Carlos Rodon gives up two homers, velocity down in ugly Yankees outing
TAMPA — Carlos Rodon made his second Grapefruit League start Wednesday, which is more than he could say last spring.
But his first and last pitches ended up in the seats, and in between, though the Yankees left-hander built his workload up to 60 pitches, there was a noticeable lack of life on his signature fastball.
Rodon gave up a pair of home runs on fastballs to bookend his outing, five days after giving up four home runs in a live batting practice.
“Didn’t really have the fastball velo I wanted, but it’s one of those days,” Rodon said after allowing three runs in three-plus innings in a 4-3 loss to the Rays at Steinbrenner Field. “It’s one of those days you gotta be able to pitch without the fastball and use some other things, so that was good to feel that in a game that no one really gives a s–-t about because it doesn’t matter, it’s spring training.
“But the competing side of me, don’t want to give up a home run on the front end, home run on the back end. But there was some good pitches in between.”
Coming off a brutal first season of a six-year, $162 million contract, Rodon had arrived here in January to get a head start on spring training, and the team was encouraged by what it saw.
He was in better shape, and his fastball velocity in live batting practices had been sitting around 94-95 mph and touching 97 mph, with Rodon saying in the first week of camp it was “easier to get that velocity.
But it hasn’t exactly shown up in his first two exhibitions.
In Rodon’s first start of the spring, Feb. 25 against the Blue Jays, his fastball averaged 93.6 mph and topped out at 95.9 mph.
Then, after throwing live batting practice his last time out, his fastball Wednesday averaged 93.2 mph and maxed out at 94.8 mph.
