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White Sox Rodon Coming to the South Side!

By Wayne Cavadi

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That didn’t take long. The Chicago White Sox top prospect is heading to the South Side. White Sox beat writer Scott Merkin tweeted out:

Rodon, No. 11 on the Grading on the Curve Top 50, who has been deemed the “best college left hander since David Price” by MLB Pipeline will roll into action much like Price did. Rodon, typically a starter, will begin his big league career out of the bullpen.

Rodon got his first taste of the big league this spring, when he filled in White Sox’ ace Chris Sale’s rotation slot as he recovered from injury. The 22-year old, 6 foot 3, 235 pound lefty made five starts in Cactus League action, going 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 17.2 innings. Despite the nice spring, Rodon still needed to fine tune his fastball and command of his changeup, so he was sent to Charlotte.

Rodon made two starts at Triple-A before the Sox recalled him. He struck out 13 while picking up one win for the first place Knights. He now joins Brandon Finnegan as the second member of the 2014 draft class to make the Major Leagues in less than a year’s service time.

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The lefty’s arsenal is backed by his infamous slider, which Jim Callis considers one of the best in the big leagues. Grading out at a 70 (on the traditional 80 point scale), his lethal go to pitch will serve him well as a reliever in the short term. Coming in consistently in the mid-80s, the slider tops out at 90 miles per hour with unbelievable accuracy.

He adds a mid-90s fastball and an off speed pitch that he has been known to struggle with on occasion. He is a strikeout machine, however, and there is no way that he will be out of the starting rotation for long.

The White Sox have a solid 1-2 punch in Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija at the top of the rotation. Jose Quintana in the three hole has had two consecutive very nice seasons, and had the White Sox had the offense they have now, he would probably have quite a few more wins under his belt. John Danks and Hector Noesi, however, have both seen better days, and you could argue that Rodon could join the rotation right now.

Since John Danks breakout 2010 season, the 30-year old lefty has been in rapid decline and a pretty consistent injury concern. His ERA has been well above the north side of 4.00 for four consecutive seasons, his WHIP has been on the rise, while his strikeout rate has lowered. Danks has been able to hang around because he was a veteran lefty starter, and teams drool over a capable lefty. Well, the White Sox have a new one in their bullpen, and he is ready to show the big leagues what he has.

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Hector Noesi, the 28-year old righty, was part of one of the worst trades of the 2000s in which none of the top prospects of the deal appear to have panned out. Jesus Montero can’t make it out of Triple A, Michael Pineda can’t stay on the field, and Noesi has gone 10-26 since the trade on the big league level, with a beautiful ERA of 5.15 during that same time. If I were Noesi, I would try my hardest to pitch a perfect game in his next outing, because it very well may be his last start for the White Sox.

Rodon will need to prove that he can handle big league pitchers in April and not just March as he did this spring. Should he serve as that lefty fixture and succeed, expect Rodon in the rotation in a matter of weeks. If he is not in the rotation by June, it will be a tremendous surprise.

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