Ex-White Sox announcer accurately predicting Carlos Rodón meltdown will haunt Yankees fans

After 2+ seasons under contract, New York Yankees fans still can't get a clear read on Carlos Rodón - but they do have a handle on when things might go wrong while he toes the rubber.

Rodón's 2023 season was, for all intents and purposes, not there. He was felled by a nagging back injury. He returned as the campaign fell off the rails and was ostensibly the worst pitcher in baseball. The contract felt like a sunk cost, but Rodón - after some offseason isolation - returned as a fully competent member of one of baseball's elite rotations last year, breathing fire past the Cleveland Guardians in an excellent ALCS tone-setter.

He was durable. He was occasionally transcendent. But when he didn't miss bats ... the ball went a long way. Even with last season in consideration (16-9, 3.96 ERA in 175 innings), Rodón just completed a stretch of 36 bombs and 69 walks in a 36-game span. Those are AJ Burnett numbers in pinstripes, and it doesn't take an eagle-eyed observer to pinpoint when something against Rodón is about to get hit very hard, interrupting a gem. Any disturbance in the field - a close call at the plate, a bad bounce behind him - and you're liable to encounter a launch over the course of the next few at-bats.

Apparently, this tendency dates back to Rodón's White Sox days, as current Tigers (and former Chicago) play-by-play man Jason Benetti pinpointed during last week's Yankees series in Detroit. When the home plate umpire failed to accurately reward Rodón with the strike three he'd earned, the lefty recoiled and crouched on the mound.

"Having watched Carlos Rodón quite a bit during his White Sox days, I can tell you ... this is the type of inning that can sometimes get under his skin," Benetti noted, preceding an Andy Ibañez game-breaking home run.

Former White Sox announcer Jason Benetti knew exactly when a Carlos Rodón meltdown was coming for the Yankees against the Tigers.

Perhaps the best part of the Max Fried signing this offseason was that it allowed the Yankees to move Rodón back to the No. 3 spot behind Fried and Gerrit Cole, providing him juicier matchups and a dimmer spotlight. That never happened; once Cole went down, the pressure inarguably rose on Rodón year-over-year. He was even given the Opening Day start at home (perhaps cursed since Marcus Stroman took it on last year).

Whatever it takes to increase his composure, the Yankees need to see some tangible steps forward from Rodón in the weeks to come. He unraveled when Benetti predicted he would, then did so again on Sunday, walking Willy Adames non-competitively before hanging a breaker to Jung Hoo Lee after a soft chopper to Anthony Volpe (ruled a hit, but still) went uncorralled. In the weeks to come, Rodón needs to channel his inner fire breather, neither getting too high nor too low. Unless he does so, he'll continue his unfortunate transformation into Burnett (who, we must remind you, did win a title from the No. 2 slot).