Yankees Carlos Rodn works around scary tumble to deliver strong Opening Day outing
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.In some respects, Carlos Rodón starting Opening Day resembled a worst-case scenario.
The Yankees ace is gone for the year, a reality that might have fully sunk in on fans as Gerrit Cole was introduced before the game and walked onto the field with his arm in a brace.Luis Gil will be sidelined for months, and the Yankees did not want to greatly alter Max Fried’s throwing schedule. So the choice was Rodón, whose performance amounted to a nearly best-case scenario. The lefty began his third year with the Yankees looking a bit different and as strong as he has in his tenure, dealing into the sixth inning of a 4-2 Game 1 win over the Brewers in The Bronx. Rodón allowed one run (on a Vinny Capra home run in the third) on four hits and two walks while striking out seven.In his best years, he just about only threw fastballs and sliders.
In his worst year — the injury-filled 2023 in his debut season in pinstripes — he used the same arsenal.In his bounce-back but not excellent 2024, he expanded his repertoire to become a more complete pitcher. On Thursday, he used six distinct types of pitches — showing off a new sinker, an improved changeup and mixing in a curveball and one cutter — in an outing that showed how a 32-year-old, 11th-year pitcher is trying to evolve as he ages. “The scouting report on me the last few years has been four-seams up in the zone, sliders below,” Rodón said after his 89-pitch first step.
“And I’m sure the plan as a hitter was to try to cover the fastball, push me down in the zone, cover the fastball and react to sliders. “So I think the broadening of the repertoire and adding a few other pitches that move a little different and the change of speeds — it definitely makes it less predictable.” He was less predictable and more dominant than he was last season, in part because ...