The Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation order is being shuffled as the team looks to give Yoshinobu Yamamoto extra rest on top of his current schedule that already had that factored in.
Rather than start Thursday in the series finale against the Texas Rangers, Yamamoto has been pushed back to taking the mound on Saturday in the middle game of the Kansas City Royals series.
Michael Grove is going to start as an opener on Thursday.
Gavin Stone is still on track for his next outing to be Friday, but Tyler Glasnow now isn’t starting until Sunday. Prior to the changes, Dodgers probables for the weekend were Stone, Glasnow and James Paxton, in that order.
As it stands, all of Yamamoto’s 13 starts this season have come on at least five days’ rest. The Dodgers have made a concerted effort to keep him on a schedule that effectively mirrors that of Nippon Professional Baseball.
In not starting until Saturday, Yamamoto now is going to have a full week of rest before facing the Royals. Such a decision is not a surprise considering he threw a career-high 106 pitches over seven scoreless innings against the New York Yankees.
The outing was also Yamamoto’s second-longest of the season. He threw 97 pitches in eight innings against the Miami Marlins on May 7.
Also with the change, Yamamoto will get to enjoy his first bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium from the dugout rather than needing to pitch.
Glasnow’s start against the Yankees was his first of the year on normal rest. He collected 12 strikeouts but was hurt my mistake pitches that were hit for home runs in the Dodgers’ loss.
Glasnow is now due to receive six days of rest before his next outing.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s workload
Although Roberts recently said the Dodgers would eventually look to have starters pitch on normal rest, he said Yamamoto would not be part of that equation.
Roberts went on to add the plan of providing Yamamoto with extra rest between starts would extend into the postseason.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
