Dodgers Activate Rich Hill, Place Caleb Ferguson On IL
The Dodgers have officially activated veteran southpaw Rich Hill to make his 2019 debut, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. To make room for Hill on the active roster, left-handed pitcher Caleb Ferguson has been placed on the 10-day injured list with an oblique injury. Hill will make his first start of the young season in Sunday’s game against the Pirates.
The injury is the latest in what has been a frustrating start to the 2019 season for Ferguson. A cursory glance at his 3.26 ERA does not tell the whole story. In fact, Ferguson has had trouble preventing home runs and walks, having conceded 8 bases no balls and 3 home runs in just 13 innings of work. Despite the similar 3.49 ERA in 2018, Ferguson enjoyed considerably more success in those two departments last season, when he allowed a more respectable 1.5 HR/9 and 2.2 BB/9, to go along with 10.8 K/9.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles will gladly welcome back the 39-year-old Hill, who has been an integral part of the club’s stellar starting rotation since he joined the club in 2016. To be sure, the Dodgers’ pitching staff has fared just fine without Hill, but he represents the latest boon to a rotation that began the season with both Hill and ace Clayton Kershaw on the shelf. Hill’s return gives the Dodgers seven realistic options to start, though it’s unclear just how his arrival will shake up the rest of the Dodgers’ starters. Kenta Maeda is certainly an option to move to the bullpen, and is probably the most likely to do so with both Ross Stripling and Hyun Jin Ryu performing well behind stalwarts Kershaw and Walker Buehler. Julio Urias, who has also enjoyed an encouraging start to the season, has already been moved to the bullpen. Surely, these are good problems to have for the first-place Dodgers, who find themselves with bountiful options in the event that another starter suffers an injury.
Dodgers, Red Sox Set World Series Rosters
With the World Series set to kick off tonight, both teams have announced changes to their 25-man rosters.
For the Dodgers, left-handed reliever Scott Alexander replaces Caleb Ferguson, the team announced. Alexander will be LA’s third left-handed option out of the pen, along with 22-year-old Julio Urias and regular season starter Alex Wood. The Dodgers have shuffled between Urias, Ferguson and Alexander as the third left-hander in the pen this postseason, with each player making the roster for two of the three playoff rounds.
Of the three, the 21-year-old Ferguson is the least seasoned, whereas Alexander profiles most-closely to a left-handed specialist – though none have drastic platoon splits. Still, it’s likely Alexander spent the weekend going over the scouting reports of Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr.
For the Red Sox, they’ve also made a change to their bullpen. The team announced the addition of lefty Drew Pomeranz over right-handed options Brandon Workman or Steven Wright. It’s a bit of a surprising move given Pomeranz hasn’t pitched since September 30th. Conversely, Wright is recovering from left knee issues, while Workman was shelled in his three October appearances. Workman appeared twice in the ALDS and and once in the ALCS, pitching one third of an inning each time, surrendering a total five earned runs and seven hits in his one total inning of work.
You have to figure the Red Sox believe Pomeranz is closer to his 2017 self (137 ERA+) than his 2018 self (72 ERA+). One glimmer of hope in Pomeranz’s disastrous 2018 campaign: all 12 HRs surrendered this season were vs. right-handed hitters. For his career, lefties have hit .224/.305/.313 against Pomeranz, whereas righties have hit .247/.330/.420. Should Chris Sale or David Price fail to go deep into games, Boston will have the option of deploying Pomeranz as a long-man, or as a lefty specialist to counter Max Muncy, Joc Pederson and/or NLCS MVP Cody Bellinger.
Dodgers To Select Caleb Ferguson
The Dodgers are set to select the contract of left-handed pitching prospect Caleb Ferguson, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets. The news first got out, it seems, when Ferguson’s mother announced it on Facebook (though Hoornsta notes that he’s confirmed the promotion himself as well). The Dodgers have a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to add him to the roster.
[Related: Los Angeles Dodgers depth chart]
Ferguson, 21, entered the season ranked 15th among Dodgers farmhands, per Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com. Tommy John surgery in high school caused him to drop to the 38th round of the draft, but he’s steadily risen through the Dodgers’ minor league ranks as he’s mended and rebuilt his arm strength. After dominating Double-A opponents with a 1.38 ERA, 40 strikeouts and 10 walks through 39 innings, Ferguson was moved up to Triple-A for a brief eight-inning stint before now ascending to the game’s highest level.
The addition of Ferguson will give Los Angeles an option to start on Wednesday this week. The Dodgers currently have an entire rotation’s worth of talent on the DL (and a very good rotation, at that) with Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Julio Urias all on the shelf at at the moment. As such, if Ferguson is indeed called upon to start, he’ll step into the rotation alongside Alex Wood, Ross Stripling and fellow rookies Walker Buehler and Dennis Santana. It could be a simple spot start regardless, as the Dodgers have a pair of off-days next week that’ll allow them to skip the fifth spot in the rotation.