After the first time through a starting rotation that faced plenty of questions to start the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have reason to be encouraged by early returns. It’s been much of the same from Clayton Kershaw, while Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda exceeded expectations.
Alex Wood pitched markedly better now that he’s free of a bone bruise on his ankle, and Ross Stripling nearly had a historic Major League debut, throwing 7.1 no-hit innings. At the outset of Spring Training there was hope Hyun-Jin Ryu would recover from last May’s shoulder surgery in time to be part of the rotation by Opening Day.
While the southpaw progressed well early, he hit a bump in the road and had his expected debut pushed back. Ryu was left at Camelback Ranch when the Dodgers broke camp and has advanced from throwing bullpen sessions to simulated games.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the 29 year old recently threw two innings without issue, and is expected to increase his pitch count without issue in a second simulated game, per Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:
#Dodgers Dave Roberts said Hyun-Jin Ryu "felt great" after throwing 2 simulated IP 20 pitches each Thur. Will do it again Tues, more pitches
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) April 9, 2016
With Ryu’s recovery stalling and Brett Anderson undergoing back surgery, the Dodgers were forced to find two replacements in their rotation. One, Wood, came as a natural decision given his previous status as the club’s sixth starter.
As for the fifth starter job, Mike Bolsinger beat out Brandon Beachy and Zach Lee, only to suffer an oblique strain, triggering another search. As Roberts previously indicated would be the case, Stripling is expected to make another start.
Meanwhile, assuming all continues to go well for Ryu, he likely will be ready to be reinstated from the DL at some point in June. He’s a combined 28-15 with a 3.17 ERA, 2.97 FIP and 1.19 WHIP in 56 starts over his first two seasons with the Dodgers.
