As it currently stands, the Los Angeles Dodgers opened Spring Training with four of their five projected starting pitchers being left-handed in Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Alex Wood and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Kenta Maeda represents the lone righty currently penciled to start.
Losing Yu Darvish to the Chicago Cubs was a tough blow, but all five of the Dodgers starters have pitched at an All-Star level at one point in their careers. It’s part of the reason manager Dave Roberts is still confident in the pitching staff.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman feels the same way, as he explained his view that there is enough talent in the organization to still be one of the best staffs in all of baseball, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“I’m really not worried about it,” Friedman said. “I think we’ve got enough talent. I don’t know exactly who it is, or how it will shake out. We have enough options and interesting guys that we’ll be in good shape.”
Friedman also addressed the fact that the rotation is dominated left-handers, which he is not concerned by, considering how well they all have pitched against right-handed hitters:
“I think handedness matters less than effectiveness against both sides,” Friedman said. “And we’ve got really good pitchers who happen to pitch with their left arm.”
The Dodgers staff was in a similar situation a season ago, and they held opposing right-handed batters to a .649 on-base plus slugging percentage, which was the second-best in all of baseball behind only the Cleveland Indians.
Ryu was the only one that struggled a bit against righties, as hitters posted a .730 OPS against him. Kershaw (.570), Hill (.583) and Wood (.625) were all outstanding.
The Dodgers will likely look to add another starter at some point in the season, either this spring or before the non-waiver trade deadline. But even if they don’t, their current staff should once again be among the best in baseball.
