The New York Yankees spent a lot of money this offseason, much of it to retain Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo, but the biggest outside addition was signing starting pitcher Carlos Rodon to a six year $162 million contract, and the team has a plan for when he arrives for spring training next week, according to Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka.
“We're going to have meetings to determine what they believe makes him successful and we'll sit down with Carlos too and ask what he believes Makes him successful,” Higashioka told Sweeny Murti of SNY. “And usually just overlaying both of those on top of each other gives us a good picture of how to handle him.”
Rodon figures to be the number two starter in the Yankees rotation behind Gerrit Cole. The interesting component in all of this is that Kyle Higashioka will miss a portion of spring training participating in the World Baseball Classic with team USA.
The Yankees starting catcher is expected to be Jose Trevino, who won the platinum glove in the American League in 2022. However, it is still an interesting component that Rodon will not get as much work with his backup catcher in spring, and it will be worth observing how that impacts who he pitches to in regular season games.
Rodon is 30 years old this season, and has elevated his level of play over the last two seasons, which secured him a lucrative contract with the Yankees. Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo will once again be expected to do the heavy-lifting for the Yankees offensively, but the team is hoping that the duo of Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon can make its pitching staff among the best in baseball.
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