White Sox LHP Carlos Rodon , the third overall pick in last year's amateur draft, made his third start of the spring on Monday.
Rodon had a shaky first inning, giving up two runs on a hit, two walks and a hit batter. After allowing a hit to start the second inning, he retired the final six batters he faced, striking out three and lowering his spring ERA to 6.14. He threw 49 pitches, 28 of them strikes, in the outing.
Rodon took a rotation spot after Chris Sale went down with a foot injury in the spring. And, while Sale is expected to miss at least a few starts in the opening weeks of the season, Rodon may not be the one to fill the spot.
Veteran RHP Brad Penny , who has a 3.52 ERA this spring, may get the call instead, because the White Sox don't want to send Rodon back down after Sale returns to the rotation.
“The last thing you want is: bring him up when he’s not ready just to throw him into a game and send him back down,” manager Robin Ventura told JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago. “But a guy like him, he works so hard to get to this point, you don’t want it to be a short stint, you want him when he comes up he’s ready to go and you keep him there.”
“He’s a horse,” Ventura said. “He goes out there, he’s big and strong, there’s all those things that you like to see in a pitcher that he has.”