The Los Angeles Dodgers faced a daunting stretch of 31 games in 30 days that became all the more challenging with injuries to Andrew Heaney and Clayton Kershaw. Short on starting pitching, the Dodgers turned to Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove to make their respective MLB debuts.
Pepiot was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City for a second start when the Dodgers needed a pitcher for their doubleheader with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was added to the active roster as the permitted 27th player for a doubleheader, then returned to Oklahoma City.
Heading into this week’s series with the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers had a vacancy for Saturday’s game. However, the team shuffled their probables to move Tony Gonsolin back a day, which created a need for Friday.
Unsurprisingly, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Pepiot will get recalled to make a third career start, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic
Ryan Pepiot starts for the Dodgers tomorrow, Dave Roberts said.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 27, 2022
Whether Friday or Saturday, Pepiot long appeared to be the favorite to join the Dodgers this weekend. He last pitched on Sunday for OKC, throwing five scoreless innings. Friday is the first day Pepiot is eligible to be recalled, unless he was replacing an injured player.
Over his two starts at the Major League level, the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect has allowed three runs over seven innings (3.86 ERA) and held opponents to a .125 batting average.
Pepiot struggling with command
Pepiot has fought command issues at every level of the Dodgers farm system, and that’s carried into his young Major League career thus far. He’s issued eight walks, including five against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his MLB debut.
Pepiot has attributed some of control struggles to nerves impacting his mechanics. In response to not having much feel for the fastball in his Dodger Stadium debut, Pepiot relied on the slider to get back into the strike zone.
“I was kind of pushing everything arm-side, so one thing I try to do to get back in the zone is just throw sliders to get the feel of throwing the ball out in front of myself,” Pepiot explained.
“So that definitely helped being in the zone more and having more competitive pitches.”
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