From Bryan Hoch:
Carlos Rodón’s evolution has entered a new stage in his third season with the Yankees. The left-hander says he has taken advantage of relationships with the club’s information and training departments to better harness his expanded arsenal, while still maintaining the competitive fire that fuels one of the Majors’ most intimidating left arms.
His reputation as a fastball-slider merchant is old news, keeping opponents guessing with curveballs and changeups, and now he’s even patrolling the infield like a Gold Glover. Rodón pounced to make a dazzling fourth-inning putout on a slow Jo Adell chopper, adding sizzle to his seven scoreless innings in the Yankees’ 3-2 victory over the Angels on Tuesday.
Carlos Rodon was one of the four or five best pitchers in all of baseball in 2021-22, but even with that in mind, no one was willing to bet on him after 2021 as if he WAS one of the best pitchers in baseball, so he had to take a pillow contract from the Giants, and then was outstanding in 2022, which led to the Yankees giving him a big time deal. I mention that because this last eight-game stretch by Rodon this season has been the BEST eight-game stretch of his ENTIRE career, including those dominant 2021 and 2022 seasons. That’s pretty fucking good.
The Angels don’t have a good offense, but still, it’s very impressive to see him so dominant. I’ll be quite curious as to what the Yankees do with the rotation with the offday on Thursday. If they skip Ryan Yarbough, then Rodon will pitch the finale of the Dodgers series, giving him a hell of a test. That would keep everyone on regular rest. However, if the Yankees don’t think Yarbrough SHOULD be skipped, then he’ll start the finale of the Dodgers series. Which route do you all think the Yankees will go?
The downside of this game was the Yankee offense being handled once again by a lefthanded pitcher. They really could use a righthanded third baseman who could hit a little. Still, they scraped together enough runs to get to a 3-0 lead heading into the ninth, where Devin Williams got the chance to save the game…and went right back to sucking. Dude might just have a mental block going on, as he was simply AWFUL, and was lucky that DJ LeMahieu made an amazing play at second base, and that Logan O’Hoppe swung at ball four on 3-0 to end the game with a foul flyball to third base.
Honestly, I wasn’t even worried, because my thought process was, “Well, at least now we know Weaver doesn’t have to worry about losing his closer gig.” Williams getting to close again would have worried me, but now he can go back to being a really good setup guy who just can’t handle the ninth for some fucking weird reason.
The featured image is this AMAZING jump throw that Rodon made to get a runner to end the fourth inning. He joked after the game that his body is going to be feeling the after-effects of that jump for a while.
After last years 16 win season and thru 1/3 of this year, I’m beginning to think Rodon doesn’t suck.
Devo W is costing himself millions.
I think he legit has cost himself something like $55 million in guaranteed money. Even if he pitches well the rest of the year, I think he’s looking at 3 year/$40 million now as a closer, when he was probably in the mix for 5 year/$95 million if he had a normal Devin Williams season.
My hope is that all the lefties other teams are going to throw at the Yankees give them so many reps they figure it out.
If it works, they’ll be a much better team for it.
If they haven’t switched the pitching machine to simulate left handed throwing (is that even a thing), the batting coaches should be fired. If that isn’t possible, hire every left handed veteran off the scrap pile for batting practice.
As my Mom always said, “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. Lol.
Yarbrough seems to have found another gear and I’d like to see what he does against the Dodgers
Transmission failure
MLBAM showing cluster charts of bat speed between innings on MLBtv.
I am here for the marketing initiative “Baseball: The Sport for Weird Nerds!”
not me i’m Cool
Anything on Soto? Saw something about a reduction in his bat speed.
The spot I saw only had Dodgers in the chart.
Bat Speed Decline:
Soto’s bat speed is now in the 73rd percentile, down from the 94th percentile in 2024.
Hard-Hit Rate:
While his hard-hit rate is still high at 57% in 2025, it’s a slight increase from 55.7% in 2024, suggesting he’s still making quality contact despite the slower bat speed.
Swing Rate:
Soto’s fast swing rate has also decreased, dropping from 59.2% in 2024 to 38.6% in 2025.
codifybaseball
% of Juan Soto’s competitive swings
with a bat speed of at least 74 MPH:
2024 —-> 68.1%
2025 —-> 46.6%
All that becomes 228/756
Kinda scary.
Dumb story about Orlando Arcia “spurning attempts of the Yankees and Mets to sign him.” They offered minor league deals, the Rockies offered him a Major League deal and a starting job. It’s not even REMOTELY similar. It’s a non-story.
I guess the story is the Rox thinking Arcia is an improvement
Effross 1.1ip 2r 3h