TAMPA — A coach coming to the mound previously led to one among Carlos Rodon’s worst moments as a Yankee.
On Monday, the scene served as a feel-good moment, as much because it could for a spring training game.
Rodon had just thrown his 72nd and final pitch across 5 ²/₃ no-hit innings against the Phillies when Joe Torre, a special guest at camp for a couple of days, began his walk out to the mound to take the ball.
The competitive Rodon, still within the zone, knew he had three pitches remaining in his allotment and was about to face a left-handed hitter.
“I used to be like, ‘What the hell, it’s a lefty?’ I look up and I used to be like, ‘Oh, it’s Joe Torre. I should give him the ball,’ ” Rodon said with amusing. “I used to be like, ‘All right, I can’t really say much here.’ Spring training game, Joe Torre, yeah. So I had to present the ball away. It was funny. It was cool.
“I desired to be like, ‘Get out of here,’ ” Rodon added, “however it’s Joe Torre.”
Between the previous Yankees manager making a cameo and Rodon having put together an encouraging outing, the gang at Steinbrenner Field delivered a loud ovation.
Torre spoke with Rodon for a couple of seconds as his infielders surrounded him, including Anthony Volpe smiling ear-to-ear.
“He was just saying that was so much easier to take the ball from him there than [Andy] Pettitte,” catcher Austin Wells said. “I assumed that was pretty funny. … That was really special.”
The Yankees hope there are more feel-good moments to return from Rodon, who struck out five and walked one during his penultimate start of the spring.
Coming off a brutal first season in pinstripes — including turning his back on pitching coach Matt Blake in his season finale last yr — the $162 million left-hander had gotten off to a shaky start this spring before delivering back-to-back solid outings wherein his fastball velocity ticked back up.
It averaged 94.6 mph on Monday and topped out at 96.4 mph.
The Phillies were playing a split-squad game, so that they didn’t bring anything near a full lineup. Their only regulars were Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and light-hitting outfielder Johan Rojas.
Still, having success against any sort of lineup ought to be helpful to Rodon as he tries to rediscover his swagger.
“It’s coming along,” Rodon said. “Just keep constructing confidence. Today was one other good step.”
Manager Aaron Boone liked what he saw from Rodon but was less focused on the outcomes.
“Look, he’s in an excellent place,” Boone said. “I’m going to maintain saying this — good, bad, indifferent — it’s nearly stacking really good days. That’s what he’s been doing for months now. I need him to focus, prepare, go to the post. Now it’s, ‘What do I do the following days to prepare for my next start?’ If he keeps doing that and where he’s at, in the long run he’ll achieve success.”
For now, Monday was just one other constructing block with a special twist at the top.
Boone had been working on getting Torre to make a pitching change for a couple of days — first by getting him in uniform for the primary time since 2007 after which convincing him to take the walk to the mound from their side-by-side seats by the Yankees dugout.
“Today, he was like, ‘All right, let’s go,’ ” Boone said. “He was even going to take the [catcher’s] wristband out, I said, ‘No, don’t take the wristband.’ He said, ‘Well I may have a map to get on the market.’ However it was awesome. What a treat to have him here the previous couple of days. Our guys loved it. I believe Joe really loved it. Definitely for me, to have him, just an ear to bend. It’s been great.”
