April 16, 2022
If you’ve never had the opportunity to watch Carlos Rodón pitch, the main thing is he’s a hulking dude, and the ball explodes out of his hand, whether it’s coming at 99 miles per hour at the top of the zone or spinning in at 78 miles per hour and falling off the table into the dirt. He’s been that guy for a long time, going back to his time at NC State University, but he hadn’t been able to harness that talent and get consistently great results in MLB until last season, when he struck out 185 batters in 132.2 innings and had a 2.37 ERA. Even then, you’ll notice his limited innings due to injury.
This year, in two starts for San Francisco, he’s picked up right where he left off, hurling untouchable pitches with shocking precision. I was fortunate enough to attend his Giants debut against the Marlins, I watched his next start against the Guardians on TV, and I’m utterly stoked he’s on my team.
Beyond that, I’m fascinated with the evolution of Rodón’s pitching mechanics over the years. I’ll leave it to people with more expertise than me to make narrower conclusions, but from my observations I have one super-broad macro conclusion.
