February 14, 2025

New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon enjoyed a bounce-back season in his second year in the Bronx and will look to carry that momentum into 2025. Rodon made 32 starts and won 16 games with a 3.96 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and 195 strikeouts across 175 innings. He made across-the-board improvements from his injury-plagued 2023 season when he was mostly ineffective; he pitched to a 5.68 ERA over only 14 starts. The risk of injury will be ever-present for Rodon, but his underlying metrics from a season ago imply he should be rock-solid for fantasy when he's on the bump. Last season, his swinging-strike rate of 14% ranked eighth among all qualified pitchers, and his 10.03 K/9 ranked 11th. Better yet, he upped his whiff rate on all five of his pitches, which fully supports his success last year compared to his disastrous 2023. Fantasy drafters must remember that rough season, as Rodon is currently the 51st pitcher off draft boards in NFBC and is RotoBaller's SP37 heading into upcoming drafts. He finished as a top-20 starting pitcher in fantasy last season and should still pitch plenty of innings this year while backed by a strong Yankees lineup. Rodon profiles as a reliable SP2/3 for fantasy but can be drafted outside the top 125 overall players based on ADP.--Mike Schwarzenbach - RotoBaller