The White Sox are willing to wait before deciding Carlos Rodon's immediate future, according to Comcast SportsNet Chicago on Saturday.
Although general manager Rick Hahn said Rodon will go through his first professional spring training as a starter, pitching coach Don Cooper indicated that the team could use a similar bullpen-to-rotation blueprint to groom Rodon down the road, which Chicago used for previous pitchers like Chris Sale and Mark Buehrle.
"We didn't draft this guy third in the nation to be a reliever," Cooper said. "At some point he's going to be a starter. We haven't discussed when is that point. Right now he's going to come to spring training, show us what he can do and he's going to give us all the information we need.
"Chris Sale, Mark Buehrle, they started their careers in relief. Buehrle's one of the top pitchers over the last 15 years in White Sox history and Sale is quickly rising up those ranks."
After being drafted No. 3 overall in June, the left-hander worked his way from the Arizona League to Triple-A Charlotte in limited minor league action. He told the Chicago Tribune he's ready for whatever comes his way.
"I'm just focusing on getting better," Rodon said. "They tell me what to do, I show up and I pitch. That's how I look at it."