Carlos Rodón could be on pace for a career-best season, but it’s flying a bit under the radar for a few reasons. First off, Max Fried is the Yankees’ best pitcher and has taken the “ace” reins seamlessly from Gerrit Cole. Secondly, Tarik Skubal exists.

If not for those two, Rodón’s six-year, $162 million contract would go back to universally looking like a bargain and not the eyesore so many fans complained about from 2023-2024. Rodón, at the time of his signing, was believed to be what Fried quickly became, but the start of his tenure in the Bronx quickly flushed that notion down the toilet.

Some criticisms of Rodón were merciless and objectively unfair. But then he started to melt down in a different manner, blowing kisses at Yankees fans on the road in Anaheim and turning his back on pitching coach Matt Blake during a mound visit in his final start of the 2023 season. Not only was the output nonexistent, but the proper attitude seemed to be as well.

For the fans who maintained a fair critical eye, they were just mostly upset. Rodón was a coveted player the year prior, as Yankees fans begged Brian Cashman to trade for him while the San Francisco Giants fell out of contention. That 2022 roster needed him.

But they got the next best thing. They signed him the very next offseason. He was going to be Gerrit Cole’s co-ace. The Yankees were going to avenge their ALCS sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros and overwhelm the AL with their dominant pitching.

Then it all fell apart. It became hard to endlessly lambast the decision to sign him, though. Objectively, it was a great move at the time. The Yankees had money to spend and they went out and got one of the best pitchers in the league the previous two seasons. It just sadly wasn’t working out.

Carlos Rodón on a trajectory to change his Yankees narrative

And while we’ll talk out of one end of our mouth and say the first two months of the 2025 season don’t change everything, Rodón’s performance thus far is enough of a sample size to show what everybody knew he was capable of in pinstripes.

Through his first 12 starts, he’s 7-3 with a 2.60 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 90 strikeouts across 72 2/3 innings. Only Skubal has more strikeouts than him in the AL. Nobody in the league surrenders fewer hits per nine innings (5.2). His sub-1.00 WHIP is right in line with the rest of MLB’s elite. He’s allowed just five earned runs over 30 2/3 innings during the month of May.

Rodón is rewriting his Yankees story right before our very eyes. It’s still going to take time, but he’s stepped up when the team has needed him most. Cole was lost for the season, Juan Soto departed, Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Gil went down for the first half, and many other roster issues indirectly put pressure on the top end of the starting rotation to deliver. Up until this point, Rodón’s largely had mixed results under such circumstances, but he’s now handled it across a considerable stretch that will only set the table for him to better handle bigger moments.

Because if he’s doing this in October? Forget about it. Even the most harsh fans will forgive all without a second thought.