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Dodgers Designate Dylan Covey For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced today that left-hander Justin Bruihl and right-hander Andre Jackson have been recalled to the club. In corresponding moves, right-hander Dustin May was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain and righty Dylan Covey designated for assignment.

The Dodgers have been facing various challenges with their pitching staff in recent days, leading to much improvising. They played a 12-inning game against the Twins on Monday, using six relievers after Noah Syndergaard lasted just four innings. On Tuesday, Clayton Kershaw was also bounced after just four frames, requiring the bullpen to pick up the remaining five.

That led the club to select Covey’s contract yesterday to give the bullpen a fresh arm. It was a good thing that they did, since May had to depart after just one inning with elbow pain. It was later reported that he has a flexor pronator strain and will likely miss four to six weeks, making today’s injured list placement inevitable. Covey stepped in and threw four innings in relief of May, allowing a couple of earned runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Four other pitchers came in after him as the Dodgers managed to pull off a 7-3 victory.

Despite playing a key role in that victory, Covey has been nudged out of his roster spot as the club was once again facing an exhausted pitching staff and needed some fresh arms. Prior to joining the big league club, he had a 4.22 ERA in 32 Triple-A innings on the year. The Dodgers will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He hasn’t really been a major league regular for a few years, pitching in the CPBL in Taiwan in 2021 and 2022, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see some other club express interest given the mounting pile of pitcher injuries around the league. In the event he does clear waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, by virtue of having a previous career outright.

Dustin May Expected To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Flexor Pronator Strain

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Dodgers starter Dustin May left this afternoon’s outing against the Twins after one inning with elbow discomfort. After the game, manager Dave Roberts told the team’s beat that testing revealed a flexor pronator strain in his forearm/elbow area (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic).

Roberts called a month-long absence “the floor” for the 25-year-old hurler. As first reported by Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), May will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection. It’s not expected to require surgery, with Ardaya reporting (on Twitter) that May’s ulnar collateral ligament was not affected. Ardaya indicates the team is hoping for a four-to-six week recovery timetable if the rehab process goes as expected.

It’s mixed news for Los Angeles. There’s surely relief that May’s UCL is intact. He underwent Tommy John surgery two years ago, limiting him to 11 combined outings between 2021-22. Renewed ligament damage so quickly after that procedure could’ve raised real questions about May holding up as a starting pitcher. That fortunately won’t be the case.

In the shorter term, though, the Dodgers will now have to navigate at least the next month without one of their top arms. They’ve been without Walker Buehler since last summer’s Tommy John procedure. Depth starters Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are on the IL; with May joining them, the Dodgers are down to a top four of Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin and Noah Syndergaard.

That’s an excellent top three but Syndergaard has had a rough go in his first season in Dodger blue. The righty has an ERA just under 6.00 through eight starts. He’s showing excellent control but working with a career-low 92 MPH average velocity on his sinker. His 16.5% strikeout rate is a touch worse than last season’s personal-worst mark.

May’s injury seemingly ensures Syndergaard will continue to get regular run out of the rotation. It also presumably sets the stage for the return of top prospect Gavin Stone. The 24-year-old righty made a spot start for his MLB debut two weeks ago. He’s pitched eight times with Triple-A Oklahoma City this year, working to a 4.04 ERA with a quality 27.5% strikeout rate but an alarming 12.8% walk percentage over 35 2/3 frames. Dylan Covey, who soaked up four innings of relief of May this afternoon during his first major league appearance since 2020, has worked out of the Triple-A rotation this year. Non-roster depth options include prospect Bobby Miller and veteran Robbie Erlin.

Walker Buehler Targeting September Return From Tommy John Surgery

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Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler spoke with members of the media this week, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and J.P. Hoornstra of The Orange County Register, saying that he has September 1 as a target date to be back in the club’s rotation.

This makes for quite an aggressive timeline, as he underwent Tommy John surgery August 23 of last year. While some pitchers have returned within 12 months of the surgery in the past, the recovery period has become more cautious in recent years and returning that quickly has become rare. Furthermore, this is Buehler’s second TJS of his career, having first gone under the knife in 2015. A second procedure typically comes with a longer recovery period than the first, making his Buehler’s target all the more noteworthy.

“The day I had surgery, [Dr. Neal ElAttrache] told me it was one of the best surgeries he’s done,” Buehler said. “Maybe that was just him trying to make me feel good, but I’ve really taken it to heart.” As it’s laid out by Buehler, it seems that his ulnar collateral ligament wasn’t actually torn, as is usually the case for a Tommy John procedure. Rather, the culprit was bone chips and fragments in his elbow. While the ligament was still replaced, the overall structural integrity of the elbow wasn’t as bad as it normally would be for this surgery. “I don’t think anything has happened that would tell me that’s not an achievable goal,” Buehler said of his September target. He’s also open to returning in a relief role if he runs out of time but that decision will be made as the situation progresses.

Whether all of this actually leads to Buehler returning by the end of the season remains to be seen, but it would obviously be tremendous for both player and team if it did come to fruition. The righty has established himself as one of the better pitchers in the majors in recent years. From 2018 to 2021, he tossed 564 innings with a 2.82 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate. The 14.3 wins above replacement he accrued in that time, per FanGraphs, was seventh among all pitchers in the majors. He wasn’t quite as effective last year, with his ERA spiking to 4.02 over 12 starts, though it’s possible the looming injury was already starting to affect him in that time.

Getting that kind of pitcher back just in time for the stretch run and postseason would be a nice late-season boost for the Dodgers, who are currently leading the National League West but with just a three-game lead over the Diamondbacks. The club currently has a five-man rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Noah Syndergaard, though the latter has struggled to a 5.94 ERA so far and May seems bound for the IL due to a flexor pronator strain. Younger pitchers like Michael Grove and Ryan Pepiot have been in the mix but are both currently on the injured list, while Gavin Stone also got a spot start recently. It’s impossible to tell what shape the rotation will be in come September given the potential for other injuries or midseason trades, but there’s no doubt that peak Buehler would be an upgrade.

Buehler is making $8.025MM this year, his third of four arbitration seasons as a Super Two player. He’ll be eligible for one more pass through arbitration for 2024, likely making a similar salary due to missing most of 2023, after which he’s slated to reach free agency at the age of 30.

Dustin May Headed For IL Due To Flexor Pronator Strain

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5:45pm: Manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that May has a flexor pronator strain. His return timeline is still unclear but May is headed for the injured list. Ardaya adds in a subsequent tweet that May’s ulnar collateral ligament didn’t appear to be impacted in early testing.

3:20pm: Dodgers starter Dustin May departed today’s game after just one inning. Several reporters, including Mike Petriello of MLB.com, noticed that May’s velocity was down from his typical range. The club later announced that the righty departed due to elbow pain.

At this point, it’s still unknown exactly what is bothering May or how severe it is. However, an issue with a pitcher’s throwing elbow is always a cause for some concern, and the diminished velocity and quick hook just add to the sense of alarm.

May, 25, has shown the potential to be an excellent pitcher in the big leagues but has been prevented from taking on a significant workload by the pandemic and Tommy John surgery. He debuted in August of 2019, tossing 34 2/3 innings that year with a 3.42 ERA. He followed that up by tossing 56 innings in the shortened 2020 season with a tiny 2.57 ERA. He then made just five starts in 2021 before having to undergo Tommy John, returning to make six more starts late last year. He had a 2.68 ERA through his first eight starts this year, with today’s truncated outing his ninth time taking the ball.

Amid those interruptions, the 56 innings he threw in 2020 are still a career high. He has an excellent 3.12 ERA dating back to 2019 but in only 190 2/3 total frames over that stretch. He and the club will no doubt do some further testing in the days to come to figure out what’s ailing him and hope that he isn’t slated for yet another significant obstacle in his career path.

If May does end up needing to miss some time, the Dodgers would still be in decent shape, but it would deal another blow to their rotation depth. Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin and Noah Syndergaard would still give them a solid front four. Syndergaard has a 5.94 ERA on the year but the others are all below 3.65.

Further down the club’s depth chart, Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are both on the injured list already and don’t seem to be immediate options to jump back to the big league club. Gavin Stone and Andre Jackson are each on the 40-man roster and could be recalled, if necessary. Prospect Bobby Miller is in Triple-A but has an 8.64 ERA through his first three starts there this year and isn’t on the 40-man roster.

Dodgers Select Dylan Covey

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1:37pm: The Dodgers formally announced the selection of Covey’s contract from Triple-A Oklahoma City. In a pair of corresponding moves, lefty Justin Bruihl was optioned to Triple-A and right-hander Jimmy Nelson was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Nelson hasn’t pitched in the Majors this season as he recovers from 2022 Tommy John surgery, and his rehab assignment was recently halted due to some soreness, so his move to the 60-day IL was largely a formality and not a particular surprise.

1:06pm: The Dodgers are going to select the contract of right-hander Dylan Covey, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The righty isn’t currently on the 40-man, so the club will need a corresponding move or moves to get him a spot there and on the active roster.

Covey, 31, pitched for the White Sox from 2017 through 2019, primarily as a starter. He logged 250 1/3 innings over those three seasons but registered an unimpressive 6.54 ERA. He got grounders at a solid 50% clip but struck out just 15.3% of batters faced while walking 10.1%. The Red Sox gave him eight relief appearances in 2020 but he put up a 7.07 ERA in those.

He then spent the next two years with the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan, faring quite well. He made 33 starts there over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.63 ERA in 198 1/3 innings. He returned to North America this winter by signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers and currently has a 4.22 ERA through 32 Triple-A innings over six starts and one relief appearance, getting grounders on 62.2% of balls in play.

He will add a fresh arm to a bullpen that has been busy this week. The club played a 12-inning game on Monday and then saw Clayton Kershaw last just four innings yesterday, leading to the relief corps getting plenty of work. Covey can slot in and potentially cover multiple innings if need be, with the club’s next off-day not until May 25, next Thursday.

Injury Notes: Seager, Buehler, Maeda, Hiura

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Rangers shortstop Corey Seager is expected to be activated prior to tonight’s game, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 29-year-old Seager, playing in the second season of a decade-long $325MM contract, has missed the past month due to a hamstring strain. He burst out of the gates with a .359/.469/.538 showing through his first 49 trips to the plate and went 2-for-8 with a double, a walk and no strikeouts in a brief three-game rehab assignment at Double-A. In Seager’s absence, 23-year-old Ezequiel Duran has filled in admirably at shortstop, batting .293/.328/.474 on the season, though his bat has cooled off in the past week or so. Manager Bruce Bochy has been impressed enough that he’s pledged to find “creative” ways to keep Duran in the lineup frequently even after Seager’s return.

A few more injury situations of particular note to keep an eye on around the league…

  • Right-hander Walker Buehler is with the team at Dodger Stadium and will throw in the bullpen for the Major League staff to take a look at his progress in recovering from Tommy John surgery, tweets Juan Toribio of MLB.com. Walker is still a ways from being an option in the big leagues. The 28-year-old’s surgery was performed late last August, and the general expectation surrounding him has been that he’ll at best be an option in the final month or so of the season. Still, the fact that Buehler has already had multiple bullpen sessions in Arizona and is slated for more mound work this week at Dodger Stadium is encouraging for both the Dodgers and their fans.
  • The Twins hope that right-hander Kenta Maeda can resume throwing off a mound by the end of the week, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Maeda hit the injured list with a triceps strain after being tattooed for 10 runs in three innings against the Yankees. He’d previously allowed six runs on 12 hits with a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio in 13 innings (4.15 ERA) after missing the entire 2022 season. The Twins’ rotation depth has been tested early, with Bailey Ober and Louie Varland stepping in for the injured Maeda and Tyler Mahle (Tommy John surgery). A healthy Maeda would again give the Twins six candidates for rotation work, but injuries tend to sort these issues out. And, if everyone is healthy at the same time, the Twins could opt to use Maeda in relief as a means of monitoring his workload after not throwing a pitch last season.
  • Brewers infielder Keston Hiura, currently playing with their Triple-A club, will miss several weeks due to a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Hiura won’t require surgery, but the expectation is that he’ll be out of game action until late next month. It’s a tough blow for the former top prospect, who was hoping to play his way back onto the big league roster after clearing outright waivers earlier this year. He’s out to a .331/.396/.678 start with a dozen home runs through 134 plate appearances with Nashville this season and has trimmed his strikeout rate there to 24.6%. Hiura has had similar stretches in Triple-A before, however, and his familiar strikeout woes have regularly resurfaced upon being promoted back to the big leagues. He batted .226/.316/.449 with the Brewers last year (115 wRC+), but because of a staggering 41.7% strikeout rate, he needed a .355 average on balls in play to get to that middling .226 batting average.

NL Notes: Dodgers, Lauer, Sanchez, Crawford

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Dodgers right-hander Noah Syndergaard threw a 50 pitch bullpen session yesterday, testing a cut on his right index finger that caused him to depart his last start after just one inning. Syndergaard is currently slated to start Monday’s game against the Twins, though JP Hoonstra of the Orange County Register notes that the club plans to pivot to youngster Gavin Stone in the event that Syndergaard is not cleared by Dodgers medical staff. Manager Dave Roberts tells reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) that the plan is for Syndergaard to start tomorrow followed by Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday, though Stone was scratched from his Triple-A start today, a fact which Roberts did not comment on. As noted by Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Kershaw may go on the bereavement list following the death of his mother yesterday, but Roberts says Kershaw currently plans on making that decision following Tuesdays start.

Syndergaard, who signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers this past offseason, has struggled in LA to the tune of a 6.12 ERA in 32 1/3 innings of work this season. A .333 BABIP and a strand rate of just 64.3% indicate some of Syndergaard’s woes can be chalked up to bad luck, but it’s clear that the 30-year-old right-hander is scuffling beyond that, as his 14.8% strikeout rate is the worst of his career, as is his 38.4% groundball rate if you exclude the 2021 campaign where he pitched just two innings.

Stone, who made his MLB debut earlier this month, is one of the top prospects in a highly-rated Dodgers farm system. The 24-year-old scuffled in his first taste of big league action, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits and two walks over four innings while striking out just one. Despite the rocky start to his big league career, Stone figures to be a major part of the club’s future given the uncertainty in the Dodgers’ rotation following this season, as each of Syndergaard, Julio Urias, and Kershaw could depart after the 2023 campaign.

As for Kershaw, the future Hall of Famer is off to another phenomenal start in his age-35 season, with a 2.36 ERA (188 ERA+) and 3.53 FIP in 49 2/3 innings. Though Kershaw has been dominant all throughout his career, he’s required more and more time on the injured list in recent years; through eight starts in 2023, however, Kershaw has been both healthy dominant as he looks to make more than 22 regular season starts in a season for the first time since 2019.

More from around the National League…

  • The Brewers are set to skip Eric Lauer’s start during the coming turn through the rotation, as noted by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. For the time being, Lauer will work out of the bullpen. Counsell wouldn’t comment on plans for the longer-term beyond the current turn through the rotation, though Hogg notes that the Brewers hope the move will help Lauer recapture his 2021 form, when he posted a 3.19 ERA in 118 2/3 innings of work. As Hogg notes, Lauer’s struggles go back to last summer, as the 27-year-old lefty has posted a 4.49 ERA in his last 26 starts, with 27 home runs allowed during that time. Lauer’s sojourn to the bullpen figures to make room for right-hander Colin Rea to remain in the rotation for the time being.
  • More details have become available on the minor league deal between the Mets and catcher Gary Sanchez, as The Athletic’s Will Salmon reports that Sanchez has an opt-out in his deal on May 19. That gives New York just a few more days of Sanchez’s guaranteed services in the minors before he can test free agency again to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. Sanchez has raked through four games at Triple-A Syracuse, with six walks and six hits (including a home run) against just five strikeouts in 19 plate appearances. The Mets have suffered a rash of injuries behind the plate, leaving the club with Michael Perez backing up top prospect Francisco Alvarez.
  • Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford was activated from the 10-day IL today, as noted by Maria Guardado of MLB.com. While he’s slotted into the lineup at shortstop, he recently spoke to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale regarding his future. Crawford, whose contract with the Giants is up at season’s end, admits that he’s not sure if he will continue playing beyond 2022, and both manager Gabe Kapler and infield prospect Casey Schmitt have spoken glowingly about Crawford’s willingness to assist Schmitt in his transition to the big leagues. Crawford, the last player standing from the Giants’ trio of World Series championships in the 2010s, is hitting just .169/.244/.352 in 78 plate appearances with the club this season.

Latest On Dodgers’ Jimmy Nelson, Daniel Hudson

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts provided reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) with updates on some injured players today, and the news wasn’t good in regards to right-handers Jimmy Nelson and Daniel Hudson.  Nelson’s rehab assignment will have to be restarted after he was recently shut down due to some discomfort while throwing.  Hudson is throwing as part of his recovery from a torn ACL last June, but Roberts said that Hudson’s knee hasn’t responded to the point that a rehab assignment could be planned.

Nelson hasn’t pitched since 2021, as a Tommy John surgery wiped out his entire 2022 season.  The Dodgers declined their $1.1MM club option on Nelson back in November, but then re-signed him to a new deal that pays the righty $1.2MM in guaranteed money, plus quite a bit of extra bonus money based on how many starts, relief outings, or appearances of a certain length he might make in 2023.

However, there’s now fresh uncertainty over exactly whether or not Nelson might pitch at all this year, given both this setback and his lengthy injury history.  Nelson began the season on the 15-day injured list since a shaky Spring Training performance indicated that he needed more time to fully ramp up, but he made just one minor league rehab outing (on April 25 with Triple-A Oklahoma City).  A move to the 60-day IL would keep Nelson off the Dodgers’ active roster until the end of May, but since that might be an optimistic target date at this point, Los Angeles could indeed shift Nelson to the 60-day if the team needs to create space on the 40-man roster.

Hudson was moved to the 60-day IL himself in mid-April, though it was already expected that he’d need a lengthier recovery, especially since ankle tendinitis slowed his spring work.  Given the severity of an ACL year, it isn’t necessarily unusual that Hudson’s knee still isn’t quite feeling 100 percent, though the lack of a rehab timeline at this point also isn’t a great sign.

The Dodgers took a calculated risk on a quicker recovery, making an early decision in late September on exercising their $6.5MM club option on Hudson’s services for 2023, and then working out an extension in the form of another club option (worth a minimum of $6.5MM) for 2024.  While there’s still plenty of time left in the season for Hudson to return, the $6.5MM investment stands out for a team that initially seemed to be planning to duck under the luxury tax threshold last offseason, as there’s no guarantee that Hudson can regain his old form when he gets back onto the mound.  Hudson looked excellent over 24 1/3 innings prior to his ACL tear, posting a 2.22 ERA with outstanding peripheral numbers.

The Dodgers’ Youth Movement Is Showing Positive Results

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The Dodgers are coming off a relatively modest offseason by their standards, giving out a few one-year deals to free agents and making some small trades. It seems that may have been partially motivated by a desire to get under the luxury tax, though that plan effectively went out the window when Trevor Bauer’s suspension was reduced and some of his salary was put back on their books. Leaving the financials aside, there was another argument for the light touch in the winter. They had a crop of young players who seemed ready for some big league looks, having six players on Baseball America’s top 100 list coming into the year (Diego Cartaya, Bobby Miller, Miguel Vargas, Michael Busch, Ryan Pepiot, Gavin Stone) despite ten consecutive postseason berths.

What results have been produced in the first six weeks of the season? Let’s take a look.

James Outman

Remarkably, the young player who has stood out the most so far at the big league level is Outman, who wasn’t even one of the six Dodgers on the Baseball America top 100. BA actually ranked him the 10th best prospect in the system coming into the year. In fact, there’s been a wide gap in the evaluations on Outman throughout the industry on account of his incredible athleticism but huge strikeout concerns. Keith Law of The Athletic was bullish enough to rank Outman #89 in the league, but Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him down at #26 in the Dodgers’ system.

Outman, 26 years old this weekend, made the club’s Opening Day roster and is showing both the positive and negative sides of his game so far. He’s struck out in 32.7% of his plate appearances, currently the seventh-highest among all qualified hitters in the majors. But despite those punchouts, he’s hit eight home runs in 38 games and is batting .281/.374/.578 overall for a wRC+ of 158. He won’t be able to maintain a .389 batting average on balls in play all year, but he is hitting the ball with some authority when he does make contact. His average exit velocity is in the 54th percentile among qualified hitters, maximum exit velocity 73rd, hard-hit rate 71st and barrel rate 84th.

In addition to that, he’s also stolen four bases and seems to be a capable defender in the outfield, where he’s spent most of his time in center. Defensive Runs Saved has him just below average at -1, whereas he’s at +3 Outs Above Average and has a 2.0 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Miguel Vargas

Vargas, 23, made his major league debut last year but hit just .170/.200/.255 in his first 50 plate appearances. Nonetheless, the club seemed to head into this year with the plan being for him to take over second base while Gavin Lux slid over to shortstop, though Lux eventually suffered a season-ending injury and was replaced by Miguel Rojas.

The club’s confidence in Vargas seems to be paying off so far. He’s walked in 14.6% of his plate appearances while striking out at just a 19% clip. He’s launched four home runs and his .219/.338/.430 batting line amounts to a 113 wRC+. That’s despite a .247 BABIP that’s well below this year’s .297 league average. His Statcast metrics aren’t quite as strong as Outman’s, but it still seems like luck-based regression should work in his favor, given his .265 xBA.

The defensive picture is a little less rosy, however, as he has negative grades from all three of DRS, UZR and OAA so far. That’s not terribly shocking since he was primarily a third baseman in the minors and his experience at the keystone is minimal. Perhaps his glovework at second will improve with more reps, but the club might also consider a position change in the future.

Michael Busch

Busch, 25, was added to the club’s roster almost three weeks ago but has received only scattered playing time so far, 23 plate appearances in seven games. He’s hit just .211/.348/.211 in that time while striking out at a 39.1% clip. In 606 Triple-A appearances, he’s slashed .277/.363/.484 for a wRC+ of 109 with a much more palatable 24.8% strikeout rate.

Michael Grove/Ryan Pepiot/Gavin Stone/Bobby Miller

These four pitchers are all touted prospects to varying degrees and have either made their major league debuts or are getting close, though none of them has been able to make significant contributions just yet.

Grove, 26, has perhaps the lowest prospect stock of the bunch, as he was considered the club’s #18 prospect by BA and #12 by FanGraphs coming into the year. He’s made 11 appearances at the major league level between last year and this year but has a 5.96 ERA and modest 18.3% strikeout rate. He’s been on the injured list for the past three weeks due to a groin strain.

Pepiot, 25, made nine appearances for the club last year with a 3.47 ERA. He was expected to take an Opening Day rotation spot when Tony Gonsolin was injured, but then Pepiot suffered an oblique strain, which allowed Grove to take that spot. Pepiot was eventually transferred to the 60-day injured list, meaning he won’t be eligible to rejoin the big league club until the end of May at the earliest.

Stone, 24, was selected to the roster just over a week ago and had one rough spot start before getting optioned back to down to the minors. But in 13 Triple-A starts between last year and this year, he has a 2.87 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate.

Miller, 24, is not yet on the 40-man roster and isn’t off to a great start this year. In 2022, between Double-A and Triple-A, he had a 4.25 ERA in 112 1/3 innings. He struck out 30.9% of opponents in that time against a 7.9% walk rate. But this year, he was slowed by shoulder soreness in spring and didn’t debut until recently. He’s pitched just five innings over two Triple-A outings, with a 7.20 ERA in that minuscule sample.

Future Options

Diego Cartaya is considered by many to be the club’s best prospect, though he’s not as close as some of the others. The 21-year-old catcher is on the 40-man roster but just reached Double-A for the first time this year and has limped out to a .186/.253/.314 batting line through his first 79 plate appearances at that level. With Will Smith and Austin Barnes holding down the big league jobs, there’s little reason for the club to rush Cartaya.

Andy Pages, 22, didn’t make BA’s top 100 list, but FanGraphs had him all the way up at #58. Like Cartaya, the outfielder is on the 40-man roster but is down in Double-A. Unlike Cartaya, he’s off to a roaring start there, hitting .281/.429/.490 for a wRC+ of 141 through 126 plate appearances this year.

___________________________

After a middling start to the 2023 season, the Dodgers have surged forward in recent weeks are now 23-15, taking the top spot in the National League West. They may not be quite as dominant as some other recent seasons, but there’s still plenty going right for them. At least part of that is due to the contributions of Outman and Vargas, who have stepped into everyday roles and are doing well. The pitching is still a work in progress due to various injuries throughout that mix, so they’ll need a bit more time for things to come into focus there.

Since they had a fairly limited offseason coming into this year, the Dodgers currently have about $82MM committed to the 2024 team, per Roster Resource. That doesn’t include arbitration salaries for players like Smith, May and others, but it seems like they could be well positioned to be more aggressive next winter. The areas that they target will likely be influenced by the performance of some of these rookies the rest of the way. The rotation is currently slated to lose Julio Urías, Noah Syndergaard and Clayton Kershaw at season’s end. Kershaw could always come back and the eventual return of Walker Buehler from Tommy John surgery will help, but one of the younger pitchers stepping up would also be a tremendous help.

On the position player side of things, J.D. Martinez, David Peralta and Jason Heyward are set for free agency, but the rest of the group should still be around. If Outman and Vargas keep playing well, or someone like Busch or Pages takes a step forward, it’s possible the club goes into the winter with lots of payroll space and few holes to fill.

NL Notes: Mays, Harris, Azocar, Carrasco, Syndergaard

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Happy birthday to the legendary Willie Mays, who turns 92 years old today.  All 22 seasons and 2992 games of Mays’ MLB career was spent in the National League, mostly with the New York/San Francisco Giants and then parts of his two last seasons back in the Big Apple with the Mets.  Among players who played exclusively in the NL during their career, only Pete Rose and Stan Musial had more games in the Senior Circuit than Mays.

Let’s say hey to these items from around the NL….

  • Michael Harris II made his return to the Braves’ lineup tonight, back in his customary spot in center field after missing Atlanta’s previous two games.  There was some concern after Harris left Wednesday’s game with a jammed right knee, but he was able to avoid both the injured list and a significant layoff, even though he’ll at least temporarily be placing with a knee brace.  Harris told The Athletic’s David O’Brien and other reporters that running with the brace won’t slow him down, though he is a little uncertain about how his sliding might be impacted.  A lower back strain already sent Harris to the IL earlier this season, and today marks only the 13th game of 2023 for the reigning NL Rookie Of The Year.
  • Padres outfielder Jose Azocar told reporters (including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune) that he received a cortisone shot in his bothersome left elbow, but an MRI revealed only inflammation.  Azocar was retroactively placed on the 10-day IL on May 3, and manager Bob Melvin thinks the outfielder might be able to resume baseball activities within a few days’ time.  Azocar has a modest .244/.262/.293 slash line over 45 plate appearances, as the backup has made a few extra starts due to other injuries in the Padres’ outfield and the remaining games on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s suspension.
  • Carlos Carrasco has hit another health setback, as Mets GM Billy Eppler and manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News) that the right-hander is battling an illness.  This has pushed back plans to start a rehab assignment for Carrasco this weekend, as the veteran continues to work his way back from a bone spur in his throwing elbow.  Carrasco struggled to an 8.56 ERA over his first three starts and 13 2/3 innings before going on the IL.
  • It has also been a tough road for Noah Syndergaard in 2023, as his Dodgers tenure has begun with a 6.32 ERA over his first six starts and 31 1/3 innings since signing a one-year, $13MM free agent deal.  However, manager Dave Roberts told the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other reporters that even as L.A. continues to juggle its rotation, the club isn’t considering removing Syndergaard from the starting five.  The righty will get some extra time between starts, with Syndergaard projected for an eight-day break before his next scheduled outing on Tuesday.  Both Michael Grove and Gavin Stone made some starts while Tony Gonsolin was on the injured list, but with Gonsolin now back and Grove now on the IL with a groin injury, the Dodgers will now stick with a normal five-man rotation.  Roberts said that rather than keep Stone in the majors for another start and a brief shift to a six-man rotation, “there’s maybe a potential cost of getting guys out of their rhythm” given that Los Angeles also has an off-day on Thursday.
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