TAMPA – Carlos Rodón unveiled another change on Sunday, throwing a new pitch in his first start of the spring.
The lefty, who already reported to camp with a new body and refined mechanics, threw five cutters in a 12-6 win over the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, according to Baseball Savant. The website, powered by Statcast, has never recorded a regular-season cutter from Rodón, who is entering his 10th major league campaign.
“I started fooling with it at the very end of last year,” the 31-year-old said. “We knew we wanted to work on that throughout spring training this year and implement it this year.”
Rodón has a reputation for being a two-pitch pitcher who primarily relies on his slider and four-seam fastball, which topped out at 95.9 mph and averaged 93.6 mph on Sunday.
However, he also keeps a curveball and a changeup in his pocket. The bender only made three appearances against Toronto, while the changeup is still awaiting its 2024 debut. Rodón rarely used both pitches the last few seasons.
Rodón’s overall start — and the cutter — yielded mixed results. While he struck out five and allowed one hit over 2.2 innings and 48 pitches, he also walked two, hit a batter and gave up a solo homer to Alejandro Kirk.
The catcher went deep against the new pitch.
“I just pulled it across the zone,” Rodón said. “I’m trying to find that line with that cutter. I just started throwing it. I’m trying to figure out where I want to start that pitch. Obviously, Kirk’s a good fastball hitter, and he’s a good hitter. I mean, that wasn’t a great pitch, but he made a good swing. Could have been a different pitch selection. Obviously, could have been a better pitch from me, first and foremost, but it is what it is.
“It’s still developing. Just building confidence in it. I just need more reps with it.”
Still, Rodón believes he’s ready to throw his cutter in the regular season.
“I’ll throw it whenever,” he said confidently. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Rodón is not the first Yankees starter to learn a cutter in recent memory, as Clarke Schmidt and Gerrit Cole made strides with the pitch last season.
The hope is that a new weapon, among his other changes, will help Rodón rebound from a disastrous, injury-riddled first season in pinstripes. He had a 6.85 ERA over 14 starts last year, and some wondered if his two-pitch approach became too predictable following All-Star seasons in both 2021 and 2022.
Since camp opened to reporters, Rodón has spoken about stacking good days as he looks to turn the page on last season. He considered Sunday to be one of them, even though he became a little “wonky” and rushed as he continued to work on his downhill mechanics in the second inning.
“I had a positive outlook from the day,” Rodón said. “I thought I threw well. Obviously, there’s things I can get better at and hopefully carry on to the next start and improve.”
STRETCH IT OUT
Rodón became a bit erratic working out of the stretch in the second inning, as the tweaks he’s made to his downhill movements feel a bit better out of the windup right now.
“The windup had good rhythm, good pace,” he said. “Just stepping into the stretch took me a few pitches to get there, obviously, with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Didn’t really do well there.”
Rodón added that Cole had to tell him to slow down between the second and third frames.
“I came in after the second and spoke with Gerrit,” Rodón said. “He’s like, ‘Hey, you got time. You’re throwing every pitch in like two seconds,’ or whatever it was. So I was a little mindful of that in the third, just to get the feel and the tempo and give myself a little more time.”
Still, the Yankees have said that Rodón, now in better shape, has looked a lot more comfortable on the mound this spring. That remained the case Sunday.
“That’s one of the things that we’ve seen that we’ve really liked since the start,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He put his body in a good position to be in better position to do the things he wants to athletically. I definitely think there’s a little more efficiency to the delivery than certainly we saw at this time last year.”
SERVING UP SUCCESS
Luis Torrens, a non-roster invitee, has enjoyed a nice string of success over the last few days.
First, he won the Yankees’ ping-pong tournament on Friday, defeating Anthony Rizzo in the championship match. He’s since hit two home runs in as many spring training games. His dinger on Saturday, aided by windy conditions, traveled 408 feet.
It was a hard-fought tourney. But ultimately, Luis Torrens was crowned the champion 🏆👏 pic.twitter.com/22aqiu86Va
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 24, 2024
Torrens began his pro career in the Yankees’ organization before debuting for San Diego in 2017. He’s also played for the Mariners and Cubs. He hit 15 homers for Seattle in 2021, his only full season in the majors. He’s hasn’t hit more than three long balls in any other season.
SPLIT AND NEARLY NO-HIT
While the Yankees put up double-digits on the Blue Jays, their traveling split squad only recorded one hit in a 4-0 loss to the Phillies in Clearwater on Sunday. The knock came courtesy of Greg Allen well after Phillies ace Aaron Nola opened the game with two scoreless innings.
Marcus Stroman started that game and made his unofficial Yankees debut. The righty totaled 2.1 innings, four hits, three runs (two earned), one walk, two strikeouts and 52 pitches.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Boone announced that Nestor Cortes will start Monday against the Twins, while Schmidt will take the ball when the Yankees visit the Rays on Tuesday.
Wednesday is an off day, and Boone had not decided who will start Thursday’s game against the Marlins as of Sunday evening. Cole will make his spring debut against the Jays on Friday.
