Carlos Rodón may be forcing the Yankees to rethink the pecking order behind Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole.
On paper, New York’s rotation looks straightforward. Schlittler has locked down the Game 1 assignment and, as the AL Cy Young frontrunner, sits at the top of the staff.
Cole follows as the veteran ace with plenty of postseason mileage. The real question is the Game 3 swing spot, where the Yankees are choosing between Rodón and Max Fried.
If the Yankees were operating from a fully healthy place, Fried would be the easy answer. But the two lefties are trending in opposite directions, and that’s where things get complicated.
Fried’s last eight starts have started to raise eyebrows. His most recent outing was especially uneven: he lasted just 3.1 innings against a struggling Rockies club, and while he struck out seven and allowed one earned run, he had to grind through almost every at-bat.
His velocity was down across the board, and that was the clearest warning sign. He saw drops on his cutter, sinker, curveball, sweeper, changeup and fastball, including 2 MPH dips on both the sweeper and curve and a 1.2 MPH drop on the fastball.
Rodón, meanwhile, just turned in his sharpest outing of the stretch against the Mets on an emotional night in New York. He worked 6.1 innings, gave up one earned run, and punched out eight.
That came against a Mets lineup that has bounced back since the deadline, and against Juan Soto plus a young core of A.J. Ewing, Carson Benge and Francisco Alvarez.
Rodón gave up only three hits and walked one, though six hard-hit balls were the blemish on the night.
His velocity held up, too. In fact, his fastball ticked up 0.3 MPH.
It’s still way too early to make October decisions off two starts against sub-.500 opponents, but the Yankees have to keep watching this closely. If Fried’s velocity stays where it was against Colorado, or keeps sliding over the next few weeks, the conversation gets a lot more serious.
At that point, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Rodón passing him for the third starter job. The Yankees would likely prefer Fried there, but if Rodón keeps dealing and Fried keeps slipping, the hot hand could end up winning out when the postseason arrives.
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