Walker Buehler entered the 2018 season as the consensus top pitching prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Nearly three years removed from Tommy John surgery, he carried high expectations with the plan to eventually contribute at the Major League level.
Buehler enjoyed an impressive Spring Training showing and began his campaign with Triple-A Oklahoma City. After making only three starts for the affiliate, he arrived to Los Angeles much sooner than anticipated because of a combination of weather postponements and injuries to the starting rotation.
Buehler has already logged three starts for the Dodgers and has seemingly progressed with each outing. On Friday, he tossed six no-hit innings against the San Diego Padres and was one of four pitchers to collectively account for the club’s first combined no-hitter in franchise history.
While Buehler would’ve preferred to go the distance, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts quickly pulled the plug on the outing because of his high pitch count, in addition to an innings limit this season.
Despite the club being cautious with Buehler, Roberts expects the right-hander to remain part of the starting rotation going forward, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“Obviously, with respect to what happened to Ryu, and the way Walker’s pitched, we expect Walker to continue to make starts for us,” Roberts said.
Further helping Buehler’s cause for remaining in the Dodgers rotation is the latest, unfortunate injury to Hyun-Jin Ryu. He recorded just four outs in his previous outing after straining his groin, which is expected to keep him sidelined until the second half.
In three starts this season, Buehler is 2-0 with a minuscule 1.13 ERA, 2.11 FIP and 1.06 WHIP over 16 innings pitched with 19 strikeouts to seven walks.
