Landon Knack made his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, joining the rotation in place of the injured Clayton Kershaw and starting against the Cleveland Guardians.
Knack has been a consistent option for the Dodgers every time he gets the ball, and that was no different in his latest outing.
The 27-year-old started his night with five scoreless innings, including 3.1 no-hit innings before allowing a single to José Ramírez. In the sixth, Knack allowed a single to Brayan Rocchio to start the inning and a one-out homer to Andrés Giménez.
The right-hander recorded two more outs to finish his night, throwing six innings while allowing two runs on three hits with one walk. In addition, he struck out a career-high eight batters, passing his previous best of seven in a start.
While Knack has been shuttled between Triple-A Oklahoma City and L.A. quite often this season, that appears to be over. After the outing, manager Dave Roberts said Knack is going to stick in the Dodgers rotation and continue getting more chances, he said via Janis Carr of the Southern California News Group:
“Landon was a star tonight,” Roberts said of his starter. “He did everything more than we hoped for. He’s done it all year for us.
“Six innings, eight punches, one walk, two runs. He gave us a chance to win, a good chance to win. I’m looking forward to him making his next start, which I think is Friday. He’s going to keep getting opportunities as long as he keeps performing like he has.”
For a player who has yet to find a specific role with an organization, and is on the older end for a prospect, finding the confidence that they belong at the Major League level can be a challenge.
But for Knack, he is also gaining additional confidence with each start, which should continue to build as he keeps seeing his role with the club increase:
“It gives me confidence to go out there and see how I can play against some of the best teams and some of the best players in the world. So yeah, the way I’ve been able to come out here and make pitches and play against these guys makes me know I belong.”
Knack now owns a 3.00 ERA in 54 innings for the Dodgers across 11 games while striking out 52 hitters with a 0.96 WHIP. He has also been effective in Triple-A with a 3.71 ERA across 14 games (12 starts) despite pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
In his 45.2 innings as a starting pitcher, Knack has pitched to a 2.78 ERA for the Dodgers, which places him among the top-15 starters in MLB with at least 40 innings pitched.
There’s going to be some down moments to come in his career, as there are with every player, but Knack is proving that he belongs with the Dodgers.
Dodgers can option Landon Knack
Although it seems unlikely at this point, Knack could still end up being optioned prior to the season ending.
Knack has been sent back to the Minors five separate times this season, which is the maximum number allowed per year under the collective bargaining agreement. However one of Knack’s options came after the Dodgers opened the season in South Korea with the Seoul Series.
MLB allowed for an exception to be made with players on the respective Dodgers and San Diego Padres rosters, so that being optioned after being part of the Seoul Series did not count toward the annual limit of five.
That final option may only end up being used if the Dodgers by some miracle have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, Kershaw, Joe Kelly and Brusdar Graterol all return healthy before the season ends.
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