Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Dodgers have always been a pitching-rich organization, but the herd has thinned a bit in 2023 with the once-and-for-all exit of Trevor Bauer and the season-killing injury to Walker Buehler. Even so, the Dodgers figure to throw a quality arm at their opponents pretty much every night of the season. There might be some hitches and load management issues along the way, but you can count on these three guys to do a lot of the heavy lifting this season:
Clayton Kershaw (2022: 12-3, 2.28 ERA, 137 K)
Legend. That’s about the only way to describe Clayton Kershaw and his amazing career. Even without the elite velo on his fastball, Kershaw continues to be one of the more dominant pitchers in the NL, and can still make even the best hitters look bad on a nightly basis. The problem with Kershaw, of course, is durability. We can almost count on Clayton’s back giving out on him once or twice a season now. And it’s almost better to get those injuries out of the way early, so he can get rested and ready for the postseason.
In the first half of the year 2022, Kershaw was magnificent, with his 2.13 ERA good enough to get him his first ever All-Star Game start. But then, in the back half of the season was up and down. He had two kind of not-so-great outings and then pulled himself out of a game in San Francisco, and ended up not pitching again for nearly a month. He was good upon his return, but delivered only a so-so start against San Diego in Game 2 of the Division Series.
However, I’m guessing that Clayton has one more year of awesomeness left in him. Hopefully, he can make 2023 the year he rides off into the sunset with his second World Series title under his belt.
Julio Urías (2022: 17-7, 2.16 ERA, 166 K)
No matter who starts on Opening Day, Julio Urias is the de facto ace of this staff. His strong and consistent showing throughout the last few seasons has cemented that status. His third place finish in last year’s Cy Young voting was a little low for my money (I would have put him second, ahead of Max Fried), and he figures to be a steady force in a Dodger rotation that has been plagued by sporadic injuries over the last few years.
Yes, he still seems to be vulnerable to the occasional home run ball, as witnessed in the lefty’s WBC run with Mexico, but beyond that, everything looks rock solid. Now, if I could have one wish for 2023, it’s that the Dodgers would like the big dog hunt a little bit more. I’m a little weary of seeing Julio cruising through an outing only to get pulled after five or six innings. This kind of kid-glove treatment isn’t doing him any favors, or the the Dodgers. In fact one of the big undoings of the team in that horrible few days in October is that the team couldn’t get that much length out of their starters, and the bullpen ended up getting too many innings to cover.
So please, Dave Roberts, let Julio go deep this year. You’ll thank me in October.
Tony Gonsolin (2022: 16-1, 2.14 ERA, 119 K)
Tony Gonsolin, along with the departed Tyler Anderson, had to rank as the most pleasant surprise of 2022. For a good chunk of the season, the guy was simply one of the top pitchers in all of baseball. And though the numbers dropped off in the second half a bit, he still finished the season with a fantastic record. That late season injury cost him a legit shot at postseason awards, and it screwed up his chance at impacting the playoffs in any meaningful way, but still the Catman had it going on in 2022.
Now 2023 begins with him on the shelf. The unfortunate ankle injury early this Spring means that it’ll be a bit before Gonsolin rejoins the rotation, but when he does it’s going to be interesting to see what he has for a sequel to his breakout year. I keep waiting for him to disappoint me, but he really hasn’t yet. Now, if we can just keep him on his feet for the next six months…
Conclusion…
Of course, the absence of Walker Buehler is no small thing. And there is the matter of durability with all three of these pitchers. That said, when these three guys are on the mound and at their best, they are as potent a rotation as any in baseball.
DODGERSBEAT RATING: A-
