CHICAGO -- Top Chicago White Sox prospect Carlos Rodon has been multitasking this weekend, using his time at SoxFest to meet fans, but also getting in some work in advance of spring training.
Rodon not only met pitching coach Don Cooper for the first time Thursday, he threw an indoor bullpen session at U.S. Cellular Field in order to help the two get more acquainted on a business level.
“I spoke with him over the phone a couple of times this offseason and I finally got to meet him, and we worked on it,” Rodon said. “We threw a pen and we got to talking about some things. He’s a great guy.”
The White Sox say they still have not made a decision if Rodon will be targeted toward the major league rotation or the bullpen, but when spring training begins the left-hander will be stretched out as a starter.
It would be easier to move from starter to reliever than the other way around, so it keeps the team’s options opened. To his credit, Rodon isn’t saying what he prefers, he just wants to help.
“Yeah, I’m willing to do whatever,” he said. “I’m just there, they tell me what to do, I show up and I pitch. That’s the way I look at it.”
A year ago Rodon was attending classes at North Carolina State and was just getting started on his senior season. The White Sox made him a first-round pick in the June first-year player draft. He was the third overall selection.
There was even talk that he could be in the major leagues in September, an expedited path that Chris Sale took, but the White Sox eventually nixed that plan.
“You know, that wasn’t up to me,” Rodon said. “The decision was up to them, and I guess they made the right decision. I got some time off, I needed some time off. It would have been nice to be in the big leagues, but it just didn’t happen. It didn’t work out that way.”
He will have his challenges making the team out of spring training. The White Sox look set with a starting rotation of Chris Sale, Jeff Samardzija, Jose Quintana, John Danks and Hector Noesi. The bullpen also has two left-handers in Zach Duke and Dan Jennings.
At this point, the odds are strong that Rodon starts the season as a starter at Triple-A Charlotte, remaining just a phone call away if needed.
“He’ll come to spring training and work with all the other starters,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “Whether we adjust that midway through, as far as limiting the length of his outings and then putting them closer together to prepare for a bullpen role, is something we’ll discuss in Glendale (Ariz.).
“Ultimately, we view Carlos Rodon as a member of our rotation. But how he gets there, whether it’s through making starts in the minors and then joining the rotation in Chicago or a stint in the bullpen similar to Chris Sale of Mark Buehrle from previously, we’ll decide in March of April.”
Cooper is in agreement with Hahn.
"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."
When spring training starts, Rodon will set his sights on the making the major league team, naturally, but he is aware of an important step in that process.
“I’m just here to get better, here to listen, and whatever they have in store for me, obviously I have to do what they say,” he said.