Image Credit: Joel Rodriguez/Latino Sports
BRONX, NY — As the Yankees did it right, Carlos Rodón did it again.
Wednesday night in the Bronx, to close out the Yankees’ fourth annual Hispanic Heritage Media Day, just before international DJ and entertainer Alex Sensation threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Amed Rosario, Rodón received the 2025 American League LatinoMVP Starting Pitcher of the Year Award.
Prior to the Yankees defeating the Rockies by a final of 6-1 Wednesday night in the Bronx, Carlos Rodón received the 2025 American League LatinoMVP Starting Pitcher of the Year Award—the oldest and prestigious award earned by Latino players in MLB each season dating back to 1990 – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
On hand behind home plate of Yankee Stadium to present the 33-year-old Cuban-American left-hander with his second career AL LatinoMVP Starting Pitcher of the Year Award—achieving the milestone the first time in 2021 as a White Sox—was Latino Sports founder and president Julio Pabón along with artist Maz Adams who crafted each of Rodón’s LatinoMVP awards.
“It’s an honor with my Latino roots. As you know, my parents come from Cuba, my dad and all my family, so to be able to represent Hispanic heritage and all the Latinos, it’s a big deal,” Rodón said, finishing with a record of 18-9 last season across 33 starts—the third most wins amongst AL pitchers in 2025.
To pair to a 3.09 ERA (8th in AL), .188 opponent batting average (1st) and 203 strikeouts (4th) over 195.1 innings of work (tied for second), the Yankees—squaring off with the Blue Jays until the very end for the top seed in the AL, AL East division crown and ultimately in the 2025 American League Division Series—would not have been in the position the pinstripes were in a year ago without Rodón (6th in 2025 AL Cy Young Award voting).
Yankees manager Aaron Boone described him as “one of our horses” while teammate and captain Aaron Judge said, “He’s a guy that kind of flips a switch when it’s game day. He gets into this different mindset where this guy’s on a mission. He knows what he needs to do, knows what he wants to execute, and he goes out there and does it. The intensity that he brings on a daily basis… as a position player, it gets you excited to go out there and bring the same intensity. I love every five days that he comes up.”
2023 Roberto Clemente Award winner and Yankees captain Aaron Judge and Carlos Rodón, a multiple-time LatinoMVP Award winner and multiple-time nominee for MLB’s annual Roberto Clemente Award – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
As the Latino Sports Writers and Broadcasters Association’s 2025 LatinoMVP Award voting process took place this past offseason, Rodón finished with the most first place and total votes amongst AL LatinoMVP Starting Pitcher of the Year candidates: Brayan Bello of the Red Sox, Luis Castillo of the White Sox, formerly with Seattle and Framber Valdez of the Tigers, formerly with Houston.
“Thank you guys, I really appreciate it and the work you all do in recognizing Latinos and their performances in MLB,” Rodón said to Latino Sports on the field after officially becoming a two-time LatinoMVP Award winner.
“I also want to say that the other pitchers that were on last year’s ballot are great pitchers as well.”
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