Yankees’ Carlos Rodon is a new pitcher -- here’s how

The first thing the Yankees liked about the 2024 version of Carlos Rodon was that he reported to spring training in January. After last season’s disaster, that was an encouraging start.

The second aspect that impressed team brass was his dramatically slimmer body. And the third, once Rodon got to work, was a new pitch first thrown in the team’s “gas station,” a pitching lab in the player development complex on Himes Avenue.

Rodon, whose desire to succeed is so intense that it can impede him at times, was starving for a better season than 2023. Then, he’d responded to his new $162 million contract by making just 14 starts and posting a 6.85 ERA.

Open to new ideas, he started working on a cutter with assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel. Rodon had earned his contract and star status with a simple but powerful fastball/slider mix, though had long been open to adding one or more additional pitches. Now it was an urgent project.

In the gas station, the cutter showed promising characteristics, so Rodon decided to pursue it in games. The pitch came along through the spring, as did his reputation in the clubhouse, which had taken a serious hit after Rodon showed up popular pitching coach Matt Blake on the field last season -- “He was on an island after that,” one Yankee said.

But this is a new year, Rodon is a new pitcher, and teammates see the effort he puts into his craft, and the pride that he derives from it. This was one feel-good spring story that was actually authentic, and carried over into the reality of the season.

Spring training brought compliments from scouts, who saw a livelier fastball and sharper slider than Rodon showed in 2023. In his first start of the regular season in Houston, Rodon held that velocity and bite, albeit with erratic command.

Against Arizona the following week, he was sharper. And in throwing six-plus shutout innings against Miami on Tuesday, Rodon took a striking leap forward.

Forget that the swinging Marlins seemed in a hurry to catch the early bus back to the hotel. Rodon’s stuff was both sharp and surprisingly varied, regardless of the opponent.

Noticing that teammate Nestor Cortes had used his changeup effectively the night before, Rodon rolled that out in the first inning, striking out Josh Bell with one to end the frame.

And though he had never thrown a cutter between his MLB debut in 2015 and the beginning of this season, Rodon threw more cutters than sliders on Tuesday. One that particularly impressed manager Aaron Boone induced Emmanuel Rivera to hit into an inning-ending double play in the sixth.

“The cutter against righties is a better pitch than his curveball,” said one rival scout. “It’s a dangerous pitch.”

Rodon now has that weapon, which allows him to jam right-handed batters inside, induce ground balls -- he never before had a ground ball pitch -- and keep hitters from sitting on the same old offerings.

“I think he has real options [now], and we’ve seen the changeup play a factor for him,” Boone said before the game. “We’ve seen… the breaking ball and the cutter has been in play. The first two starts it has been a real part of his arsenal. Forget third -- I think we’re talking third, fourth and fifth pitches that are in play a little bit, without getting away from his bread and butter, fastball/slider.”

Added the scout: “He looks healthy and strong. As good as I’ve seen him.”

Rodon declined a verbal victory lap, offering understated comments about how he was headed in the right direction. In a quieter moment following his group interview, he said, “I didn’t have my best velocity tonight.”

That was true: His four-seam fastball averaged 94.3 in this game, down a full mile per hour from his season average (he did finish with a few 96s and 97s).

But this version of Rodon does not have to throw in the high-90s to be effective. He has options. He is closer to a pitcher-in-full than he has ever been. Where once he chased raw power like the injured fastball/slider beasts Jacob deGrom and Spencer Strider, he was now pitching.

And when Boone came to remove him from the game, Rodon pleaded his case, but left with a pat on the butt for the skipper, and to an ovation from the crowd.

He was grinning. He accepted it. Clearly, it wasn’t just the pitch mix that was headed in the right direction.