One of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ major free agent signings this past offseason was Tanner Scott, who was the best relief pitcher available on the market.
Scott was coming off a dominant season with the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres that saw him post a 1.75 ERA across 72 innings. That led to the Dodgers rewarding him with a four-year, $72 million deal to work as their primary closer.
The early returns on Scott have been mixed for the Dodgers. He has saved eight games and holds a 2.25 ERA, but his strikeout rate has dropped about 6% and he has allowed hard contract at an alarming rate.
However, one area he’s improved upon is his walk rate. After walking 4.78 hitters per nine over his career, Scott has yet to walk a player in his 12 innings.
That’s by design as Dodgers assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness explained the team has instructed Scott to stay in the strike zone more, rather than sacrificing some walks for an increased strikeout total, via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic:
“We’re asking him to fill it up a little more,” McGuiness said. “He’s not expanding the zone, which would lead to more miss, typically, and trying to get those weaker outs as it goes through. Who knows if that’s kind of cost him a couple of hits here and there.”
The issue with pitching in the zone more frequently is Scott is still working through some things. His fastball velocity is down roughly two miles per hour from his 2024 average, and it’s led to opponents hitting .286 with a .500 slugging percentage against it, compared to .134 and .179, respectively, last season.
But as Scott and the Dodgers have noted, his velocity takes time to build up, and that’s not something they’re concerned about. Scott has never averaged above 96.3 mph in April during his career, and this year he’s sitting at 95.7.
As his stuff continues to trend up, the Dodgers are betting on the strikeouts increasing as well, and if he remains in the zone while that happens, Scott could continue to limit walks better.
With more swing and miss in his game, the hard-hit numbers will begin to normalize as well.
Thus far, Scott looks like a completely different pitcher in 2025 than he did to finish out last season, but the Dodgers are betting on his changes being sustainable and better off in the long run.
Tanner Scott was unavailable in Dodgers’ loss to Rangers
The Dodgers took two of three games from the Rangers, but had a chance to sweep as they took a lead into the ninth inning of the middle game in the series.
Kirby Yates was called upon for the save and ended up allowing a walk-off home run to Adolis García.
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained Scott was unavailable as they wanted to give him rest after pitching three of the previous five days.
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