Why I’m rooting for Carlos Rodón

It has been a big week for Carlos Rodón.

Burgeoning co-ace of the New York Yankees, the burly southpaw was thrust into a confounding pennant race last Tuesday upon return from an elbow injury. Limited to four innings against the Orioles in Baltimore, Rodón allowed a solo home run but was effective enough to support a 3-1 Yankee win.

Five days later, this past Sunday, Rodón again battled rust to log a further four innings of two-run ball in the Bronx, lowering his season ERA to 3.15 en route to an 8-3 Yankee triumph over Toronto. 

Then finally, just last night, The Carlos Rodón Foundation held its third annual Willow Gala, a swanky soiree that raises funds to help couples navigating infertility and pregnancy loss. Several teammates attended, and many donated items – including exclusive meet-and-greet sessions – to the popular yearly auction. 

It has been uplifting to watch Rodón evolve into such a mature role model. Indeed, I find myself rooting hard for him – both as a bulldog pitcher in my preferred high-octane style, but also as a thoroughly decent human being whose philanthropy strikes an emotional chord with my own personal experience.

Rodón has not always enjoyed such goodwill. In fact, Carlos endured a rocky, tempestuous start to life in the Big Apple. Now in the fourth season of a six-year, $162 million contract, the former White Sox and Giants ace came to New York before the 2023 season, and his integration was turbulent. Rodón recorded a 6.85 ERA in an injury-abbreviated debut season, and some Yankee fans villainised him as an out-of-shape, overpaid slob. A sorry dénouement came when Rodón blew a sarcastic kiss to booing fans after another poor outing, but that regrettable vignette spurred a remarkable transformation.

After recovering from injury, losing 15 pounds, and recalibrating his attitude, Rodón rebounded with back-t0-back stellar seasons in pinstripes. He won 16 games in 2024 while almost halving his ERA. Then, a year later, Rodón morphed further into a dependable bulwark, logging 18 wins, a 3.09 ERA, and a 1.049 WHIP to complement 203 strikeouts. With Gerrit Cole sidelined for the entire 2025 season, Rodón became the Yankees’ de facto ace, and his contract – once considered an albatross – gained a much rosier complexion.

I admired Rodón’s gutsy metamorphosis, and my desire to see him succeed was stoked by his off-field generosity. Sadly, Carlos and his wife, Ashley, experienced two miscarriages just three months apart in 2018. (1) Touched by trauma, the couple supported various fertility charities while embarking on an IVF journey. Two weeks before they were due to begin IVF, however, the Rodóns learned of their third pregnancy. Willow, their daughter, was born nine months later, in 2019 – a rainbow baby, and a testament to unrelenting hope. (2) (3)

In 2024, inspired to give something back, the Rodóns launched their own non-profit centred on The Willow Grant – a scheme that provides financial aid to those who would otherwise struggle to realise their dreams of starting a family. Fundraisers – such as last night’s gala, and a recent Yankee game where $10 from each ticket sale went to The Carlos Rodón Foundation – have since raised more than half-a-million dollars, and 50 families have received support with IVF and associated treatment costs as a result. Two Willow Grant babies have been born, with more on the way – a poignant legacy of extraordinary altruism. (2) (4) (5)

I’m a Yankees fan, so I like to see these guys do well. With Rodón, however, there is a personal connection that intensifies that bond. My wife, Patrycja, and I have also endured two miscarriages and are still on our prolonged journey to parenthood. Our first tragedy came in November 2022, when a Week 7 scan failed to find a heartbeat. Then, grief returned two years later, when a flurry of positive and negative tests settled into terminal sorrow. We are still trying to start our family. 

For a man of many words, I have always struggled to express the pain we felt on both occasions. To date, my only anguished scribbles on the topic have been reserved for abandoned Word documents and private journals. The subject is too deep, lacking a coherent beginning or end, and the intermediate layers of nuance can feel impenetrable. 

With each pregnancy, I remember my entire perspective changing – meaningless frivolities revealed as such and slotted into their correct context – but all other vignettes exist in a darkened fog. Distilling our experiences into cogent prose has always felt like an ominous ordeal, but this appreciation of Carlos Rodón – this explanation of his story and its ultimate happy ending – has provided a cathartic prism through which to broach my own hardship, and that of my wife. 

To lean on baseball as such an emotional crutch may seem clumsy or immature to some. Others, meanwhile, may accuse me of trivialising infertility by exploring it via a placating proxy. Ultimately, though, that is what sports fandom is for: it fills silences, gives voice to the voiceless, and offers an accessible framework – a simplified simulacrum – for understanding life’s otherwise opaque challenges.

To have somebody out there – a strong alpha male, no less – representing such an overlooked cause while showing such vulnerability is deeply inspiring. In this numbed age of mindless scrolling, it is easy to gloss over these contributions or generalise such charity work in the abstract – just another athlete lending his name to just another hollow foundation. However, this project really cuts through for me. It humanises Carlos Rodón and distinguishes him from the unknowable morass. It makes him relatable – an important characteristic we have failed to protect.

I’m rooting for Carlos Rodón, then – on the mound, and in life. It would be nice to see him win a World Series ring, capping an accomplished career, but in far more consequential domains, his legacy is already secure. Alongside his wife, Carlos has given priceless support to an underserved community. In some cases, that support has enabled life, the most precious miracle of all, while their story provides hope to believers they may never even meet.

Firmly within that camp, Patrycja and I have secured a place on the IVF pathway. We have undertaken the initial tests and now await our first consultation. Maybe our rainbow baby will arrive soon, too – just as it did for the Rodóns. No matter what, though, we will never stop wishing for that ultimate blessing. The success of figureheads like Carlos and Ashley keep that flame alive.

Sources

1. Carannante, Thomas. Yanks Go Yard. [Online] August 14, 2026. https://yanksgoyard.com/carlos-rodon-return-to-yankees-comes-with-important-reminder-about-his-foundation.

2. The Carlos Rodon Foundation. [Online] rodonfoundation.org.

3. Dymin in The Rough podcast. [Online] October 22, 2024. https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/dyminlynn/episodes/MLB-Playoffs--Parenthood--The-Willow-Grant-Dymin--Lance-Lynn-with-Ashley--Carlos-Rodn-e2prt90.

4. Facebook. New York Yankees. [Online] July 5, 2026. https://www.facebook.com/Yankees/posts/in-2024-carlos-rod%C3%B3n-and-his-wife-ashley-established-the-the-carlos-rod%C3%B3n-founda/1577656713722602/.

5. Knuppel, Rodney. Yahoo! Sports. [Online] May 26, 2026. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/carlos-rodon-partners-yankees-game-110706238.html.