Alex Wood has spent his five seasons in the Majors split evenly with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. The University of George standout was selected by the Braves in the second round of the 2012 Draft.
After getting traded to the Dodgers in July 2015, Wood did not face the Braves until last month. The fiery left-hander endured his roughest outing of the season as misfortune was abound. Wood allowed nine runs (seven earned), both of which were season highs, in just 4.2 innings.
He received an opportunity at redemption on Thursday night, facing the Braves at SunTrust Park. Wood only allowed one run over six innings but didn’t pitch with his usual velocity or sharpness.
According to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, the 26-year-old said he’s battling some fatigue:
“Most guys will tell you there’s usually a point in the season – whether it’s midway or three-fourths of the way, whatever it may be – where you start to feel a little fatigue. You just have to make the adjustments to get over that hurdle.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters postgame that he did not believe the dip in velocity was health-related. Wood spent 12 days on the disabled list this season due to left SC joint inflammation.
While Wood only allowed the one run, he faced a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the fifth inning. Wood picked off Lane Adams at second base, then induced Brandon Phillips into an inning-ending double play.
He also struck out Sean Rodriguez to strand runners at the corners after a Logan Forsythe two-out error. If the Dodgers are to place Wood on the disabled list in the immediate future, he would join Clayton Kershaw and Brandon McCarthy.
Although that would test the Dodgers’ pitching depth, Yu Darvish’s arrival, coupled with strong outings from Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu, could translate to the team remaining afloat without their regular starters.
Wood is already at 98.1 innings pitched over 18 games (16 starts) this season. That’s much more than his workload last season — 60.1 innings in 14 games (10 starts) — in a year that was interrupted by elbow surgery.
