Carlos Rodón's fastball velocity has fluctuated over the course of the season, but he hadn't yet paid for not being able to summon the high-90s heat of "Hard Karl." He might've been limited to five innings here, or been subject to balls-in-play luck there, but he's managed to avert complete disasters.
And one might say his three innings against Detroit on Monday fall short of that status as well. He gave up three runs in his third and final inning of work, but poor defense facilitated the unnecessary labor. Had César Hernández stopped a grounder up the middle (which wasn't easy) or tagged the runner with the hand that held the ball (part of baseball rules since it was a gleam in Abner Doubleday's eye), perhaps Monday's box score looks different, and Rodón's line within improves.
I'm skeptical that we'd be talking about Rodón any differently. His fastball velocity stalled early and dipped below 90 mph twice.
More concerning is that his slider failed to generate a single swinging strike for the first time since his final start of the 2018 season. He can survive with lower velocity if the breaking ball is a threat, and he still has enough life to avoid getting crushed by lesser opponents, but the lack of a true swing-and-miss pitch results in 30-pitch innings that limit his in-start stamina regardless.
The return of One-Pitch Rodón during the game led to the return of Terse 'n' Testy Rodón after it. Rodón wanted to talk about the game while not mentioning to his condition, which he tried to downplay as "normal soreness, nothing crazy." But between what everybody saw during the game and Tony La Russa's account of Rodón's in-game assessment ...
"In the first two innings, we were all encouraged. He threw the ball well,” La Russa said. “In the third, he lost command, he was struggling. Actually fortunate to leave [the third inning] with three runs. He came back in and said he wasn't right, soreness. So we're concerned."
... it's hard to separate the results from Rodón's condition. So I suppose the his session had few other ways to end than with a question about concern, followed by Rodón saying "No. I think we're good. Thank you, guys."
I'm more inclined to accept La Russa's version of the events, because he has fewer incentives to deny reality. Most of Rodón's job is ignoring adversity, or defeating it. La Russa's job is managing it. It's in his title.
At least Adam Engel is supposed to be back for today's game. He'll have his own condition to maintain.
Spare Parts
In writing about Leury García's resurgence, James Fegan asked him about my "tribute band" concept, in which García's performance hinges on the player he's replacing.
At first, García finds this theory grotesque, repulsed by the insinuation that teammates going down with injuries works out well for him. But that only winds up being the introduction to how seriously he takes it.
“You don’t like that to happen, but unfortunately that’s part of baseball,” García said through team interpreter Billy Russo. “When those situations happen and it’s one of the main guys, the everyday guys, and you have the chance to fill in for him, then you feel the responsibility to fill that void, to make that absence unnoticeable. You try to do your best and try to perform at the level that that player was performing. That’s probably an extra motivation and also a big responsibility.”
A "grotesque" theory that has merit the more one thinks about it is basically a big part of the Sox Machine Experience™. I'm giving myself a win.
José Abreu gets the national profile treatment from James Wagner, who opens with Abreu's unwillingness to let anybody else pick up the check when dining out. The rest of the article paints a picture of a guy who is infallible as a teammate in every other way, from his personal work ethic to his willingness to share information, professional or personal.
The Boston Globe's coverage of Tony La Russa isn't as thorough an overview. What's interesting is that the DUI charge that cast a shadow over his hiring isn't mentioned by the reporter, even though La Russa did acknowledge it in a general sense.
“It’s been a healthy situation,” La Russa said. “All the years I managed, we always pursued information. Now you can get it right away. There were a lot of negatives when I took the job and they were legitimate. The only one that didn’t make sense was that I was away from the game.”
MLB.com's Statcast miners have come up with a couple legitimately fun facts about two White Sox players. On the offensive side, Luis Robert has reduced his rate of whiffs per swing from 41.5 to 27 percent. The previous high was Joc Pederson at 9.5 percent, so Robert is blowing away previous precedent for single-season improvements.
The injury prevented Robert from accruing enough playing time to qualify as one of the site's most improved players, but Dylan Cease got the nod for the biggest improvement in expected wOBA.
Cease was fortunate to get his results last season, posting a low strikeout rate while walking the most batters in the AL. This time around, he’s backed up his success with huge gains in whiff rate on all three of his secondary pitches (slider, curveball, changeup) to support a massive leap in K-rate (13.8 points) that has coincided with a drop in walk rate. In terms of xwOBA, which factors in both of those things in addition to quality of contact, Cease has improved from .387 (fifth percentile) to .296 (65th).
Liam Hendriks has overcome the skepticism about the durability of his one-pitch approach, but Ben Clemens puts forth the idea that Hendriks' durability at the top of relief leaderboards is worth appreciating in and of itself. I don't think White Sox fans will be on the verge of overlooking Hendriks' excellence, especially with Craig Kimbrel creating messes in front of him.
While the White Sox offense has sputtered, Yasmani Grandal is the one hitter who doesn't seem to take a game off. It makes sense that it's mostly as simple as getting his legs back and trusting them, but it's remarkable that he was able to get his knee repaired in-season, and ahead of schedule.
(Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports)
