy.”