Prospects Plus: Carlos Rodon

A new baseball season  is here and so is the return of Prospects Plus. During the course of the season ,  I will deliver scouting reports on some baseball's up and  coming stars that I have the pleasure to watch on TV or see in person. I have a tickets package to the  Lakewood BlueClaws, so you will see reports about prospects in the South Atlantic League as well as college games I watch on TV. So here is our first report on White Sox prospect Carlos Rodon, who pitched against the Royals last night on MLB Network. 

Name: Carlos Rodon

Position: pitcher 

Organization: White Sox 

Organizational rank: top ranked player in the White Sox system, according to Baseball America.

Wednesday night vs. Royals: 4 innings, 4 hits, 0 earned runs, 9 strikeouts.

Positives: Rodon struck out the side on 12 pitches in the first inning. Looked so polished even against the regular lineup of the American League Champions. Touched 96 with his fastball at one point. The Sox have not yet announced whether Rodon, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft, will start the season with the major-league club or will go to Triple-A Charlotte for more minor-league seasoning.

Negatives:  Rodon is still trying to harness his  fastball and could use some time in the minors to smooth that out. While Rodon does repeat his delivery well, he did have a tendency last year to lose command with his fastball and secondary offerings, putting too many men on base via walk for a frontline starting pitcher.