Carlos Rodón returned to the mound on Apr. 25 in his first game appearance since elbow surgery, pitching for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades as part of his rehabilitation process.
Rodón’s outing marks a key step in his recovery after undergoing surgery in October 2025 to remove loose bodies and shave a bone spur from his pitching elbow. His return follows teammate Gerrit Cole, who also made a rehab start with the Renegades earlier this week.
“Today was good, just getting back on the bike, feeling the slope out,” Rodón said. “Good to get back in a game and have a couple baserunners, a little bit of adrenaline to it, a real game. I’m champing at the bit you could say. There’s still part of the checklist I got to get through, get the pitch count up, throw a few more games to get back.”
The Yankees expect Rodón will need about three rehab starts before rejoining their rotation. This plan remains unchanged despite an earlier setback caused by tightness in his right hamstring during March. In Friday’s appearance, Rodón threw 65 pitches—43 for strikes—over four and one-third scoreless innings. He struck out four batters while allowing one hit, one walk, and hitting another batter.
“Most of it is general fastball command,” Rodón said following his outing. “Got some changeups in, some sliders in. But it was really just refining the curveball, just trying to get that in the zone. I had a number I wanted to hit on curveballs, not sure how many I threw, but I was trying to get to 10, so hopefully I was close.”
Rodón’s progress is seen as an important development for both him and the Yankees as they look ahead toward strengthening their pitching staff.
