Carlos Rodon joined the New York Yankees with a leap of faith and a huge baggage of expectations last year. However, his debut season in pinstripes was hideous as he recorded over 6.00 ERA in less than 15 starts. Injuries played a massive role in his downfall as he struggled with forearm, back and hamstring issues.
However, Carlos Rodon’s 2024 season performance suggests that the pitcher’s issues go far beyond his health concerns. His pitching arsenal overall has been an identified problem. After a recent shambolic outing, Rodon admitted that a nasty pitch that used to be his weapon earlier had become his weakness in recent years.
Carlos Rodo Admits Fastballs Are Hurting Him This Season!
New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon’s struggles on the mound have returned after a healthy start to the season. This year, in 20 starts, he owns a 4.63 ERA with 112 strikeouts. His win-loss record dropped to 9-7, and his latest outing against the Orioles lasted only four innings. Needless to say, the problem with Rodon is that his technical stuff is far from impeccable, and the former All-Star pitcher is well aware of his shortcomings. In a recent interview with Gary Phillips of nydailynews, Rodon admitted that the opposition has decoded the antidote to his dreadful fastballs. “I really like throwing fastballs. I do, but that’s starting to hurt me now,” Rodon said.
The pitcher added that his fastballs this season have been ineffective as opposition hitters are coming prepared for his stuff. He revealed how baseball has evolved, and hitters are training more and more for fastballs up in the zone. Hence, the only way to get rid of this problem is to increase the usage of other pitches and subtly disguise the fastballs in between to get more strikeouts. Notably, Carlos Rodon is allowing the highest hard-hit rate of his career at 43.9 percent, which means the batters are hitting the ball hard more than even against Rodon. Regardless, with Carlos Rodo being self-aware of his problem, it’s time for him to figure out the solutions for the same. The All-Star break couldn’t have come at a better time for the pitcher as he gets an opportunity to reset and rejuvenate ahead of the second half.
Carlos Rodon Fixes Fastball Woes In Yankees 6-5 Loss To Orioles
Meanwhile, Carlos Rodon displayed signs of improvement in his latest outing against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. He introduced the fastball only after his 12th pitch and used a mix of sliders and breaking ball equally. However, Rodon’s start lasted only four innings as the Orioles made him work, resulting in a high pitch count.
Carlos Rodon ended up allowing 2 runs in four innings before the Yankees replaced him with relief pitchers. Regardless, the starting pitcher is satisfied with the progress so far and vowed to continue with the same approach in the second half of the tournament. Notably, the Yankees will resume the season on Saturday with a three-game series against the Rays.
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