Carlos Rodon to Start Tuesday vs. Orioles Following 15-Day IL Stint

New York Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon will return from the injured list to start at Baltimore on Tuesday, skipping a planned minor league outing.

BALTIMORE -- Carlos Rodon returns to the New York Yankees rotation on Tuesday night at Camden Yards, officially activated from the 15-day injured list. The left-hander missed significant time following a July 3 diagnosis of left elbow inflammation, an ailment that required platelet-rich plasma therapy and multiple injections to resolve. Team officials opted to bypass a previously scheduled minor league appearance on August 20, instead slotting the veteran directly into the series opener against the Baltimore Orioles.

Key details

During his lone Triple-A rehab start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 11, Rodon threw 48 pitches, locating 29 for strikes. Facing the Rochester Red Wings, he surrendered three hits and three earned runs over 2⅔ innings of work. His stat line in that appearance included four strikeouts and two walks, following a brief progression that began with a single start for Double-A Somerset earlier in the month. The southpaw now rejoins a starting staff that currently features Gerrit Cole, Ryan Weathers, Will Warren, and Cam Schlittler.

Rodon carries a 4-2 record and a 3.30 ERA through nine starts into Tuesday’s contest. Before the elbow issues surfaced, he enjoyed a dominant stretch, going 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA across his final six appearances. Since signing a six-year, $162 million contract with the Yankees, he has maintained a cumulative 41-28 record and a 3.93 ERA over 88 career starts. His 2023 campaign saw him finish with an 18-9 record and a 3.09 ERA, though his current season was delayed by a month due to recovery from offseason surgery.

The medical timeline for the 31-year-old includes an October 15 procedure to remove loose bodies and shave a bone spur in his throwing elbow. Further complications arose during spring training when he reported tightness in his right hamstring while throwing at the club's Florida complex in late March. These setbacks forced him to miss the opening weeks of the regular season, and he initially struggled with command upon his return in early May.

Latest developments

Tuesday’s activation marks a critical juncture for the Yankees' pitching depth as they navigate the second half of the schedule. Rodon’s ability to skip the final minor league tune-up suggests the medical staff is satisfied with his recovery from the inflammation that sidelined him for over six weeks. The left-hander’s 3.30 ERA remains one of the more consistent marks in the rotation, despite the limited sample size of nine starts this year.

In his career, the former first-round pick has proven to be a high-volume strikeout pitcher when healthy. The Yankees are banking on his late-June form, where he surrendered two or fewer runs in four of his last five starts before the injury. By returning now, he avoids further evaluation in the minor leagues and immediately fills a vacancy in the five-man rotation. The decision to start him in Baltimore reflects a shift in the original rehabilitation plan, which had him slated for one more Triple-A outing before rejoining the big-league club.

Statistically, Rodon’s 29 strikes out of 48 pitches in his last outing indicate a 60.4% strike rate, a metric the Yankees hope to see improve as his pitch count increases. His four strikeouts in less than three innings at Scranton translated to a 13.5 K/9 rate during that brief stint. As he takes the mound against the Orioles, he looks to build on the 41-28 career record he has established across his tenure in the major leagues. The Yankees will monitor his workload closely in this first start back from the 15-day injured list.