March 22--Don Cooper's right foot let off the gas as his left hand guided the steering wheel.
The gravel road had led to Rodon.
After Cooper, the White Sox's pitching coach, parked his golf cart behind home plate at a back field, next to the one Robin Ventura sat idle in Monday morning, his eyes, along with Ventura's found Carlos Rodon's left arm.
When the desert dust settled around home plate on a back field at Camelback Ranch on Monday morning, Rodon was ready to kick up more.
"It was a rough one," Rodon said.
Unofficially, Rodon gave up three runs, seven hits, four walks and struck out six guys you've never heard of during six innings of the minor-league game in front of two spectators who mattered.
Mostly, Rodon wasn't pleased with his fastball command, or lack thereof.
"It's good to see those guys can hit," Rodon said. "That's awesome. ... Yeah, you're looking for results, but it's spring training, just trying to work on stuff, stay healthy, build arm strength.
"It's good to get up and down six times. That was a little different. I haven't done that in a while."
Rodon, the Sox's first-round pick (third overall) in 2014, projects to be the White Sox's No. 3 starter, behind Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. He was pleased with his changeup and slider, though.
The simulated game was more for tell than show, though.
The Sox put runners on so Rodon could continue to craft his pickoff move and throw from the stretch. They wanted to study his fastball, changeup and slider.
Looking ahead, the Sox are trying to help the second-year pitcher get ahead in the count and ahead of his head.
"If we do that, we lessen walks," Cooper said. "If we lessen walks there will be more balls in play, more balls we can catch. There might be some hits involved, but the bottom line is if he can get ahead and get contact early. If they don't have contact early with the pitches he's got, he can be devastating."
Rodon was 9-6 with a 3.75 ERA as a 22-year-old rookie last season. He has 1391/3 innings to his credit, and while he struck out 139 during that time, he also reached ball four an unusually high 71 times.
He has just two walks in 101/3 innings this spring, which left him perplexed about his performance Monday.
"The last outing wasn't that great, but the two before that were spot on, which is surprising because they were the first two outings I had," Rodon said. "It seems like I'm getting stronger."
Ventura, for his part, showed no outward concern about Rodon's day. Instead, he pointed to the point in spring training the team finds itself and all that comes along with it.
"They're getting closer to being ready to get out of here," Ventura said. "We've seen him throw some great innings already. Not worried about him. He can pick himself apart."
And then try to put himself back together in time for his next start.
pskrbina@tribpub.com
