Rodon is preparing for a comeback.

New York Yankees Carlos Rodon completed a simulated game on Aug. 17, according to MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball.

According to MLB.com, Rodon threw a five-inning simulated game at the Yankees’ camp facility in Tampa, Florida. The simulated pitching session went well, raising expectations for Rodon’s return to the big leagues.

Rodon, who was placed on the disabled list (IL) with a hamstring strain on July 7, is expected to return to the big leagues on July 23 against the Washington Nationals, barring any setbacks. “I think everything went well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, according to MLB.com, “and we’re hoping to have Rodon join us for the series against Washington. We’ll see how he feels over the next couple days.”

Rodon, whom the Yankees signed to a six-year, $162 million free-agent deal last winter, is coming off one of his worst seasons. He suffered a forearm injury early in spring training and didn’t make his team debut until early July, and even then he was a disaster, going 1-4 with a 7.33 ERA in six starts.

A 30-year-old left-hander in his ninth year in the big leagues, Rodon was a highly touted first-round pick in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft (CWS), but he was anything but a standout during his first six seasons (2015-2020). He was injured virtually every year, and his performance continued to decline after his rookie season. In his first six years, Rodon was a mediocre, unhealthy starter who went 29-33 with a 4.14 ERA in 97 games and 536.2 innings pitched. 스포츠토토

But in 2021-2022, he turned things around, going 27-13 with a 2.67 ERA in 55 games and 310.2 innings pitched. Backed by an agent named Scott Boras, Rodon became a free agent sensation by “laundering” the last two years of his career into the first six years of his career, and signed an extravagant contract with the Yankees. And, as feared, he has been plagued by injuries and sluggishness since the first year of his contract.