One of the biggest surprises for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 has been the emergence of Ross Stripling, who began the season in the bullpen but was then moved to the starting rotation due to injuries.
Not only did Stripling answer the bell for the club, he wound up making the National League All-Star team. Stripling has struggled a bit in his last few starts though, with the most recent being on Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies when he gave up seven hits and five runs in 4.2 innings.
Four of those runs came in the fifth inning when Stripling allowed back-to-back home runs. Despite the struggles in that outing and starts prior, Stripling did not use fatigue as an excuse for his drop off.
Fatigue may be exactly what he is dealing with, as Stripling is already approaching his career-high in innings pitched.
Because of that, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers may elect to skip the right-hander the next time through the rotation to give him some extra rest, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“We’re trying to look at each individual guy and see if we want Ross to make that start, do we want Kenta to go on regular rest, what role would Ross play if we don’t start him? We don’t need to make that decision right now. These are good options for us.”
Roberts has the luxury of being able to do that because the team now has six healthy starters with the return of Walker Buehler. How long the Dodgers will continue to stick with six starters remains to be seen. Someone will likely be moved to the bullpen in the near future.
Stripling is a candidate to make that move considering his history and success as a reliever. However, he has been one of the team’s best starters this season, going 8-2 with a 2.43 ERA, 3.02 FIP and 1.10 WHIP with 114 strikeouts and 14 walks in 26 games (15 starts).
His career-high for innings is 119.2, and Stripling is currently sitting at 100 innings, so that is definitely something to keep an eye on the remainder of the season.
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