Levine: Carlos Rodon's Development Comes With Growing Pains

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The maturation of a young pitching prospect is fraught with the usual bumps in the road. The process is even more difficult when the learning curve takes place at the major league level.

For White Sox rookie left-hander Carlos Rodon, the arrow has been up, down and sometimes sideways. Giving up seven runs in four innings and taking the loss in Chicago's 8-5 loss to St. Louis at U.S. Cellular Field wasn't one of his better performances.

The 22-year-old Rodon has displayed a dominant but erratic arm through his initial indoctrination to the meat grinder of big league hitting. The wipeout slider is still his best pitch, but fastball command has been an issue. Rodon has walked 44 batters in 70 1/3 innings while striking out 74.

Rodon is 4-4 with a 4.48 ERA and 1.66 WHIP this season.

"He has had one spring training and what, 13 professional starts?" catcher Geovany Soto said. "He is young, and he has a lot of potential. He has a great fastball and good mechanics. He is going to be something special."

At a certain point, the White Sox front office will have to make a decision on how many innings will be enough for Rodon, the No. 3 pick in the 2014 amateur draft. The team has had a nice plan to date, with Rodon skipping a few starts to keep his arm and shoulder fresh. Going into his outing Tuesday evening Rodon, had 11 days rest from the All-Star break and one rotation turn of the other four starters.

Rodon's an impressive youngster and will only get better as he figures out a few mechanical issues and gains experience. How the organization sees his role the remainder of this season will be an on going discussion at the top level.

"The stuff is there," a disappointed Rodon said after Tuesday's loss. "I have got to give the fielders a chance to make plays for me. You still see the inconsistent pitches. I tried to make adjustments. I throw a good first pitch, and then the next one is wide about two feet. This is just something I need to get better at."

Rodon appears to have hit a wall as of late. Despite throwing six shutout innings in his previous start against the Cubs on July 11, he's 1-3 with a 6.98 ERA over his last six starts.

"This is a learning curve for him," manager Robin Ventura said. "He is not a complete product when he goes out there. He is continuing to learn, adjust and do things at the major league level. This is part of that curve."

With the White Sox ready to deal veterans and bring up more farm system players, Rodon will have a chance to develop with a bit less pressure in the last two months of the season.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.