I didn’t know a lot about Carlos Rodón when he signed with the Giants. I had heard his name, and maybe could have told you that he was good in 2021, but otherwise, I don’t know. Would I have known that he had been in the AL Central? Possibly. Would I have known he was on the White Sox? If you gave me the division and five guesses, yeah, I’d have had it nailed.
So I would not have been able to give you any kind of informed analysis on Rodón. I would not have known what pitches he throws, what demeanor he brings to the mound, what it’s like watching him pitch. I had no idea.
I have an idea now. It’s sexy as hell.
Carlos Rodón goes out to the mound and he throws mostly fastballs, and the hitter knows that mostly fastballs are coming, and the hitter still can’t do a damn thing with them. It’s the greatest, people. It’s the absolute greatest.
It’s never felt like the Giants had a starter who could consistently throw his fastball past hitters. Tim Lincecum had a great fastball, but he got his strikeouts on that lethal changeup, and on his slider. Madison Bumgarner could do it occasionally but not all game every game, and Jonathan Sanchez had a good one when he could put it where he wanted to (which was, uh, not always).
None of them could do it like Rodón, though, because Rodón’s fastball is based on pure power. With Lincecum, the changeup always had to be in the back of a hitter’s mind, which made the fastball look a little faster. Bumgarner and Sanchez never threw anywhere close to 98, and their fastballs were based more on deceptive arm action and maybe some late movement than pure velocity.
I’m not saying that Rodón’s fastball doesn’t have late movement or that his arm action doesn’t add deception to his delivery, but those aren’t the things that make his fastball special. It’s the velocity, from the left side, maintained throughout the game. Then, when you have that, you can add a soupçon of movement and deception to keep the ball from being remotely hittable. And then, finally, you get this:
(If the embedded video doesn’t work, click through and watch it. It’s worth it)
Three of those 12 strikeouts came on sliders. The other 9 were on Rodón’s fastball, with 8 of them being swinging (well, on one them the batter tried and failed to check his swing, but that counts as a swinging strikeout). The word for that is dominance. Uncut, pure, undeniable dominance. Yesterday, Rodón faced 24 batters and struck out 12 of them. On the year, Rodón’s struck out almost 40% of the batters he’s faced. And it all starts with that fastball.
Now, none of this is to say that there aren’t flaws in Rodón’s game. Does he go long in games? No, he’s been a 6 inning guy at best this year. Does that matter? Yes, because as good as the Giants bullpen has been (and they have been very good!), I’d rather have a super-dominant Carlos Rodón in than anyone else on the team. Does that make his fastball less sexy? Absolutely not, and how dare you.
Watching one of your team’s pitchers throw his fastball past an opposing batter is up there with the most satisfying plays in baseball. It is also up there with the sexiest. You can keep your big pretty curveball or diving catch. Give me Carlos Rodón blowing 98 past every Colorado Rockie. That is extremely my shit.