White Sox southpaw Carlos Rodon is “on schedule” in his rehab from last May’s Tommy John surgery, the lefty himself tells Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Rodon is throwing three times per week, including two bullpen sessions, and could be ready to face live hitters within a matter of weeks. Rodon believes it’s “realistic” that he’d be ready to pitch in a game setting by June, although we of course don’t yet know when (or if) games will be resuming.
A healthy Rodon would be a boost to an already improved White Sox rotation, and if he does indeed prove ready to pitch in a game setting from the get-go or shortly into a delayed season, that’d be of particular benefit to the Sox given what’s likely to be a condensed schedule featuring frequent doubleheaders. Currently, the White Sox are set to rely on Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Dylan Cease, Gio Gonzalez and Reynaldo Lopez, but the delayed start to the year could drop Rodon into the mix before long and could also allow prized prospect Michael Kopech to join the fray earlier than anticipated. Kopech, who is returning from Tommy John surgery of his own (Sept. 2018), did make it into a spring game and pitched one inning before play was halted.
It’s a group that’s teeming with ability but lacking in terms of certainty. Giolito, the former first-round pick and uber-prospect broke out with a huge showing in 2019 and looks like the leader of the staff after tossing 176 2/3 innings of 3.41 ERA ball with 11.6 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9. Even he only has one successful season under his belt, though.
Keuchel is, of course, a steady presence in the rotation but looks more like an innings eater now than the ground-ball savant who captured a Cy Young Award back in 2015. Gonzalez was sharp for Milwaukee last year but averaged barely 4 2/3 innings per start. Some of that is due to the atypical way in which the Brewers deploy their pitchers, but he’s never been known as an efficient starter.
Beyond that trio, each of Cease, Lopez and Kopech have been considered among the game’s premier overall prospects at times. Lopez hasn’t really delivered on that hype outside of a 2018 season that saw him post a 3.91 ERA with concerning peripherals that pointed to regression — which is indeed what happened in 2019. Cease’s impressive fastball and swing-and-miss ability was on display in his 2019 debut, but so were his difficulties in locating the ball. Kopech has the pedigree and potential of a front-of-the-rotation arm but has yet to harness his own control and didn’t pitch at all in 2019 while rehabbing.
In terms of raw talent, it’s hard to find a better collection of young starters who are all on the same big league radar, but much of that potential remains untapped. As such, the return of a veteran arm like Rodon would be particularly welcome. He may not have quite reached the heights that some fans had hoped when he was drafted third overall in 2014, but he’s compiled 529 career innings with a 4.08 ERA and nearly a strikeout per frame. Getting back into games will be of particular importance for him on a personal level as well, given that Rodon is controlled only through the 2021 season and could use all the opportunities he can get to reestablish himself prior to free agency in the 2021-22 offseason.
He should spend this year in the pen
Agree. With us having 5 starters already and Kopech(same) coming around the corner, he can stick in the pen. Then if anyone struggles between Gio, Lopez, and Cease they can swap them out.
He should more to the pen permanently. He hasn’t throw more than 120 in thee years. But he does have a fastball/slider combo that could be very effective in late innings. If he can close for a championship caliber team, there is little sting in the fact he flamed our as a starter.
He should become a reliever. He’s not built to atart with only 2 pitchers. Still that slider is nasty. Put him in long relief or trade him
Maybe. Depends on if the public defender can get a better deal for him. Maybe time served.
Bum who hasn’t lived up to the billing
Self analysis?
Don’t be so hard of yourself. You must have one redeeming quality.
Rodumb just isn’t a good player.
Rodon can pitch. And considering the bad teams he pitched for in the past, I believe there’s a decent chance for a breakout year from all of these guys. Teams dream about having this much pitching depth on the roster.
he’s out he’d for one club.
Your mom loves you, dont be so hard on yourself.
Man I remember Rodon the year he came out of NC State and was shocked the Marlins took Tyler Kolek over him at #2. He was pretty much regarded as the most polished college pitcher that year. I would say Rodon has left some production on the table so far in his career but he’s definitely flashed upside just not consistently. Would be cool to see him put it all together for at least a season.
It’s unfortunate because he has gone through stretches of absolute dominance, but they generally finish in some sort of injury. The talent is absolutely there if he can ever get/stay healthy.
Off topic question: If it was announced that the season won’t be played this year, do we have to wait till November 5th to start the off-season, or can we start the off-season when they cancel the 2020 season? (hypothetically of course)
It would depend on how they deal with service time. Both owners and players would have a compelling argument whether or not the season should impact contract status.
They already have made this decision and it was posted a while ago on this site. If there is no season, they receive the same service time as they did last year, otherwise it would be prorated for the portion of the season that they played.
i wish this guy could just stay healthy. so dominant at times and then will get shelled a couple times then have that followed by a subsequent shut down due to injury. feels like the same thing every year for 5 years
I haven’t seen Tyler Saladino’s name in a long time… wow
Greatest stache in decades.
Glass Cannon
reminds me of jose quintana. when healthy puts up a solid but unspectacular ERA, and less than 10 wins
When is Q not healthy?
Reading is a skill.
He was talking about Rodon.
He was comparing to Q, so same characteristics.
Read.
Rodon has all the make up to be a very good pitcher in his 30’s.
Yep. All of these know-nothings basing Rodon’s potential on the last few seasons are in for a shock. He can flat out pitch.
Yup. That gem against the Red Sox indicative of his ace level upside. Just needs to be more efficient- hoping he can learn to pitch to weak contact
yeeeup. nice high era. what an ace. oops, nah hes not
Don’t forget about Dane Dunning. Has a good minor league track record even though he’s had injury problems.
If….Rodon and Kopech are solid and available for most of a short season, dare I say this is a top 6 rotation? And could be top3 by post season if Rodon, Giolito, Kopech are still healthy?
Move Rodon to the pen and either Lopez or Cease, whichever is struggling more, once Kopech returns, which is likely near the start of whatever season we have. They can grow into a starting slot like Sale had to or just stay there if more effective.
I agree to an extent. I think Cease can grow into a starter, but Lopez has already shown he is not a starter, and moving Rodon is a matter of health. Saying this will be a top six rotation is a stretch though. That requires a lot of growth out of Kopech and Cease.
Lopez is a mess. There is no one thing you can point to & say if he can fix this he’ll be a consistent 2-3 pitcher. With Rodon it’s all about his FB. He has proven periods of domination when his 4-seam FB consistently hits 92 mph. His strike out pitches are a wicked slider & changeup. When you watch him pitch you sometimes think Randy Johnson & other times Mark Buerhle as those 2 pitches look that good. The problem has been soreness creeps in & he loses speed on both the FB & slider. You can argue the CWS have mishandled Rodon. His periods of domination led the team to put off major surgery on his arm. Rodon certainly shares some of that blame by downplaying it as well.
There is great anticipation then that Rodon will come back stronger than ever. Imagine Rodon with a consistent 92-94 mph FB, 89-91 slider, & 84-85 changeup. We’re not talking pitches he can throw. We’re talking good-great pitches when compared to the rest of MLB. Seriously, if Rodon shows enough to where the CWS ink him to an extension he will help them win another WS & yes that could be as early as 2020 (COVID-19 year).
FYI: MLB is considering playing daily 7in double headers exclusively in AZ ST parks as early as June 1. Before COVID-19, teams could go to battle with 26 players. I believe they will go to battle with 30. The CWS can easily feature Rodon, Kopech, & Dunning in the rotation then. No other ML team has that kind of starting potential. They might not have the endurance either. Most teams will limit starters to 4in & pitch them on 3 days rest. The CWS could go 5in & 4 days rest. Most teams will likely burn through their pens while the CWS go long with starters.
The same might be said of the LAD which makes Camelback Ranch the most interesting ST site of this strange season. It’s home to both clubs & I expect both to be less accomodating than MLB requires them to be. Expect some contention there. Neither team will shed a tear if Twins or Nats players get sick there.
Typical White Sox fan … wishing opposing players sickness and perhaps death.
You are pathetic.
Lopez just lacks consistency. He certainly has the stuff to succeed, and until they actually have a more talented option that forces their hand (unlike the bums in the 4-5 spots the last few years), he absolutely should stick in the rotation. Hopefully working with Grandal will be the extra little push he needs. I’m cautiously optimistic, and I certainly wouldn’t write him off before this season.
To add a bit more:
In 19 of his 33 starts last year, he was solid-to-excellent, giving up 3 ER or less (at least 5 innings pitched). The other 14 starts were just brutal. It’s 100% mental with him. If he can get his head on straight, there’s no reason he can’t succeed as a starter. And the best part is that he already knows it’s a concentration issue, which means he knows what needs to be fixed. Whether he can actually fix it or not is the big question, but knowing is a big part of the battle.
Here’s a stretch from June 21-August 10:
June 21: @Tex – 5.1IP, 3ER
June 26: @Bos – 6.0IP, 3ER
July 4: Det – 5.1IP, 6ER
July 14: @Oak – 6.0IP, 0ER
July 19: @TB – 7.0IP, 2ER
July 24: Mia – 8.0IP, 2ER
July 30: NYM – 5.1IP, 2ER
August 4: @Phi – 5.1IP, 3ER
August 10: Oak – 6.1IP, 0ER
Outside of the obvious blunder against Detroit, those are quality results against mostly solid lineups. There aren’t many teams that would be upset about that in the middle-to-back of their rotation.