According to manager Dave Roberts, right-hander Emmet Sheehan of the Dodgers will begin the season on the disabled list, as reported by Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. Due to some shoulder stiffness and what Roberts described as general body soreness earlier this week, Sheehan has not yet pitched this spring. However, he had suggested a few days ago that Sheehan might be ready for the Dodgers’ opening game in North America on March 28.
The Dodgers open the 2024 season earlier than normal on March 20–21 in Seoul, where they play a two-game series against the Padres. After taking a few days off to recover from jet lag, the club plays its final three games of the spring training season against the Angels. When the rest of the league resumes play on March 28, the Dodgers will visit the Cardinals to begin the second half of their 160-game schedule. Given the odd nature of the schedule, Sheehan’s 10-day IL placement technically might mean that he doesn’t miss any regular-season action, but it makes sense that Los Angeles will allow him as much time as he needs to properly recuperate and get ready for frequent trips to the mound.
Sheehan, who was selected by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 2021 draft, debuted in Major League Baseball last season and has a 4.92 ERA in 60 1/3 innings. Although Sheehan’s ascent to prominence might have been slower if the Dodgers hadn’t been plagued by injuries to their rotation, he was still able to compete with major league players despite his lackluster hard-contact and walk rates.
Sheehan only has 9 2/3 Triple-A innings on his record, but he impressed enough in his major league debut to challenge for the fifth position in the Dodgers’ rotation at the beginning of training camp. That quest will now have to wait as a result of this injury, which might eventually make Sheehan more of a Triple-A depth arm based on how his health develops and how many of the regular starters end up on the injured list.
Michael Grove, youngsters Gavin Stone and Kyle Hurt, and swingman Ryan Yarbrough are all in the race for starts now that Sheehan is out of the picture. The top four pitchers in the Los Angeles rotation are Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, James Paxton, and Bobby Miller. Walker Buehler is anticipated to begin the season on the injured list while he continues to heal from Tommy John surgery. Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw ought to be considered after the season’s halfway mark.
