The offseason came to an end for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday as the club held their first full-squad workout of Spring Training. Next on the schedule is the beginning of Cactus League, which will come Friday in a matchup with the Chicago White Sox.
More so than his two previous years as manager, Dave Roberts intends to ease a lot the veterans into things due to the Dodgers playing all the way into November last season. So while the team has four games this weekend, expected regulars may not see the field for much action.
At the very least, Clayton Kershaw’s current throwing schedule means he won’t pitch in a game until the end of the weekend, at the earliest. As for the Dodgers’ spring opener, Wilmer Font will start, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Wilmer Font is the starting pitcher for Friday opener.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) February 20, 2018
This spring will be a big one for Font as the 27-year-old is currently out of Minor League options but is behind at least five other starting pitchers on the Dodgers depth chart.
Font is coming off a solid season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he went 10-8 with a 3.42 ERA and 1.11 WHIP while striking out 178 compared to just 35 walks in 134.1 innings across 25 starts.
He was called up in September but did not fare as well in his three outings, giving up seven hits and seven runs in 3.2 innings (17.18 ERA).
The Dodgers rotation currently looks like it will be Kershaw, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu. But if any of them are to get injured, then Font could be battling with the likes of Ross Stripling and Brock Stewart for a spot in the rotation.
