New $162m Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon endures nightmare debut as he gives up TWO home runs

The New York Yankees’ big winter acquisition, Carlos Rodón, got off to a rocky start in his spring debut with his new team, after allowing two home runs and six hits in just two innings of work against the Atlanta Braves.

Rodon signed a $162 million contract with the Yankees in free agency after leaving the San Francisco Giants.

“Thank God it’s spring training,” Rodon said after the game, when the Yankees returned to beat the Braves 10-6 at CoolToday Park on Sunday.

Rodón walked out of the gates excited for his first game in a Yankees uniform and admitted that he was trying to add some extra gas to his fastball.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone (left) told Rodon to stop trying to throw the ball so hard.

The Yankees recalled Rodon’s last normal spring training when he was throwing around 92 mph at this point in the schedule compared to his normal 95.4 mph during the regular season, and the Yankees asked him to keep his velocity on the low end. of this range.

After Rodon threw his fastball mostly at 93 mph and once touched 95, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told him to stop trying to throw so hard after the first inning.

“I wanted to stretch back and throw harder,” Rodon said. But I told myself to trust the process, I guess. But a younger me would have said, “Eff, I’m going to throw one as hard as I can here.” I’m glad I didn’t do that.

After hearing from his manager, Rodón’s fortunes improved and he posted a 1-2-3 inning after allowing an opening brace to Ronald Acuña Jr.

“What I don’t want him to do is start throwing because he’s supposed to throw 96, 97, 98,” Boone said, adding that the Yankees had Rodon going 91-95 mph Sunday.

‘This is in line with where he is every spring. So I don’t want him to feel like he has to impress us on March 5th and overreact and mechanically get into a bad place or start doing something.

“My message to him was, ‘Stay on your gear and execute, and you’ll get to that point while you can continue to work.'” Hopefully as the month goes on he will start to escalate and get to that point.

Rodon signed a six-year, $162 million contract with the Yankees during the offseason.

Before he was able to avoid the coaching slot for the better parts of 2021 and 2022, Rodon was known for having a long history of injuries that his new employers would like to prevent him from adding in New York.

Rodon was also known for showing his emotions on his sleeve, which could be seen when he finished the game and sat on the bench.

“I sat on the bench and said, ‘Okay, the game doesn’t count, but I don’t like to lose,'” he said.

“Then I tried to tell myself, ‘I controlled myself, I made a few pitches, and then I felt a little bit humiliated.’ So I needed that.