The Los Angeles Dodgers have a lot of “uncertainties” in the pitching rotation, meaning the early season rotation is likely to be “unorthodox.”
An analysis by Katie Woo of The Athletic indicates that the Dodgers “will spend the next month figuring out how to piece together its rotation.”
Last year, the Dodgers rotated Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw has retired, and Snell is still recovering from injury, with Woo noting he has “yet to throw off a mound as the Dodgers intentionally slow-play his spring.”
That’s a third of the rotation unavailable at the start of the year, so who will step in? Manager Dave Roberts indicated it’s likely to be Roki Sasaki.
“If I had to look at guys that I feel really good about right now, to kind of have a normal workload, Tyler and Roki would be at the top with Yamamoto,” Roberts said.
That said, Sasaki has struggled in spring training thus far. On Wednesday, he was scheduled to get two innings of work, but he only lasted 1.1.
He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks while recording three strikeouts.
“There were some positive things, but also things I need to work on,” Sasaki said through an interpreter.
Who Will Fill in the Gaps for the Dodgers?
On Friday, Andrew Friedman, the team’s president of baseball operations, indicated that left-hander Justin Wrobleski could be a candidate for the starting rotation in 2026.
“I think his ability to grow and mature and learn how to harness his stuff and compete in those moments will serve him well as he tries to navigate a lineup two, three times,” Friedman said, per MLB’s Sonja Chen. “He’ll certainly be a candidate. He was also so good out of the ‘pen, we have to weigh that.”
Also in the mix are Gavin Stone and River Ryan, who are both coming off of injuries.
Earlier this year, both were regarded as likely to miss the rotation, though as they often do, injuries created an opportunity.
Now they have to take advantage of that chance.
Who would you like to see in the starting rotation for the Dodgers?
