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A month prior to Carlos Rodon's appearance facing Team Cuba last summer as a member of the Collegiate National Team in Des Moines, Iowa, he tossed a dominant complete game effort against North Carolina in the College World Series. With the bulk of the PG staff hunkered down in the cozy confines of the Metrodome at the 2013 PG National Showcase, one of the many scouts in attendance shared with me that one of his peers was at Rodon's game in Omaha, and reported that Rodon hit 96 mph in each of the nine innings he threw, peaking at 98 numerous times in the game while sitting 93-97.
He wasn't quite as dominant in his two outings against Team Cuba, particularly the first one, but was still able to dominate despite not having his best stuff. And that stuff was still plenty firm, hitting 96 while sitting 92-94 in his first two innings and 91-93 in his last two.
Throw in a wicked slider that peaked at 89 mph in Des Moines with reports of him touching the low-90s with the pitch on other occasions. His low-80s changeup also continues to improve, giving him the requisite three pitches necessary to start at the next level.
Regardless of how Rodon's changeup progresses – and word has spread that the pitch has improved to the point where it's far more than just a show-me pitch – his fastball-slide one-two punch makes Rodon a true power pitcher. When opposing batters are able to make contact, it frequently comes in the form of weakly hit grounders to the infielders behind Rodon.
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