How Yankees’ Carlos Rodón Has Rediscovered Himself On The Mound

This is who the Yankees thought they were getting when they signed Carlos Rodón to a six-year/$162M contract before the 2023 season. Sure, the surface numbers of a 12-7 W-L record and 3.25 ERA are decent, but they don’t stand out. However, it's the underlying numbers that tell the story of his return to All-Star form. 

Rodón’s FIP (3.84) is the best it's been since his 2022 campaign with the Giants, which is widely regarded as the best season of his career. His 1.064 WHIP is the third-lowest of his career and his hits allowed per nine innings is a career best 6.0. In addition, his home runs allowed per nine innings (1.2) and strikeouts per nine (10.1) are the best they’ve been since 2022. Rodón’s batting average against (.186) is the best mark of his career, while his OBP against (.272) and SLG against (.333) are the third lowest of his career. 

But what has allowed Rodón to make this turnaround? 

According to Fangraphs, his fastball percentage (41.3%) is the lowest it's been since 2016, while his average fastball velocity (94.3mph) is the lowest it's been since 2020. But while he’s using his fastball less, he has upped the usage of his other pitches. 

After shelving his sinker for the past five years, Rodón has reincorporated it into his arsenal, throwing the pitch 9.4% of the time with an average velocity of 92.1mph. This has helped him generate a groundball percentage of 40.6%, his best mark since 2019, which is also the last season Fangraphs has him throwing his sinker. 

In addition to rediscovering his sinker and groundball tendencies, Rodón has also increased his slider percentage to 30.1%, decreased his curveball to 4.3% and upped his changeup to 14.8%. 

This has led to a less-is-more situation as his fastball’s runs above average value has jumped to 7.6, its best mark since 2022. His slider’s runs above average value has also made a noticeable jump, going from -3.2 to 11.5. 

All of those changes have led Rodón to rediscover his All-Star form and that’s good news for the Yankees, who desperately need him to be the pitcher they thought they were getting.