On Wednesday, The Chicago White Sox non-tendered starting pitcher Carlos Rodon making him a free agent. The move ends Rodon’s six-year career with the White Sox as injuries ruined a promising career. His Chicago career will go down as one of the more talked about “what if” situation’s in team history as he had the talent to be as good as Chris Sale.
The White Sox announce that they have non-tendered both OF Nomar Mazara and LHP Carlos Rodon.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) December 2, 2020
A Promising Start To A Career
The White Sox drafted Rodon third overall in the 2014 MLB Draft, and less than a year later, he was starting for the team by April of 2015. He compiled a terrific rookie season with a 3.75 ERA in 23 starts while striking out 139 batters. Rodon had a sharp-breaking slider while his fastball reached the upper 90s. He showed the potential and promise of developing into a top of the rotation pitcher.
#WhiteSox pitchers with 10+ K & 2 or fewer Hits vs Indians
(1913-present)9/25/2016 Carlos Rodon (11/2)
10/1/2012 Hector Santiago (10/1)— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) September 25, 2016
One of the main reasons why the White Sox tried to compete in 2016 before eventually starting their rebuild following the end of the season was due in part to the team’s talented pitching rotation. Chicago’s top three starters included Sales, Rodon, and Jose Quintana. Sale and Quintana were traded a year later for several quality prospects, while the team held on to Rodon because they believed he would factor into the rebuild. In 2016, although his ERA went up, he still was able to decrease the number of walks allowed along while decreasing his WHIP.
The highlight of Rodon’s 2016 campaign that demonstrated his true potential came in his final start of the season. On September 30th against the Minnesota Twins, the left-hander struck the first seven Twins batters he faced. Rodon would go on to win the game and finished with 10 strikeouts.
at 1st, Max Fried fanned the first four Twins of the game. The last time this happened was September 30th, 2016 at Chicago when Carlos Rodon struckout the first 7 Twins, a streak snapped when Logan Schafer doubled…
— TwinsRadio (@TwinsRadio) August 7, 2019
The Injuries Begin to Hold Back The Potential
In 2017, Rodon’s rash of injuries began to manifest as he only made a combined 32 starts the next two seasons. Both seasons were hampered by significant injuries to his left shoulder and wrist. It was unfortunate as when Rodon was healthy during those two seasons, he was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.
LHP Carlos Rodon has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with left shoulder inflammation and will not pitch again in 2017.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 9, 2017
During his short 2017 season, Rodon recorded four quality starts in a span of five starts. What made those starts more impressive is that they came against the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers, all teams that would appear in the post-season that year.
Most K by #WhiteSox pitcher in 4 or fewer innings (1913-present)
11 Carlos Rodón (4 IP) 7/25/2017
8 Three tied— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 25, 2017
In 2018, Rodon would fare a little bit better from a health standpoint as he made 20 starts but still missed the first two months of the season. From June to the end of the season, he would record five quality starts, but more importantly, recorded the best WHIP of his career at 1.260.
Carlos Rodón turned in one of his best performances on August 10, 2018, blanking the Indians for 8.0 innings. Daniel Palka led off the bottom of the 9th inning of a scoreless game and promptly sent a fastball over the fence to give the White Sox a thrilling 1-0 win. pic.twitter.com/t4M0LCZcNi
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) March 30, 2020
An Unfortunate Ending To A Very Promising Tenure
Due to the brief spurts of dominance when healthy, Rodon was named the team’s Opening Day starter for the 2019 season. He performed well for a White Sox team that began showing signs that the rebuild was close to being over. Rodon would make only seven starts before being lost for the remainder of the season as he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Carlos Rodon will have Tommy John surgery on Wednesday of this week. He is obviously out for remainder of season. Rick Hahn says it is too early for a precise timeline but given the time of year, it is likely he will rejoin the #WhiteSox for the second half of 2020 season.
— Shae Peppler Cornette (@shaepeppler) May 13, 2019
Rodon was projected to miss the first half of the 2020 season, but due to the shorten-season, he was able to begin the season with the team. It was short-lived as he would make only two starts before being sidelined with shoulder soreness, appearing in just four games. Rodon’s lone post-season appearance was not good as he allowed two runs on one hit while walking two.
It was apparent that Rodon wasn’t the same pitcher after the Tommy John surgery as both his velocity and accuracy were missing in 2020. Had Rodon being fully healthy in 2020, The team’s postseason outcome could have been vastly different. If he had stayed healthy in 2017 and 2018, there is a good chance the White Sox would have made it a priority to sign the left-hander instead of allowing him to become a free agent on Wednesday.
Rodon’s career with the White Sox will be remembered for his injury history and the vast amount of talent he possessed. He will, unfortunately, join the likes of Joe Crede, Jake Burger, Jared Mitchell, and other White Sox players who were tremendously talented but had their careers dampened by significant injuries. Rodon, when healthy, was one of the best pitchers the White Sox had in the past 10 years. The only problem was that his health was never reliable.
