When the Los Angeles Dodgers held their press conference to formally introduce Tanner Scott after signing him to a four-year contract, one of the many areas general manager Brandon Gomes and manager Dave Roberts raved about was his willingness to pitch in any role and at a high frequency.
Scott’s first season with the Dodgers initially yielded uneven results but the month of June has seen the left-hander find his footing. Most recently that’s amounted to Scott making three appearances over a four-day stretch.
He converted a save in each of those games, but after the Dodgers defeated the Kansas City Royals to extend their winning streak to five games, Roberts said the team has to remain mindful of how often Scott pitches, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“I think he’s always going to be one to say he’s better when he pitches more, which is fair. But I also think there’s a point that we’ve still got to manage his usage. He’s a max-effort guy. But yeah, you look at the last 40, 45 days, since he kind of cleaned up the delivery, he’s been fantastic for us whether it’s an up-down, whether it’s in the eighth, whether it’s in the ninth. He’s been very good.”
Scott appeared in a career-high 74 games for the Miami Marlins during the 2023 season. He made 72 combined appearances last year for the Marlins and San Diego Padres while continuing to establish himself as arguably the top relief pitcher in baseball.
Scott is on pace to set a new career high for games pitched as he’s already at 41 this season. Some of the Dodgers’ heavy reliance on the 30-year-old is part of their overall bullpen usage this year.
Within that, the team has also gone prolonged stretches without fellow high-leverage options Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen. Brusdar Graterol has yet to appear in a game this season due to recovering from right shoulder surgery, and Treinen has been on the injured list since April 19.
Tanner Scott benefitting from adjustments
Scott has been much improved this month, which he’s widely attributed to work with Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior, assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness and bullpen coach Josh Bard.
“Me, Connor, Bardo and Mark did a deep dive, and I definitely had to clean some things up. It’s a process,” Scott said in early June.
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