Yankees' Carlos Rodon Should Be Fine Despite Rocky Debut

Carlos Rodón's return to the Yankees wasn't perfect, but there are reasons to be optimistic about his outlook. Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Yankees' Carlos Rodon Should Be Fine Despite Rocky Debut

Originally posted on New York Yankees on SI
By Joseph Randazzo | Last updated May 11, 2026 10:00 AM ET

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The Yankees were always going to be without their two big horses to start the year. Now, finally, one of them is back. Saturday's outing against the Brewers was a rocky start for Carlos Rodón, but one would be hard-pressed to come out of that outing feeling disappointed unless they only check box scores and their evaluations of players and games end there.

For one, Rodón simply being on a mound was a huge positive. That's always the biggest hurdle for a player coming back after going under the knife.

Probably the most intriguing piece of data to come out of Rodón's start, though, was his velocity. In 2025, Rodón averaged 94.1 mph on his heater. It was one start, but against the Brewers, he averaged 95.7 mph on it.

Carlos Rodón threw two 97 MPH pitches in his first inning of the season. He only threw 13 of them all last year

Rodón's 97.7 MPH fastball was faster than all but two of his pitches last season pic.twitter.com/8gF3wkufA5
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 10, 2026

Rodón touched 96 mph and above 13 times—specifically 97 mph twice. Compared to last year, he touched 96-plus mph 26 times for all of 2025. He touched 97 mph three times for the entirety of that season.

Another important thing to look at was the soft contact. The hardest hit ball against him was a 101.6 mph single from Brice Turang. He also had a 100.6 mph groundout in the second. Outside of these two instances, there wasn't a single ball put in play against Rodón that reached over 95 mph.

The ball the Brewers put in play the most was his sinker. They averaged 83 mph off of it. In total, they had an average exit velocity of 86.5 mph off of Rodón.

Rust played a factor, but the future is still promising

What hurt Rodón toward the end of his season debut were the walks. It's something that he should be able to fix once he knocks some of the rust off. That was the one critique that manager Aaron Boone had about his southpaw.

"(Carlos) just kind of lost the zone there," Boone said, according to MLB.com's Casey Drottar. "A couple walks, hit batter. It's a really good job getting out of those when, in the first two innings, you walk the leadoff batter. That's usually not a recipe for success. But ultimately, a couple more (and) they come back to haunt him a little bit."

Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Rodón also criticized that aspect of his game. He wasn't happy with all the free passes.

"Any time you give up free baserunners and walk the first guy of the inning, it's never a good thing," Rodón said. "Bases-loaded situation, two outs, and they get the hit there. None of that happens if I get ahead and get guys out."

The final line for Rodón was three earned runs, four strikeouts, and five walks in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 78 pitches on the day, which is about where Boone wanted him.

Looking ahead, Rodón will likely have the chance to build off his 2026 debut against the Mets in this weekend's Subway Series. The three-time MLB All-Star is 3-1 with a 3.48 ERA and 21 strikeouts in four all-time starts (20 2/3 innings) vs. the Mets, offering hope that his next appearance will be better than his first of the year.

This article first appeared on New York Yankees on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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