A rash of injuries to members of their starting rotation have forced the Los Angeles Dodgers to rely on their organizational depth that stretches to their Minor League affiliates. So on Wednesday that put Caleb Ferguson in the spotlight.
Selected by the Dodgers in the 38th round of the 2014 Draft, he began the season with Double-A Tulsa. After eight starts, the left-hander was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Ferguson made three starts before joining the Dodgers.
Ferguson admitted to never anticipating reaching the Majors at this stage of the 2018 season. He assumed a spot in the Drillers roster was much more reasonable.
While making an MLB debut is a highlight on its own, his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates was one to forget. Ferguson only recorded five outs before being removed. Four runs were charged to his ledger.
Although the start didn’t follow the ideal storyline, Ferguson is happy to have it under his belt, per Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“It’s not how I planned for it to go,” Ferguson said about his debut. “Nice to go out there and get the first one out of the way, even if it’s not as good as you want.”
The 21-year-old hit the leadoff man in both the first and second innings. He gave up an infield single to Austin Meadows in the bottom of the first but benefitted from Logan Forsythe recovering to throw out Josh Harrison on his attempt to advance to third base.
Ferguson got through a scoreless first on a force out and strikeout. The Pirates put three of the first four batters on in the second inning, loading the bases with one out. Ferguson struck out Trevor Williams but then surrendered a bases-clearing double to Harrison.
Daniel Hudson gave up an RBI single to Starling Marte, which was the final run charged to Ferguson. Ferguson’s time with the team was short-lived as the Dodgers optioned the young lefty to Oklahoma City and recalled Edward Paredes.
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