Four wins and five innings of work in his last four starts, it was the record for Carlos Rodon, until last night he had to leave the game after completing three innings of work, due to discomfort, which could be an injury or exhaustion in the pitching arm when he faced the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
The left-handed pitcher of the White sox has already stamped on his personal record the best season of Big leagues throughout his career. With fabulous numbers that led him for much of the season to be considered a contender for the Cy Young Award.
The 2020 season had only acted in four games, as Tommy John returned from a successful surgery, with two starts, setting a 0-2 line, 8.22 ERA, with seven and two-thirds of work, supporting nine indisputable, seven runs, one home run, three walks and six strikeouts. The opponents averaged him for .290 and WHIP 1.57.
With his arm poised to face a spot in the White Sox rotation, he began the campaign of Carlos Rodon, his excellent performance led him to choose the All-Star Game.
August and his intense summer put him on the disabled list, with discomfort in his pitching shoulder. On his return on August 26, he was seen in his usual environment, throwing with control and his usual speed. So they went through the other three outings until completing four in a row taking the victory, and working excellently for five innings in each of the games.
With the White Sox one step away from qualifying for the postseason, Tony La Russa has been dosing his pitchers and players. It was Rodón’s turn to make one of his last starts of the championship.
The first inning passed quietly with only 18 pitches, by the second the sinister pitcher had to go to almost 30 pitches to remove the inning. In the third he began to show what would later be a reason for substitution at the end of the inning. Your speed in Fastball fell to 90 miles (average 95-96) and his last pitch of the game was a Fastball 89.3 miles to strike out Eric Haase.
The game remained tied, but Carlos Rodón did not return to the box of Comerica Park, feeling pain in the throwing arm and having communicated it to the management body, the alarms went off.
La Russa said Rodón needs to be examined and reassessed, but at this point, he thinks it’s doubtful he pitches next week.
– James Fegan (@JRFegan) September 21, 2021
‟The Chicago White Sox manager came out at a press conference, declaring about what happened: We will prepare for the worst, hoping for the best”.
‟Carlos for his part explained that he feels good, that he knows his body and the type of pain he feels is not to worry about”.
Carlos Rodon left Monday’s game after throwing 69 pitches through 3 innings. Here’s what he and TLR had to say after the game 👇 # WhiteSoxin60 pic.twitter.com/5hJR2hiVZw
– White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) September 21, 2021
Despite all these words, his manager explained that it is possible that Carlos will not pitch again in the regular season, that the pertinent evaluations will be made and he will be able to join for a place in the rotation of the play-off It’s ready.
White Sox hoping it is just normal soreness for Carlos Rodon, per La Russa. They are prepping him for his next start next Tuesday but they don’t know how this will go down. Def concern on Sox part
– Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) September 21, 2021
The truth is that if the Cuban-American left-hander cannot pitch more this season, it would be a very hard blow for the aspirations of the team based on the south side of Chicago, because the first opponent (the Houston Astros) he shot very well, in addition to be a key player alongside rights Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito.
Wait, and let it be good news for Carlos Rodon, is what the team and the fans of the White sox. The left-hander is 12-5 with a 2.47 ERA in 127.2 innings of work, with 181 strikeouts (the most in his career for a season) and 0.97 WHIP.