Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — Already reeling from key injuries and a handful of ineffective starts, the Dodgers will look to an unexpected source to stop the bleeding on Sunday afternoon against the Phillies. Prospect Michael Grove will be making his big league debut, hoping to give Dave Roberts a good outing as the team tries to break its four-game skid.
Good year so far in Tulsa
West Virginia native Grove is already on the 40-man roster, so this call-up makes sense. The right-hander has been pitching for the double-A Tulsa Drillers this season, and has put up some pretty good numbers. In five appearances, Grove is 0-1 with a 2.76 ERA over 16.1 innings of work. Small sample size, but it is already a vast improvement over his 2021 season at Tulsa, in which he posted an ERA north of 7.00. An arm slot adjustment mid-season last year is credited with his more recent success.
Grove has potential, both as a starter and in a relief role
The 25-year-old Grove was a second-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2018 draft, and could have gone higher if he hadn’t had over a full season of college ball at West Virginia wiped out by Tommy John surgery. Both MLB Pipeline (23rd) and Baseball America (24th) place the righty within their rankings of the team’s top 30 prospects, citing his big fastball that sits in the 96-99mph range, and with Pipeline also giving his slider a 60 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale.
With Grove joining Ryan Pepiot as rookies making their starts this week, it only highlights the dire situation that the pitching staff suddenly finds itself in. Hopefully, Grove can beat down the butterflies and give a decent start to a team that desperately needs one at this point.
He will have at least one thing working in his favor. Bryce Harper, who has taken a flamethrower to Dodger pitching this weekend, is not going to be in the lineup on Sunday. He is scheduled to receive a PRP injection from a doctor here in LA to help with his issues in his throwing arm. Harper is expected to be out a couple of days from the shot, and won’t be playing the field for another month. We’ll see what he’s got when the team journeys to Philadelphia later this month.
