Dodgers Preview 2024: Young Guns Vie to Fill Out Rotation

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Dodgers are in a unique position as they head into the final days of the Spring. Walker Buehler will start the season on the shelf. Clayton Kershaw will join the club in the second half of the season. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are both looking at extended stays on the IL as they rehab from major surgeries. Shohei Ohtani will be limited to hitting only in 2024. That’s a pretty damn good rotation right there. With the absence of all these arms, the back end of the rotation is wide open for a pitcher to step up and grab a spot. “We have some options,” manager Dave Roberts said recently in Arizona. “I don’t think we’re beholden to anything right now. Certainly, having the value of three or four innings is important. But we don’t need to make that decision yet.”

Probably before the season is over, all these guys will toe the rubber at Chavez Ravine to start a game, but here’s what we think is most likely to happen at the back of the roatation this year:

Ryan Yarbrough (six years MLB experience, one with LAD)

With a staff full of right-handers (at least until Kershaw returns), it would be nice to give opponents the occasional look from the left side just to keep them on their toes. James Paxton is likely to slot into the four-hole in the rotation to start the season behind Glasnow, Yamamoto, and Miller, but another southpaw who might see a start or two for the team this year is swingman Ryan Yarbrough. He’s done plenty of starting duty in his career, with him notching a career-high 21 starts with the Rays in 2021. Yes, I know it’s the Rays, but still. Long-term, Yarbrough is likely to be a long man, innings-eater type of guy for the Dodgers in 2024, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get his share of early season starts. He’s by far the most experienced pitcher that manager Dave Roberts has to choose from, and to be honest, he did a pretty decent job in that sort of role in 2023. Obviously, Yarbrough would just be a place-holder under Buehler and Kershaw return, and even then I’m not sure he’s the first man up at this point. FanGraphs is projected three starts from Yarbrough this year. I’d probably take the over on that number, but not by much. I’m guessing Roberts goes with one of his young studs to fill out the rotation.

Season	Team	Level	G	GS	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	ERA	FIP	WAR
2023	– – –	MLB	25	9	89.2	17.8%	3.7%	39.1%	4.52	4.38	0.8
2024	FGDC	PROJ	43	3	60.0	19.2%	5.1%		4.58	4.65	0.3

Emmet Sheehan (one year of MLB experience, with LAD)

One guy who will definitely NOT be on the Opening Day roster this year is Emmet Sheehan. The rookie righty was struggling with a shoulder issue in camp this spring, so he’s going to start the year on what we hope will be a short stint on the IL. He didn’t get on the mound in a Cactus League game this year, so we have nothing to report on how he’s going to come out of it, but in a recent interview with Dodger Digest, he sounded confident. “Right now it’s just about getting healthy for the most part,” he said. Other than that, I’m feeling like I’m in a good spot with everything I learned last year that I was able to pick up from the older guys, from the coaches. Truly, you know, I focus on consistency and getting healthy.”

Sheehan’s 2023 was in a way the most frustrating for Dodger fans of all the young pitchers who saw time on the mound. Some days, he’d look otherworldly good. And others, he’d be getting shelled, and there was just no telling which Emmet would show up at the ballpark on any given night. Hopefully, once he’s back to full health, he’ll be able to get into a routine and deliver for the team on a more consistent basis. Not sure there is much room in the rotation for him once the reinforcements arrive, so he’ll have to make the most of his opportunities as soon as he gets the ball.

Season	Team	Level	G	GS	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	ERA	FIP	WAR
2023	LAD	MLB	13	11	60.1	25.8%	10.5%	33.1%	4.92	4.85	0.5
2024	FGDC	PROJ	43	15	105.0	26.3%	10.2%		4.31	4.40	1.1

Michael Grove (two years MLB experience, both with LAD)

Michael Grove is a legit pitcher with legit stuff, but he’s yet to put it together in the big leagues. After debuting in 2023, he had an inflated ERA last season (6.13), and struggled to deliver quality starts for the team. However, in what might be a bit of recency bias, Grove looked fantastic in his final appearance in Arizona on March 9. Starting against the World Series champion Texas Rangers (still feels weird to say that), Grove was brilliant over the first 3.1 innings of the ballgame. He held the high-flying Texas offense to just one hit and no runs. Dodger fans would be overjoyed if he could deliver those kind of results in April.

“I just want to make the team,” Grove said after the start. “A lot of those decisions aren’t up to me anyways, so that’s the best mindset I can have. Just do my job when they give me the ball and continue to mentally be there, find ways to get better, have conversations with coaches and just give myself the best chance.”

So far, so good. Grove was added to the the traveling party that is going to Seoul for the two-gamer against the Padres. Whether or not he’s on the active roster remains to be seen, but he’ll definitely have his chance at some point this season.

Season	Team	Level	G	GS	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	ERA	FIP	WAR
2023	LAD	MLB	18	12	69.0	24.2%	6.3%	39.1%	6.13	4.36	0.8
2024	FGDC	PROJ	37	2	43.0	24.8%	7.7%		4.23	4.18	0.2

Gavin Stone (One year of MLB experience, with LAD)

If Dave Roberts bases his decision on Cactus League performance alone, this would be no contest. Gavin Stone has looked awesome in Arizona this spring. His Spring Training ERA is a ridiculous 0.92 with an equally ridiculous WHIP of 0.63. Of course, he’s never going to replicate that, but he’s got a hot hand right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him round out the rotation. His 2023 was a bit of a disaster, with a jumbo ERA to go along with some very rough outings in the early part of the season. However, he did look better when he came up late in the year. There’s been talk that perhaps Stone was tipping pitches in 2023, so that would go a long way in explaining why hitters were teeing off on him so much. For his part, Head of Baseball Ops Andrew Friedman was impressed with the way the young hurler battled through adversity last year. “Watching him do that on the fly and seeing how much more he was able to add from the feedback he got from his Major League experience was awesome to see,” Friedman said.

He’s retooled his mechanics and has been dominant across four appearances in the desert, so here’s hoping that translates into regular season success once the team returns to the States. I’d say at this stage, Stone gets the start when the rotation finally rolls around to the five spot, which would probably be on April 1 at home against the Giants. Stay tuned!

Season	Team	Level	G	GS	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	ERA	FIP	WAR
2023	LAD	MLB	8	4	31.0	14.5%	8.6%	45.5%	9.00	6.64	-0.5
2024	FGDC	PROJ	27	3	41.0	23.5%	8.3%		4.24	4.18	0.3

Other options…

Beyond these four guys the Dodgers have a few guys that might get a start or two during the year. The most likely candidate is Kyle Hurt, who has an outside chance of getting a start in April. He’s only had a cup of coffee in the majors, so I wouldn’t go looking for him to make much of an impact on the team, but the guy has good stuff, and we never know what the season will bring. Landon Knack looked good last year as he continues to move up through the minor league system. So did Matt Frasso, who was also in camp this year. However, these guys are definitely not anybody I’m going to be looking for that much on the Dodger mound this year. We’re all just playing the waiting game until Sheehan gets back on the mound, and Messrs. Buehler and Kershaw arrive. Then, we got us a team!

DODGERSBEAT GRADE: C+