Yankees’ Carlos Rodon on turning back to pitching coach Matt Blake: ‘I was just not in the right mind’

Sep 29, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon (55) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium. / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Carlos Rodon had a start to forget Friday night in Kansas City.

In his final start of the 2023 season, the Yankees’ biggest free-agent acquisition gave up eight runs without recording an out as New York fell 12-5 to the Royals. However, a troubling scene occurred when Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake came out to talk to the starter.

The left-hander had already thrown more than 20 pitches, and Blake came out to talk things over and to likely give Rodon a breather. However, the always-fiery Rodon seemed to almost ignore Blake while turning his back and gesturing to him to go back to the dugout.

After the meeting at the mound, Rodon would go on to load before being pulled.

“You want better mound presence there but also the guy’s competing his ass off and it’s been a tough year for him and he’s trying to figure it out, he wants to do well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the exchange after the game. “So there’s also some grace. It’s hard. It’s heavy, you know? But he’s right back on the bench at the end of the game and we don’t have any issue with him as far as how he’s going about it, how he’s getting after it and his care factor. We just got to get him going consistently. That’s gonna be the challenge.”

“I was just frustrated, he was trying to come out and help,” Rodon said after the game. “Obviously frustrated with the situation of giving up five runs on five hits. I think I walked a guy and couldn’t get out of the first inning. Yea, it wasn’t good.”

When asked if he thought it was disrespectful what Rodon did to Blake, Boone said that was his “first take” on the situation but he needs to talk to all parties first to get a better picture. Rodon was asked the same question and owned up to his actions.

“I’m sure it was [disrespectful], it wasn’t great, definitely not the best move,” Rodon admitted. “Like I said, I was frustrated with myself and my performance. Really embarrassing. And then doing that with Matt, coming out trying to help me, I turned my back. I was just not in the right mind, that’s for sure. That’s on me.”

Rodon said he hasn’t had a chance to speak with Blake yet as he wanted to cool down and give the pitching coach some time before doing so.

Rodon’s final start ballooned his ERA to 6.85 and gave him his eighth loss of the season in just 14 starts.

Unfortunately for the 30-year-old and the Yankees, his last three starts — where he gave up three runs or less and went at least five innings — won’t be remembered. The lasting image for Yankees fans will be this dud in Kansas City.

“Pretty disappointing,” Rodon said when asked how he would sum up his season. “Not much else to say about it.”

Rodon has five more years with the Yankees after signing a six-year, $162 million deal in the offseason so both sides will have to figure out how to get the lefty back on track. There is work to be done this winter and in spring training to get Rodon back to the form he was in the last couple of years when he was one of the best in baseball.

“Looking forward to taking a little bit of the time to myself and getting away from baseball,” Rodon said of what he’s going to do in the offseason. “When the time’s right, hopefully in a couple weeks after that, I’ll give back to to training and just really focus on what we’re going to do on the mound and how I want to move and really establish that when spring training comes around.”

“There’s no doubt in the talent and we’ve seen enough this year that we know that we can get that out,” Boone said. “We got to have a good winter with him and come ready to go in spring training and hopefully have this year be one of those things that throws a log on the fire and motivates you.”