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Dodger Blue > Dodgers News > Kenta Maeda And Hyun-Jin Ryu Serving Reminder Dodgers Have Surplus Of Starting Pitchers
Dodgers News

Kenta Maeda And Hyun-Jin Ryu Serving Reminder Dodgers Have Surplus Of Starting Pitchers

Jeff Spiegel
August 6, 2017
3 Min Read
Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Intrigued By ‘pretty Lethal’ Duo Of Kenta Maeda, Hyun-jin Ryu
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
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Minutes before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for one of the best pitchers in baseball in Yu Darvish. You know, because having the No. 6 (Clayton Kershaw), No. 10 (Alex Wood) and No. 29 (Brandon McCarthy) starters in the National League, per Fangraphs WAR, wasn’t enough. Not to mention July’s NL Pitcher of the Month in Rich Hill.

As soon as the trade was completed, you could almost hear the wheels turning in the minds of Dodgers fans everywhere — “our playoff rotation is going to be WHAT?!”

The excitement was palpable, and it was all for good reason. For a second you could almost forget that the Dodgers actually DID have more than four starters already on the team. And, well, if you ask Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu, they’re pretty darn good ones too.

As MLB.com’s Mike Petriello and Jon Weisman, formerly of Dodger Insider, noted over recent games, Ryu and Maeda each turned in seven shutout innings in their last starts. Yet, that somehow flew under the radar, and both are on the periphery of the starting rotation.

Then, Ryu threw seven more scoreless innings against the New York Mets in another game that was broadcast on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

Reading their tweets caused a double-take. Not because I assumed anything otherwise, but simply because it’s becoming difficult to keep track of the various accomplishments and streaks associated with the Dodgers right now. Turns out, ‘unreal’ is the right descriptor here.

Maeda has quietly been fantastic of late. In his last four starts (22 innings pitched), he has allowed just three earned runs and 22 baserunners while striking out 18. But it’s not even just the last month that has been impressive, either.

Since April 22, Maeda has just one start in which he allowed more than three earned runs; he’s allowed two earned or less in nine of his last 10 starts.

And then there’s Ryu, whose season has been noticeably more rocky, but who has been almost equally fantastic of late.

In his last six starts (34.2 innings), Ryu has struck out 38 while posting a 2.08 ERA. That’s led to Ryu lowering his season ERA to 3.53.

All of this is from the Dodgers’ fifth and sixth-best starting pitchers.

While many would say that it’s impossible to have too much starting pitching, it’s highly likely that the Dodgers are going to put that theory to the test when Kershaw and McCarthy return from their respective injuries.

As for what manager Dave Roberts and Co. will do in that situation, it remains to be seen. But here’s to hoping that Maeda and Ryu keep making that decision all the more difficult.

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TAGGED:Alex WoodBrandon McCarthyClayton KershawDave RobertsHyun-Jin RyuKenta MaedaLos Angeles Dodgers
ByJeff Spiegel
Jeff Spiegel was raised in California but currently resides in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked in sports before entering journalism full time — first as a Sports Reporter and then as the Associate Editor of a local newspaper. Online, he has been writing about both the Dodgers and Raiders since 2012 — having written for DodgersNation.com and SBNation.com prior to joining both DodgerBlue.com and RaidersNation.com. He left full-time journalism in 2012 to become a pastor. Jeff can be found on Twitter at @JeffSpiegel. Favorite Dodger I'm going past and present (sort of) on this one. Recently, I was a die hard Yasiel Puig guy. The energy he played with was amazing and the hope and expectation he brought every single night was captivating. Whether it was a rifle from the warning track to throw a guy out at second, an aggressive bat flip or licking his bat, I was here for ALL of the Yasiel Puig era. Past tense, I'd go with Eric Gagné. This wasn't so much about Gagné himself as it was the experience of cheering for him. Yes, he was on steroids — but the dude was unlike any pitcher I've ever seen — he was NASTY. I still stand by the claim that if I needed one out and my life depended on it, and could choose any pitcher from any era to get me that out, I'm taking roided up Gagné in a heartbeat. Favorite Dodger Moment A few jump to mind immediately. Being born in November of 1988, I missed the last World Series by weeks — which also meant I didn't get to see the Dodgers win a playoff game until I was nearly 16. They had made the playoffs in 1995 and 1996, but were swept both times. In 2004, though, I got to see them win behind a complete game shutout from Jose Lima, and that was pretty freaking special. The next in-person moment that came to mind was the Manny Ramirez bobblehead night pinch-hit grand slam from 2009. Vin Scully claimed it was the loudest he had heard Dodger Stadium in 20 years, and it's hard to disagree. As far as ones I didn't get to see live, I'll throw one more out there: the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs that tied a game against the Padres in 2006 (plus the walk-off from Nomar Garciaparra in extra innings) was an all-timer. Obviously, the impending Dodgers World Series will quickly jump to the top of this list...
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