Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Yesterday’s game sucked. But hey, that’s baseball. And tonight, Ross Stripling is making his major league debut … weather permitting.
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Dodgers
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Giants
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7:15 p.m. PT
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San Francisco
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2B
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Utley
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CF
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Span
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SS
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Seager
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2B
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Panik
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3B
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Turner
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RF
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Pence
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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Belt
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RF
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Puig
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3B
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Duffy
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CF
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Pederson
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SS
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Crawford
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LF
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Van Slyke
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LF
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Pagan
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C
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Ellis
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C
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Brown
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P
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Stripling (R)
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P
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Cain (P)
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If you’ve read this blog at all or listened to the Dugout Blues podcast, you know I’m firmly entrenched in his corner. He’s a good kid and I want him to succeed. I ranked him as the No. 18 prospect heading into the season. He was No. 13 last year and was as high as No. 6 in 2014. Here’s what you might see tonight.
“The stuff is solid. Stripling has a low-90s fastball that he can sink a bit. He was able to hit 95 MPH with the pitch pre-surgery. Expect him to work more in the 88-92 MPH range, but it’s nice to know he has a little reach-back velocity if needed. His curveball has long been his best off-speed pitch. It’s a true 12-6 breaker that sits in the mid-70s. He can vary the shape of it so hitters can’t just sit on one break. It has the most swing-and-miss potential of any of his pitches. Stripling’s changeup was a developing pitch before the surgery and could be a legitimate third pitch. It features good fade away from lefties when he doesn’t rush it. His slider has cutter-like tendencies and is fringy at present, but he’s working on developing that pitch further.”
Stripling won the fifth starter spot out of spring training, even after being optioned a couple weeks before it ended. He beat out Carlos Frias and Zach Lee. He was helped also by a string of injuries on the major-league side (Brett Anderson, Mike Bolsinger), but the Dodgers and Dave Roberts wouldn’t have called on him to be here if they didn’t absolutely believe in him.
No matter how tonight goes, it’s great to see Stripling pitching in a major league game. That wasn’t a sure bet just 25 months ago, when he suffered a torn UCL early in spring training. If he hadn’t been hurt then, he would have either debuted in the majors well before this or he would have been traded.
If Stripling pitches well, it’s great. If he doesn’t, it’s not as great, but he has the mindset and attitude that is needed to bounce back from adversity. He has bounced back from Tommy John, and I’m excited to see what he can do in the majors.
What better way to introduce yourself to the fan base than pitching well against the arch rival?
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