Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
The Los Angeles Dodgers faced another blow to their pitching depth last week as Gavin Stone was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation.
Stone had been the only member of the Dodgers’ Opening Day rotation to make every start this season, putting together a solid sophomore campaign. Because of the cloudy timeline surrounding shoulder injuries, there is not a guarantee that Stone will pitch again for the Dodgers in 2024.
Meanwhile, the team is still awaiting word on the availability of Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow, but thankfully, plan to activate Yoshinobu Yamamoto from the 60-day IL to start Tuesday’s game. Yamamoto hasn’t appeared in big league game since June 15.
Following news of Stone’s injury, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman addressed the laundry list of injuries with the club’s pitching staff, establishing a focus toward finding a solution in the offseason, per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN:
“It’s been a really challenging year on that front and something that we’re going to need to spend a lot of time on this winter to really dig in on — from when we onboard a pitcher, when we draft or trade for him, through the development path, at the major league level,” Friedman said.
“Obviously it’s a problem in the industry. And the injuries that are happening to us, we feel. The injuries that are happening to other teams, we don’t feel as much. They don’t quite hit home the same way. And so, we’re going to do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position going forward. But obviously all of our focus right now is to do what we can to finish the regular season strong, be in the best position to go out and win hopefully 11 games in October.”
The Dodgers have been hampered, like several teams around Major League Baseball, with some of their prized arms missing significant time.
That group consists of Tony Gonsolin, Kyle Hurt, Dustin May, River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan. Hurt and Ryan were injured while pitching this season, while Sheehan suffered his during Spring Training, May endured a freak accident, and Gonsolin is recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery.
There’s some chance — albeit slim — that Gonsolin returns as a relief pitcher this season.
Who can step up for Dodgers pitching staff?
Landon Knack made his 11th appearance (ninth start) of the regular season this past Friday, going six innings while allowing just two earned runs on three hits.
Knack had a season-high eight strikeouts eight against the Cleveland Guardians. It was just his second time completing a full six innings, with his last coming back on April 24.
Ben Casparius is another Dodgers prospect to to keep in mind. The right-hander made his MLB debut on Aug. 31 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, firing a scoreless inning while pounding the strike zone.
With the bulk of his time in Triple-A this season, Casparius owns a 3.30 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and .184 batting average allowed over 60 innings with Oklahoma City.
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