The Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitching staff has been depleted in recent weeks, with Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu all currently on the disabled list.
Kershaw is due to return on Thursday, so things were looking up. But to make matters worse, Kenta Maeda left his start against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night in the second inning due to a right hip strain.
Maeda is set to undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning, but the consensus is that he will need at least a short stint on the disabled list to recover.
While Brock Stewart was an obvious candidate to take Maeda’s spot in the rotation having made two starts in the past week, it appears the Dodgers will go a different direction as top pitching prospect Dennis Santana revealed on his personal Twitter account that he is going to be called up to make his MLB debut:
So how do you get from Nashville to LA? Asking for a friend 🤣🙏🏽
— Dennis Santana (@DennisSantanaRD) May 30, 2018
Roberts Murray of FanRag Sports then confirmed that Santana is in fact being called up:
Source: #Dodgers calling up RHP Dennis Santana, the teams No. 9 prospect.
— Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayFRS) May 30, 2018
Santana signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in March 2013 and has quickly developed into one of the organization’s top pitching prospects.
The 22-year-old has only pitched in two games for Triple-A Oklahoma City after earning a promotion from Double-A Tulsa. In eight starts for Tulsa, he went 0-2 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.03 WHIP while striking out 51 compared to 14 walks in 38.2 innings.
He has continued that success with Oklahoma City, posting a 2.45 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with 14 strikeouts and only two walks in 11 innings.
It is unknown when Santana will take the mound for his MLB debut, although it will likely be this weekend at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies. It is also unknown how long he will remain with the club as it could just be a spot start while Maeda is out. There is also a possibility he is being called up as a long reliever, with the bullpen being taxed the last couple of days.
Regardless, with his electric stuff that has been raved about within the organization since the start of Spring Training, it should be entertaining to watch when he pitches in the coming days.
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