Carlos Rodon had solidified himself as a really effective pitcher in the MLB, until he came to the New York Yankees. With the prestigious club, he pitched a 6.85 ERA, the highest of his career with at least 10 games played.
Even in his last start for New York last season, he was dreadful as he let go of eight earned runs to the Kansas City Royals and did not earn an out. Rodon was just one aspect of the Yankees disappointing season where they missed the playoffs, but the 31-year old pitcher is now heading into next season trying to get back to the basics according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
“It builds every time you take the ball,” Rodón said. “You just want to do more. I was trying to do more. When I was worse, I wanted to do more the next time. Every pitch, I wanted to do more. I was trying to do more, I wanted to throw every pitch as hard as I could, I wanted to throw every slider as hard as I could, I wanted to strike every hitter out in three pitches. Sometimes, it felt like I wanted to strike guys out in one pitch, which is not even possible. Like what are we doing? I wanted to do too much. That’s how I get. Like if I’m going to fight, I’m going to knock you out in one punch. I want to get you done with. It’s just too much. It was so much gritting of the teeth. I needed to breathe.”
Rodon ready to put first season with Yankees behind him
Rodon signed a six-year, $162 million with the Yankees and while the first season was a slog, he is looking for a huge step forward in 2024. He even acknowledges that he can be better as he is reflecting on the miscues and missteps from last season and applying what Rodon learned into this upcoming stint with New York.
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“I know I can be better,” Rodón said. “I wanted to perform better. All of us want these things. Sometimes they just don’t happen, so now it’s about how we analyze that and how do we reflect on that? Last year was last year. It’s one of those things that I do want to put behind me, and I will still reflect on it. Like what happened? Why did it go this way? Hopefully we found answers.”
What exactly went wrong for Rodon is hard to explain with the simplest way to put it is that he was off on his mechanics, allowing hitters to break him down and have success. Even besides the physical attributes that come with playing baseball, Rodon said to The Athletic that “pitching is an art of deception.”
“I would say the stuff was pretty close,” Rodón said. “Pitching is an art of deception. How you deceive a hitter with usage and how you move matters. Obviously their plan of attack, they knew what I was doing. It was pretty obvious with fastballs up and sliders off of it. I think they just caught on to what I was doing. I just feel like the command was a little wonky at times, I was more crisp years before with what I was doing.”
Rodon appreciative of his family as he's working through struggles
Besides practicing and getting better on the field, improving the results also deals with a player's mental state outside of baseball. What has helped ground Rodon was his family that furthered the process of reflecting on the season and knowing what to get better at.
“I’m grateful to have an unbelievable wife, kids and family, that support system that doesn’t really care what I do on the field,” Rodón said. “My wife is the biggest Yankees fan. She’s the biggest Carlos Rodón fan. She keeps up with all of the stuff. She’s a super fan, no doubt. I wouldn’t have it any other way. She wants to win as badly as all of us do in this room.”
Besides Rodon, the Yankees are looking to have short-term memory and forget last season where they missed the playoffs, finishing 82-80 which put them fourth in the AL East. Like a typical New York season, they will have high expectations going into 2024 as Opening Day for them starts March 28 where they start a four-game series against the Houston Astros.