Yankees' Top Starter Makes Bold Assessment About His Bounce-Back Odds
The New York Yankees did not make a major splash to bolster their starting rotation in the offseason, but there is still reason to be hopeful.
Left-handed starting pitcher Carlos Rodon is coming off a rough first season in the Bronx after signing a six-year, $162 million deal with the Yankees last winter.
However, Rodon dealt with numerous injuries and was never able to get in a regular rhythm on the mound, which led to a career-worst 6.85 ERA in just 64.1 innings and 14 starts.
The good news is that Rodon is now healthy and feeling confident that he will be able to bounce-back this year, and step up as the No. 2 starter behind reigning AL Cy Young winning ace Gerrit Cole.
"I'm pretty good at this game," Rodon told Jack Curry of The YES Network. "I should be good to go. I just gotta stay on the mound"
Rodon, who dealt with some injury woes and underperformance earlier in his career, broke out with the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants, posting back-to-back All-Star campaigns in 2021 and 2022. This landed him a huge contract with the Yankees. And although he struggled in year-one of his monster deal, there is still plenty of time to right the ship and he has the track record, which provides reason for optimism.
The Yankees are relying on Rodon and newcomer Marcus Stroman to support Cole and create a three-headed monster in the rotation. Beyond the top three arms, there are some question marks with Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes, who fill out the backend of this unit. Schmidt has shown flashes at times, and Cortes was an All-Star in 2022, but struggled last season amid rotator cuff issues. New York also dealt a majority of their starting pitching depth away to the San Diego Padres in the blockbuster trade for superstar Juan Soto, sending off Michael King, top prospect Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vazquez in the deal.
So, the Yankees will be heavily leaning on Rodon this season, and despite a rough spring outing on Wednesday, where his velocity was down and he surrendered two home runs, it is still early. For Rodon, health is the key and he sounds confident that he will be able to get back on track. The Yankees are hoping this will be the case.
