Carlos Rodón made his New York Yankees debut Friday after three long months, but the wait for his first win will continue.
The Yankees’ premier free-agent acquisition last offseason threw 5 1/3 innings with four hits, two runs (both earned), two walks and two strikeouts on 69 pitches, taking the loss against the Chicago Cubs. He received a warm ovation as he was pulled in the sixth inning:
Rodón left plenty of reason for hope of improvement as he takes more turns in the rotation, and it wasn’t like he was responsible for the Yankees’ getting shut out in a 3-0 loss. His slider has been his signature pitch for years — he threw it 31.1% of the time last season — but he used it only 12 times (17.4%) against the Cubs, per Baseball Savant.
The costliest pitch was an inside fastball in the third inning, which Cody Bellinger launched into the second deck:
The Yankees signed Rodón to a six-year, $162 million contract in free agency last winter after a standout season in which the southpaw posted a 2.88 ERA, NL-best 2.25 FIP, 1.082 WHIP and 237 strikeouts in 178 innings for the Giants, earning him a second straight All-Star nod and a ninth-place finish in NL Cy Young voting.
The knock on Rodón, however, was an extensive history of injuries, and it didn’t take long for the Yankees to run into that with the 30-year-old. He was sidelined in spring training this season due to a forearm strain before the back issue emerged in April. It was reported in May that Rodón’s timeline would be pushed back indefinitely due to a “chronic” back issue.
He finally began a rehab assignment June 20 and made three minor-league starts before getting the nod.
Rodón isn’t the only injury for the Yankees, who are still without the likes of Aaron Judge, Nestor Cortes, Jonathan Loáisiga and more, but his situation was emblematic of the team’s early-season woes. The team now sits at 48-41, eight games back of the Rays in the AL East and one game back of the final AL wild-card spot.