Jackson Chourio is considered one of MLB’s fastest-rising stars, however the 21-year-old Milwaukee Brewers phenom was no match Thursday for the Yankees’ Carlos Rodón.
Rodón kicked off Opening Day at Yankee Stadium with a three-pitch strikeout of Chourio, getting the sophomore sensation to swing excessive of a back-foot slider.
Two innings later, Rodón bought Chourio to whiff on a 2-2 changeup.
And within the prime of the fifth, Rodón went again to the slider, utilizing it to extinguish the swinging Chourio, once more on three pitches.
Three at-bats. Eleven pitches. Three swinging strikeouts.
It was that type of afternoon for Rodón, who rose to the event in his first Opening Day begin as a Yankee.
Rodón restricted the Brewers to 1 run over 5.1 innings within the Yankees’ 4-2 victory to choose up the win. He struck out seven in opposition to 4 hits and two walks, throwing 58 of his 89 pitches for strikes.
The left-hander, 32, deployed six totally different pitches, together with a sinker that he’s re-added to his arsenal. Rodón, who didn’t use the pitch in 2023 and threw it simply as soon as final yr, threw 10 sinkers Thursday, recording two outs and surrendering one hit with it.
Notably, Rodón threw solely 23 four-seam fastballs — a pitch he over-relied on throughout a summer season droop final season. Thursday’s 25.8% fastball utilization marked Rodón’s lowest in an outing since 2018, when he was a member of the Chicago White Sox, in keeping with YES Community.
He threw 28 sliders and 18 changeups.
Rodón survived a scary second within the fourth inning when he took a tough fall as he ran to cowl first base on a Sal Frelick infield single.
The pitcher appeared hobbled after the bang-bang play, however after a quick assembly with the coach, Rodón remained within the sport.
Rodón then struck out the facet within the fifth — a dominant inning he punctuated together with his third strikeout of Chourio, who completed third in 2024 Nationwide League Rookie of the 12 months voting. Chourio, who hit 21 residence runs and stole 22 bases as a rookie, struck out 5 occasions Thursday in opposition to Yankee pitching.
Thursday marked the second Opening Day begin for Rodón, an 11-year veteran who beforehand pitched within the White Sox’s 2019 opener.
The Yankees turned to Rodón for this yr’s Opening Day outing after ace Gerrit Cole underwent season-ending elbow surgical procedure this month.
Rodón was anticipated to be the No. 3 starter behind Cole and newly signed Max Fried, who’s in line to begin Saturday within the Yankees’ second sport.
The presence of Rodón — who’s within the third season of a six-year, $162 million contract — looms even bigger in Cole’s absence.
Rodón struggled with damage and inconsistency in his first season with the Yankees, pitching to a 6.85 ERA in 14 begins in 2023.
He delivered a resurgent season final yr, going 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA over a career-high 32 begins.
“As rough as the first year was, that could have derailed a lot of people, but he really leaned into that,” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned earlier than Thursday’s sport.
“He owned it and he made it a point to really connect with the people he needed to connect with, from the strength and conditioning, training, pitching department. He’s talked about developing a rock-solid routine, backed by work ethic. That’s really served him well.”
