Yoshinobu Yamamoto will return to the Dodgers’ rotation on Tuesday. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters including Alden González of ESPN that the right-hander will get the start for the second game of next week’s set with the Cubs. Yamamoto is on the 60-day injured list and will need to be reinstated onto the 40-man roster.
It’ll likely be a brief appearance. Yamamoto last pitched in the majors on June 15. A rotator cuff strain knocked him out of action for more than two months. The 26-year-old joined Triple-A Oklahoma City on a rehab stint last week.
He only pitched there twice, topping out at two innings. He labored through 53 pitches last night, and while his results weren’t good, he built up enough that the Dodgers don’t feel he needs another rehab appearance.
The Dodgers will presumably limit Yamamoto to somewhere in the 60-75 pitch range next week. L.A. has a decent 5.5-game cushion on the Padres in the NL West. It’s also a game up on the Phillies for the top seed in the National League and three clear of the Brewers for a first-round bye. The Dodgers still playing meaningful regular season games, but the primary focus is, again, on October.
Yamamoto should be able to log four turns through the rotation before the regular season concludes. That’d be ample time to build to a typical starter’s pitch count going into the postseason. If his stuff returns to pre-injury levels, he could be Roberts’ choice to start the first game of a playoff series.
Yamamoto’s first MLB start was a nightmare, as he allowed four hits and five runs and didn’t make it to the second inning. The former NPB star has been as advertised since then. In the 13 starts since his debut, he sports a 2.34 earned run average with a 28.1% strikeout rate through 73 innings.
While it’s too soon to make definitive judgments about the Dodgers’ $325M investment, Yamamoto was pitching like the top-of-the-rotation arm that L.A. expected. He’s part of an extremely high-variance rotation.
Jack Flaherty and Gavin Stone are leading the group at the moment. Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw are on the IL. The Dodgers seem hopeful that both Glasnow and Kershaw will be back with a couple weeks to spare. If they get each of Yamamoto, Glasnow, Flaherty, Stone and Kershaw firing on all cylinders, they’ll go into the playoffs with an excellent rotation. That’s a big ask with the health uncertainty surrounding most of that group.
Kershaw went on the IL over the weekend with a bone spur in his left big toe. The Dodgers will turn to rookie righty Landon Knack in his place for Friday’s series opener with the Guardians, Roberts said, via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Knack has been on and off the MLB roster as an injury replacement throughout the season. He has performed well when called upon, working to an even 3.00 ERA over 48 innings.
The Dodgers have optioned Knack for the maximum five times this season. They’ll recall him again on Friday and would need to put him on waivers to send him back to Oklahoma City this year. They’re not going to do that — he’d certainly get claimed — so Knack will probably hold a spot in the bullpen for the final couple weeks once Yamamoto returns to the rotation.
