Tyler Glasnow made his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rotation on Wednesday following a 73-day stint on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation.
Glasnow allowed just two hits and an unearned run over five innings while picking up five strikeouts and walking three batters.
He has now thrown just 23 innings this season after only tossing 134 last season. It’s far from what the Dodgers hoped for when they acquired Glasnow, but he’s continuously dealt with injuries.
With the right-hander now back in the rotation, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers are hoping he can stay on track and avoid more injuries, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I know no one is more frustrated than Tyler is,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You love the guy. You love the teammate. Certainly the talent is undeniable. But I think for me, for us – you want the dependability. That’s something that I’m looking for from Tyler from here on out. To know what you’re going to get when he takes that ball every fifth or sixth day.”
When Glasnow has been on the mound, he’s shown the ability to be one of the top pitchers in baseball. Since the 2019 season, Glasnow has posted a 3.18 ERA with 12.09 strikeouts per nine and 2.78 walks per nine, but he’s been limited to just 489.2 innings during that stretch.
But his career high in innings pitched came last season, and prior to that, he’d only reached the 120-inning mark in one other of his seasons since 2016.
The Dodgers believed the health issues were behind Glasnow when they acquired and signed him to an extension, but they have yet to see that on the field:
“The ability, the production when he’s healthy, when he’s right, he’s as good as there is in the game,” Roberts said. “We wouldn’t have locked him up (to a multi-year contract) if we didn’t feel that way, right? It’s in there. It’s been in there. That’s what we need to get back to consistently.”
Glasnow worked on changes to his mechanics in the offseason in hopes of better health and went into the season optimistic about them.
But they never truly ended up clicking and he ended up pitching with mechanics he wasn’t consistent or comfortable with, which he believes led to his shoulder issue.
Roberts now believes those issues are behind him, and hopes that will lead to that dependability they’re searching for:
“There’s always fine-tuning. But when you’re out there competing it’s hard to be in search mode,” Roberts said. “I feel he’s healthy. I know he’s healthy. The pitching guys feel good with where his delivery is at. So now it’s just go out there and keep that rhythm and execute pitches and compete.”
The Dodgers traded a valuable asset in Ryan Pepiot to acquire Glasnow, and so far the trade looks like one that’s backfired.
But Glasnow still has multiple seasons to turn it around, and if the Dodgers get one or two good postseason runs out of him, along with winning a World Series, they’d ultimately have no regrets about the deal.
But the Dodgers just need to find a way to get him to October healthy, and at this point, it’s been an uphill battle.
Tyler Glasnow’s stats with Dodgers
Since being acquired prior to the 2024 season, Glasnow has started 28 games for the Dodgers, throwing 157 innings with a 3.50 ERA, 3.19 FIP, and 0.99 WHIP while striking out an 31.7% of hitters and walking just 7.9%.
He has yet to pitch in the postseason for the Dodgers after missing the end of the 2024 season with a right elbow injury.
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