The New York Yankees started the 2024 season strong but they have endured struggles over the past few weeks. The upcoming All-Star break will represent a much-needed rest for New York. Starting pitcher Carlos Rodon has especially struggled.
Rodon currently owns a 4.63 ERA across 103 innings pitched. The Yankees starting pitcher seems to know the underlying reason for his underperformance, however.
“I really like throwing fastballs. I do, but that’s starting to hurt me now,” Rodon said, via Gary Phillips of nydailynews.com. “There’s definitely some pride in throwing a hard fastball. But to make the fastball better, I have to change the usage and use other pitches so it disguises it.”
Hitting a fastball is not an easy thing to do. However, the majority of batters often sit on fastballs and react to breaking pitches. So even if a pitcher is throwing over 100 MPH, big league hitters can still catch up to the heat.
Rodon, who made two All-Star teams before joining the Yankees, also discussed hitters' abilities to connect on velocity in today's game while speaking with Phillips.
“The game has evolved. These guys hit velocity now,” Rodon said. “They know how to get to fastballs up in the zone. They train for that. They train for me specifically. They attack the tendencies I use, like how often I use a fastball and where I throw it, how often I use the slider and where I throw it. So I have to make the adjustment myself, and I may need to make it faster to be successful and give my team a chance to win.”
Carlos Rodon's 2024 season with Yankees
As mentioned earlier, Rodon has a 4.63 ERA so far in 2024. His struggles go beyond that statistic, though.
Is his fastball usage rate a concern? Well, whatever Rodon is doing it is not working all that well. The left-handed starter is currently surrendering the highest hard-hit rate against of his career with a mark of 43.9 percent, per Baseball Reference. In other words, batters are hitting the ball harder than ever against Rodon.
When Rodon made back-to-back All-Star teams in 2021 and 2022 he recorded strikeout rates of over 33 percent. In 2024, he is only striking out 23.9 percent of batters. His walk rate is quite respectable, however, as it currently sits at 6.8 percent which is much lower than his career 8.8 percent walk rate.
Nevertheless, there is a difference between throwing the ball over the plate and executing quality strikes. Rodon has been able to work in the zone but his execution has been far from flawless. And as he mentioned, perhaps leaning less on the fastball could lead to better overall results.
Will Rodon bounce back?
Rodon was one of MLB's best pitchers during the 2021 and 2022 seasons with the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants. He struggled immensely in limited action in 2023, but he also dealt with injuries. Yankees fans were hopeful that Rodon would rebound in 2024.
Rodon has been unable to find his form this season. The good news is that it is only July. He will have a couple of months to get back on track before the playoffs begin. Still, the Yankees will surely hope he finds his groove sooner rather than later. It is difficult to make a serious playoff run when one of your best players is underperforming at an alarming rate.
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