Physically, a slimmer Carlos Rodon looks differently this season. With a deeper repertoire, Rodon is pitching differently and no longer so reliant upon his fastball and slider.
In his second season in pinstripes after a nightmare first, Rodon feels differently, too.
“I sit down in the dugout now and I look around, and I feel pretty comfortable sitting in this stadium,” the lefty said after his third straight quality start helped the Yankees beat the White Sox, 7-2, in The Bronx on Sunday. “I thought about that the first month here in April … sitting down and looking around. This doesn’t feel overwhelming anymore. This feels like home.”
A lot has changed after an injury- and underperformance-filled 2023 season for Rodon, who is more healthy, comfortable and successful in the early going of this season in part because he has plenty more pitches to choose from.
Rodon let up just two runs on four hits and two walks in six innings in which he struck out six.
The 23 swing-and-misses he induced were his most since July 9, 2022, when he pitched a complete-game, three-hitter in a Giants win over the Padres and threw heater after heater and slider after slider.
Two years ago, Rodon was a dominant pitcher on his way to securing a $162 million pact with the Yankees.
Two years later, Rodon is dominating again but in a different way.
He used his fastball and slider most often Sunday, but his improving changeup was his most effective pitch. Chicago batters swung at it nine times and missed seven.
“Especially in a righty-dominant lineup, you got to have a third pitch that’s going to change the look up,” said Rodon, whose ERA is down to 3.27. “The changeup really helped.”
As did a curveball and cutter he worked in.
A two-pitch pitcher is now a five-pitch pitcher, which gives him plenty more options to escape danger.
Twice, Rodon got into trouble Sunday.
In the second inning, he allowed a pair of runs on a Corey Julks homer and a Zach Remillard one-out, RBI triple. Remillard did not score, though, because Rodon got Danny Mendick to pop up and watched Jose Trevino pick off Remillard at third to escape the inning.
Two innings later, Rodon didn’t need the help from his catcher.
The White Sox put two on without an out to mount a threat, but Rodon struck out Julks, Lee and Remillard to escape.
“When he got into trouble,” manager Aaron Boone said, “he had an extra gear with the heater.”
Rodon acknowledged that the game against the White Sox — who drafted him third overall in 2013 and who helped him grow into a star from 2015-21 — meant a bit extra.
He had never faced his former team and was able to see (and strike out) a lot of familiar faces.
But he did so in a fashion that Chicago personnel probably did not recognize.
He pitched like a new pitcher while feeling like a new pitcher, improving to 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA in four starts at a park that now feels like home.
“That makes a huge difference,” Rodon said.