Yankees Notes: Rodón, Severino, Bader

Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón has yet to make his debut with the club, having spent the early parts of the season on the injured list due to a forearm strain. It was reported last week that he was set to progress towards throwing live batting practice but manager Aaron Boone says Rodón was recently delayed by some back tightness, per Talkin’ Yanks. That has set his progress back by at least a few days.

Rodón is capable of being one of the best pitchers on the planet when healthy, as evidenced by his 2.88 ERA and 33.4% strikeout rate last year over 178 innings. However, he’s had difficult staying healthy for extended stretches. In his eight major league seasons, last year was only the second time he reached the 140-inning plateau. Nonetheless, the Yanks took a shot on him by signing him to a six-year, $162MM deal.

That put Rodón into a high-upside but volatile rotation that has seen three of its members start the season on the injured list, as right-handers Luis Severino and Frankie Montas are also on the shelf. That’s led to Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes being joined by depth options like Domingo Germán, Clarke Schmidt and Jhony Brito. Despite those issues, the club is still holding its own with a 6-4 record thus far, but they’ll surely be better off once Rodón is healthy and can jump back in. The Yanks would undoubtedly love to have him back as soon as possible but will likely avoid rushing him at this time of year, prioritizing his long-term health with many months still remaining on the schedule. Boone tells Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News that Rodón will throw another bullpen tomorrow and characterized an April return as “a little aggressive.”

Speaking of Severino, he is also trying to work his way back from the injured list, as mentioned. Severino suffered a lat strain towards the end of March, just as the season was set to kick off. He threw a bullpen session yesterday, per Erik Boland of Newsday, and came out of it feeling good. He says he hasn’t felt his injury in over a week, which is an encouraging sign. Much like Rodon, Severino’s career has been a mix of excellent results and injury absences. He topped 190 innings in both 2017 and 2018, though tossed only 18 total frames over 2019-2021 and 102 last year. But when healthy enough to take the mound, he’s posted a 3.39 career ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate. His return timeline will undoubtedly come into focus as he continues ramping up in the near future.

Boone also provided Talkin’ Yanks with an update on Harrison Bader, as relayed by Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. The outfielder has been dealing with an oblique strain for about a month and has yet to debut this season. Boone says he progressed to full hitting machine batting practice and could start a rehab assignment next week. Injuries have been an ongoing issue for Bader in his time as a Yankee, as he was already on the IL with plantar fasciitis when they traded for him last year. He eventually returned and played 14 regular season games, along with nine more in the playoffs.

Bader has been around league average at the plate in his career, as his .245/.317/.405 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of 97. However, his defense is very well rated, already accruing 48 Defensive Runs Saved, 59 Outs Above Average and has a grade of 42.1 from Ultimate Zone Rating. All three of those figures place him in the top 10 among all outfielders in the league from 2017 to the present.

In Bader’s absence, most of the playing time has gone to Aaron Judge, with a couple of starts along going to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, while the corner outfield duties have been split between Giancarlo Stanton, Franchy Cordero, Oswaldo Cabrera and Aaron Hicks. Once Bader comes back, he figures to push Judge back into a corner, potentially putting a dent in the playing time of that group.