About that pitching depth

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 18, 2024 ♦ 5 Comments

The famous line “You can never have enough pitching” was once again proven true for the Dodgers in 2024. The rotation appeared loaded, and along with the pitchers in AAA, and other key pieces eventually coming off the IL you didn’t think this would be a season in which Brent Honeywell would be making the last start before the All-Star game.

In January I wrote about the Dodgers pitching depth and oops, that depth sure got tested.

In January of 24, the Dodgers had an expected major league rotation of: Tyler Glasnow / Yoshinobu Yamamoto / Bobby Miller / James Paxton / Emmet Sheehan With Walker Buehler supposed to ready sometime in early May. Gavin Stone/Landan Knack/Kyle Hurt/Nick Frasso/River Ryan were all supposed to be minor league depth. Clayton Kershaw was being talked about hopefully being ready in late July or early August. That is twelve pitchers and you’d have thought that would have been enough depth that you don’t end the first half having to start Brent Honeywell who you just picked up on waivers.

What went wrong?

So much, so let’s start at the beginning.

Nick Frasso, one of the Dodgers top pitching prospects and expected to be ready to contribute in 2024 was the first to fall and is now out for the year with TJ surgery.

Emmet Sheehan who was supposed to be part of the rotation until Walker Buehler was ready never pitched in spring training, and eventually he also had surgery and is out for the year.

River Ryan who was probably last in the depth chart, is also shut down during Spring Training, but at least he didn’t need surgery but he won’t pick up a ball again until late June.

Still you had Gavin Stone step in the breach so the Dodgers entered the season with the rotation of Tyler Glasnow / Yoshinobu Yamamoto / Bobby Miller / James Paxton / Gavin Stone. Not so bad, and that worked for the month of April.

Meanwhile Kyle Hurt who was supposed to be a depth piece in the rotation or a solid bullpen piece got hurt and hasn’t pitched in months.

Bobby Miller has a brilliant 2024 debut game but struggles after that and hits the IL but it isn’t expected to be serious.

Not a problem as Walker Buehler is ready to jump into the rotation. Except the Walker Buehler who jumps back into the rotation is broken and after a few horrible starts get shuts down. Walker flies off to Florida to try to figure out what is wrong but at this point you can’t count on him for 2024 anymore.

The Dodgers roll into Yankee Stadium and in front of a national audience Yamamoto pitches the game of the year for him. Throwing harder than he has all year he shuts down the formidable Yankee lineup. Everything is looking good………..except that will be the last start Yamamoto will make until sometime in August.

So, now you have Tyler Glasnow / James Paxton / Gavin Stone / Landon Knack in the rotation and Bobby Miller shows up off the IL. Except, just like Walker Buehler, Bobby Miller is horrible and they shut him down.

Shockingly, among all these injures, James Paxton is still standing, but just before the All-Star break, Tyler Glasnow goes on the IL which is how Justin Wrobleski joins the rotation. Wrobleski started the season in AA and you’d been hard pressed to think he might be needed, but here he was making multiple starts in July just before the break.

So, among the original twelve pitchers counted on for the 2024 season, the Dodgers had exactly four still standing at the break, and not the four you really wanted. James Paxton, Gavin Stone, Landon Knack, and Justin Wrobleski. Which is why Brent Honeywell made the last start before the All-Star break.

That all sounds real bleak and that the Dodgers need some pitchers. However, there is some real good news in all of this. Gavin Stone pitched like an ace for most the first half. He faltered a bit in has last few starts, but he had a real All-Star case and had some of the best games of any Dodger starter. Gavin basically gave the Dodgers what they expected Bobby Miller to do. Landon Knack has had to plug the rotation holes, and he did just fine, usually giving the Dodgers a chance to win his starts. Justin Wrobleski shouldn’t be making starts in 2024 but when pressed into service he gave the Dodgers some good work and looks like he can be a very nice future rotation piece. River Ryan finally started throwing in June and by the All-Star game had made enough re-hab starts that he’s ready for his Dodger debut following the All-Star game. River is currently considered the Dodgers top pitching prospect so he could give the rotation a nice shot in the arm.

As the Dodgers head into the 2nd half, things might get better. Tyler Glasnow will come off the IL and pitch in the first series out of the All-Star game. Clayton Kershaw after some early issues in his rebab is scheduled to make one more rehab start this Friday and join the rotation next week. Without any trades the Dodgers will enter the second half with a rotation of Tyler Glasnow / Gavin Stone / Clayton Kershaw / James Paxton and one of River Ryan/Landon Knack/Justin Wrobleski.

The Dodgers still have three major question marks for Yamamoto / Miller / Buehler. Yamamoto has started throwing and will start a rehab in a few weeks and is expected to be able to join the rotation in August. Yet, we don’t know how his arm will respond once he starts throwing from a mound so you can’t really count on him. Bobby Miller was bad when he came off the IL. Was it mechanical or physical? Hopefully mechanical and they can get him straightened out, but again, no guarantee so still a question mark. No one even knows what Walker is doing in Florida to figure out why his velocity was lacking when he tried to pitch earlier this year. He’s the biggest question mark.

Because of those three question marks, the Dodgers will undoubtedly add a pitcher or two before the trading deadline.