World Series: Yankees workhorse Carlos Rodon's bounce-back year key to club's run

Among the reasons the Yankees have gotten this far — posting the best record in the American League and making the World Series against the Dodgers — and intend to make similar such runs in the coming years is the lefthander who stabilized not only his own standing in New York but also the rotation overall.

In his bounce-back year, Carlos Rodon led the club in starts (32), innings (175) and strikeouts (195), serving as a stalwart in a season during which injuries ravaged the Yankees’ starting pitcher depth chart. Following his messy 2023 debut, Rodon looked much more like the pitcher the organization thought it was getting upon signing him to a six-year, $162 million contract.

His general reliability loomed large heading into Rodon’s potential start in Game 6 of the World Series — he would take the ball Friday in Los Angeles if the Yankees get there — and heading into 2025 and beyond.

“It's not easy to play here sometimes, especially when you come in as a big signing and you struggle and you fail a little bit and you fall on your face,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He picked himself up, and that's credit to him. It's because of the work he put in to get himself in this position.”

Rodon had a bad time last year. Forearm and hamstring injuries limited him to 14 starts. When he was healthy enough to pitch, he performed poorly, putting up a 6.85 ERA and 1.45 WHIP.

“Last season was rough,” Boone said. “No bones about it.”

And then, Boone said, Rodon “got after it this winter in every regard” — pitching preparedness, work ethic/routine, strength and conditioning — determined to prove to the fan base that the first impression was not an accurate one.

Rodon buckled down and leveled up. He finished with a 3.96 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, a massive improvement (if worse than his last year before signing with the Yankees).

“Super proud of him,” Boone said. “Everything was going to be all eyes on [Rodon], right? His first spring training start, oh, what's this look like? His first start in the regular season? What I wanted his biggest focus to be was: Do everything to get yourself ready to go to the post every day. I want you to take the ball 30 times this year. Boom, he's done that.

“But he's done that because he's had his blinders on. He's developed a great routine, a great work ethic, has really gotten to know and trust who he can work with, where he can find things here.

“So obviously he had a really good year. What did he win, 16 games or whatever? Super consistent for us. Had some bumps along the way, but those bumps didn't derail him because it was about the process. It's about the five, six days, I'm just chopping wood every day here to get ready for the next start. Make the adjustments I need to do, get my work in. But that's all Carlos.”

Rodon has regressed in the postseason, lasting at least five innings in just one of four starts. He had a 5.60 ERA in that stretch.

In Game 2 against the Dodgers, Rodon got rocked for six hits (three homers) and four runs in 3 1/3 innings. He was dealing with a blister — impacting his ability to throw breaking balls — that he downplayed Wednesday as “fine, manageable” ahead of his next outing.

“Not my best obviously,” Rodon said. “Some redemption would be nice.”

Those struggles are why, as Anthony Rizzo phrased it this week, the Yankees would get “a [ticked] off Rodon” if they could force a Game 6 after dropping the first three games of the Fall Classic.

Is that a fair description of Rodon, an innately fiery guy who has tried to be more level on the field?

“Hopefully it's the right description,” Rodon said. “I wouldn't say [ticked] off but I'm just — I'm trying to word this the right way.”

He paused to mull.

“Mildly upset and under control,” he said. “That's too wordy.”

OK, so same thing, maybe.

“There's a happy medium, there's a fine line,” Rodon continued. “I can't be the buddy-buddy guy. I can't be the guy that's super, super mad. I have to kind of ride the fence. I can't go left or right.

“I think I have to be kind of like a — I don't know how to put it. I have to be somewhat robot-ish, but just internally not happy with the other team.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.