LOS ANGELES — When the Dodgers seemed to be developing some of the gifted rotations within the Majors on paper this previous offseason, the identify Emmet Sheehan wasn’t very excessive on the depth chart.
In spite of everything, he was recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure, and less-established pitchers working their approach again from long-term accidents may be considerably out of sight, out of thoughts.
However the Dodgers’ group remained obsessed with Sheehan, particularly when he actually started ramping up his rehab throughout spring. The 25-year-old right-hander confirmed why he might be a secret weapon for L.A. in a robust season debut earlier than Will Smith walked off the Padres with a pinch-hit homer in Wednesday night time’s 4-3 win at Dodger Stadium.
Sheehan struck out six and allowed one earned run on three hits throughout 4 innings. He didn’t stroll a batter and landed 43 of his 65 pitches for strikes, topping out at 96.7 mph and averaging 95.2 on his four-seamer.
“Emmet was improbable,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “I believed going into it tonight, belief his stuff, be on the assault together with his combine. And he did simply that. He flooded the zone, saved them on their heels.”
It was Sheehan’s first huge league outing since Sport 1 of the 2023 NL Division Sequence in opposition to the D-backs — the ultimate look of his rookie yr.
In between then and now, Sheehan has put in numerous work to get again to the Dodger Stadium mound. He was not solely grateful to be again, but in addition for the individuals who helped get him up to now.
“We had a extremely good group in Arizona this yr,” Sheehan stated, “so it was good to spend time with these guys and not need to undergo it alone. That was huge. It positively meant quite a bit to get again on the market, and to observe what the crew did final yr was actually particular and positively motivated me to get again on the market.”
Sheehan pitched by means of some gentle visitors in his first two innings. He labored round a Luis Arraez single within the first and allowed a leadoff double to Jake Cronenworth within the second. Sheehan practically bought Elias Díaz to floor out to get out of the inning cleanly, however the sharp grounder ate up Tommy Edman at second base and caromed into proper discipline for an RBI single.
However after Díaz’s run-scoring knock, Sheehan set his last seven batters down so as, together with 5 by way of strikeout. He ended his night time by placing out the facet within the fourth.
Sheehan is simply 13 months faraway from his Tommy John surgical procedure in Might 2024. The everyday restoration timetable is between 12-18 months, making this a comparatively fast return to motion. The Dodgers had been debating whether or not to offer him a fifth Minor League rehab begin earlier than bringing him again, however they in the end determined there was a necessity for him on the huge league degree.
In his return, Sheehan confirmed why that call made sense.
“I simply belief his head,” Roberts stated. “He’s not afraid. He’s not going to run from it. And he’s going to belief his stuff. And he did that tonight.”
