During the second half of the regular season, Carlos Rodon would often take extra days between starts, sometimes as high as 10 days between starts. His decrease in velocity has also been noticeable throughout the second half. After recently coming off the IL, the Chicago White Sox have managed the situation with great caution.
Now Rodon will be throwing a bullpen session on Tuesday, which will be key in deciding where he will fall in the rotation for the Division Series. Strength and stamina are the two factors the White Sox will be looking out for, according to skipper Tony La Russa:
La Russa said that Carlos Rodon will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday. They'll determine his status for the ALDS after that. Stamina and strength are the two main things they'll be looking at.
— ESPN White Sox (@ESPNWhiteSox) October 3, 2021
Rodon finished the season with a 13-5 record in 24 starts. He posted a 2.37 ERA, with 185 strikeouts over 132.2 innings pitched. Although he didn’t have enough innings to qualify for the ERA pitching leaders category, it was still an extremely impressive season for Rodon.
Rodon finished 15 strikeouts short of joining Pitchers Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease as the only White Sox starters to have 200 plus strikeouts on the season.
The White Sox have yet to announce their post season roster but should do so in the coming days. The order of the rotation is still to be determined as well. Speculation on who will make the post-season roster continues to grow. Dallas Keuchel is one player to keep an eye on. Keuchel came out of the bullpen last Saturday versus the Detroit Tigers and still struggled to get outs.
It will also be interesting to see how rookie Andrew Vaughn will be used in the post-season, assuming he makes the roster, coming off a recent injury and a bad slump.
Will Evan Marshall make the roster? Brian Goodwin? Ryan Burr?
Stay posted to our White Sox forum for updates on the White Sox and the announcement of the post-season roster.
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