Levine: Carlos Rodon Turning The Corner On His Season

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The maturation process for a young pitcher can take many of twists and turns during the early stages of his career. Such has been the case for White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon, whose latest effort of 6 2/3 shutout innings against the Phillies on Tuesday evening had the look of his best outing of the season.

The 23-year-old Rodon scattered three hits and one walk while striking out four.

"Command wise, he has been good," White Sox manager Robin Ventura. "His stuff was good, and he had velocity when he really needed it. When he has it, he is not going to sit there and pick. Everything he does well has effort and strength behind it. He does not need to get away from his strength -- physicality is one of them."

A second-year pro, Rodon improved to 4-8 and dropped his ERA to 4.02. Pitching with a lead was helpful, as the White Sox scored one in the bottom of the first and three in the third.

"This was an all around good night for us," Ventura said. "When you are scoring runs, every pitch you make is not as critical."

Rodon missed almost four weeks in July with a strained left wrist. He struggled in his first outing back but since then has won three of his past four starts and has allowed just four earned runs across his past 24 2/3 innings.

""It's all about strike one and strike two," Rodon said. "When you get ahead of guys with good stuff, you can create poor contact. The key is getting ahead. I was comfortable, got on a roll and everything worked out."

Trying to find the same magic of his last eight starts in 2015 -- when he went 5-2 and allowed just a total of 13 runs while registering a 2.03 ERA in four September starts -- has been difficult for Rodon to replicate for much of this season, but he believes he's making strides toward that form again.

"When you're in a zone, you just want to stay in it," Rodon said. "I don't over-think it. My goal is to finish strong."

Rodon is 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his past four starts, having gone at least six innings each time out.

"We talked a lot about what we were going to do with the hitters," catcher Omar Narvaez said. "We have a plan and today he was hitting his spots. We tried to use a back door slider (against right-handed hitters). He had never tried it before. We said we won't lose anything, just gain another pitch to help out. If we could not command one pitch, we just go to the others. That all worked real nice."

So what does the future hold for Rodon?

"If keeps throwing like that, he will be a superstar," Narvaez said.

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