Could Yankees’ adjustment with Carlos Rodon save his New York tenure?

Would you look at that! The New York Yankees are 3-0 in Carlos Rodón starts to begin the 2024 season. Who predicted that, especially after Gerrit Cole went down? The answer is nobody. Nobody predicted that.

On Tuesday night, the left-hander put forth his best start of the year. Some might try to invalidate his performance because it came against the Miami Marlins, who are ice cold at the moment, but those same people must not be realizing that Rodón struggled against everyone last season.

Rodón lasted six innings (and came out for the seventh, but the defense put him in a tough spot) and allowed two runs (both unearned) on four hits and two walks while striking out six. His 89 pitches made that outing his most efficient to date.

Previously, against the Astros and Diamondbacks, Rodón combined for 9.2 innings, 3 earned runs, 12 hits, five walks, seven strikeouts, and 182 pitches. The Yankees won those games, but Rodón was battling almost every inning to survive.

It was a different story on Tuesday night. It was a lot more smooth and there was a noticeable change in his arsenal.

Could Yankees’ adjustment with Carlos Rodon save his New York tenure?

One of the main concerns with Rodón upon his arrival in the Bronx was his limited offering. He was primarily a fastball-slider pitcher, and a heavy two-pitch mix for a starter is typically dangerous stuff. Rodón did possess the ability to throw a cutter, changeup and curveball, but those represented a minute percentage when all was said and done. Last year, he was 60% fastball, 29% slider, 6% curveball and 5% changeup.

Through his first two starts this year, he only threw six total changeups and was more often mixing in the cutter with his fastball and slider. On Tuesday night, he threw 10 total changeups and more cutters (16) than sliders (15). His teammates noticed the change, too. Alex Verdugo spoke on it in the postgame and described more about how it's seemingly made a huge difference.

We'll need a larger sample size beyond an impressive showing against the lowly and free-swinging Marlins, but is it possible the Yankees unlocked something that could save Rodón's tenure in New York after his horrific 2023 introduction?

The Yankees are off to an historic start in 2024 and Rodón's resilience has been a key driving force. If he can continue to work on throwing hitters off with a couple of other pitches healthily mixed in with his four-seamer and slider, the starting rotation might be in far better shape than anyone could've imagined.