Carlos Rodon was marvelous last night, as the Yankees were guided to a 6-1 victory on the backs of a seven-inning gem where he allowed one run and struck out eight batters.
The Yankees needed their starters to step up all season due to a slew of injuries that have rocked the staff, and Rodon showed last night that he’s more than just a number two starter.
Originally slated to be the number three starter before Gerrit Cole went down with injury, Rodon has had a remarkable season, and he set a new career-high in a season for wins.
Last year he set a new high at 16 wins, and this year he outdoes himself with an additional win, having another start lined up before the season ends.
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Last night was another example of Carlos Rodon’s excellence, as the left-hander punched out eight batters while being able to keep Baltimore off the bases all night.
He’s done an excellent job limiting damage contact all season which is reflected in his xwOBACON, short of Expected Weighted On-Base Average on Contact.
In layman’s terms, it measures how much ‘damage’ a batter does when they make contact, ignoring strikeouts and walks to strictly measure contact quality.
With a .336 xwOBACON on the season, Rodon has the fourth-best mark among starting pitchers, barely trailing the likes of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ranger Suarez, and Paul Skenes.
Rodon’s ability to mix up his looks with a fastball, slider, changeup, sinker, and curveball can make him tough to barrel up, and he consistently locates his pitches in areas of the zone where he can steal strikes as well.
He freezes hitters often, making them pensive and causing delayed swing decisions by attacking the right quadrants of the zone based on the count and situation.
Batters swing just 45.1% of the time against Carlos Rodon, the seventh-lowest mark in MLB, resulting in the third-most called strikes in MLB (535) this season.
They still chase frequently against his pitches, this season the left-hander is in the 63rd Percentile in Chase% while having the fourth-most strikeouts on pitches out of the strike zone.
He’s become an artists on the mound, but he’s doing so while still having a plus fastball and excellent secondary pitches at his disposal.
The velocity is down from years past, but his manipulation of spin has improved, and it’s allowed him to become the frontline starter the Yankees hoped he’d be when they originally signed him.
It’s almost a given that Carlos Rodon will get some down-ballot Cy Young votes in the American League, and he’s setting career-highs across the board.
With 189.1 IP, he’s got the most innings he’s ever thrown in a season, and this year marks the first time he’s ever had back-to-back seasons making more than 30 starts.
Carlos Rodon is not the Robin to Max Fried’s Batman, he’s the co-ace of this rotation, and these two have helped anchor the Yankees’ battered staff.
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