Despite the organization’s best efforts to temper it, much was expected out of Walker Buehler when he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as a September call-up last season. There were early whispers the right-hander would find his way onto the postseason roster as a relief pitcher.
A starter by trade, Buehler struggled some in his role out of the bullpen. On top of adjusting to working as a reliever, he dealt with the normal hurdles that come with reaching the Majors for the first time.
With that experience under his belt and now back to being a starter, the 23-year-old is shining. Sunday marked Buehler’s seventh start for the Dodgers and the second in a row he allowed just one earned run over seven innings.
After completing five innings in each of his first two starts, Buehler has logged a minimum of six frames in four of his last five starts.
The Dodgers have an innings limit in place and are also mindful of the number of pitches their top prospect throws in each start. Buehler believes his experience with similar restraints in Little League helped prepared him, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com
“My generation is the first one with pitch counts, like in Little League, so it’s something I grew up with in the back of my head,” he said. “That’s a positive to be able to do it here.”
That mindfulness has led to Buehler cutting down on his number of walks. He put three on base in his first start, one in the next outing, and three in a third start. Buehler walked a pair in five innings of a rough outing against the Miami Marlins on May 16 but hasn’t doled out a free pass since.
During that span, he’s recorded 14 strikeouts across 14 innings pitched. Overall this season, Buehler has 48 strikeouts against nine walks in 41 innings.
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