Yankees' Carlos Rodon: Purposely limits velocity

Rodon was asked by the Yankees to keep his fastball velocity at around 92 mph during his spring debut Sunday against Atlanta, Greg Joyce of the New York Post reports.

Rodon was shelled by Atlanta in his first game (albeit an exhibition contest) in a Yankees uniform, giving up five runs on six hits and one walk over two-plus innings. It's rarely wise to read deeply into spring-training results, and that's especially true in this instance, as Rodon was tasked with keeping the velocity on his fastball in check as part of his build-up toward the regular season. Per Joyce, the left-hander touched 95 mph one time in the first inning of Sunday's game before manager Aaron Boone asked him to pull back following the frame. Rodon averaged 95.5 mph on his four-seamer last season and 95.4 mph on the pitch in 2021, so it's reasonable to expect that he'll get to around that number again this season -- and pitch to better results than he did Sunday -- once he is fully built up.