Dodgers Announce Pitchers for Cactus League Opener

Published on by Dennis Schlossman

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The Dodgers on Thursday announced the pitchers who are scheduled to throw in Saturday’s Cactus League Opener against the White Sox at Glendale.

Taking the hill will be Daniel Corcino, Jaime Schultz, Kevin Quackenbush, Josh Sborz, Stetson Allie, Josh Smoker and Joe Broussard.

First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 PM Pacific time.

Glendale will also be the venue for Sunday’s game as the Dodgers face the Angels.

Scheduled to pitch for Los Angeles on Sunday are Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brock Stewart, Dennis Santana, Adam McCreery, Tony Gonsolin, Mitchell White and Dustin May.

Sunday’s game is slated to begin at 12:07 PM Pacific time.

In other news, the Dodgers announced today that the team will honor the legacy of pitching great Don Newcombe this season with a commemorative uniform No. 36 patch.

Newcombe passed away on Tuesday at the age of 92.

“Don Newcombe played a major role on and off the field for the Dodgers and we want to honor his legacy to our organization and all of baseball by recognizing him throughout the 2019 season,” team president Stan Kasten said on Thirsday.

The patch will be on the Dodger jersey beginning Opening Day.

The Dodgers have previously honored former players Jim Gilliam (1978), Tim Crews (1993), Don Drysdale (1993), Roy Campanella (1993), Pee Wee Reese (1999) and Duke Snider (2011) with commemorative patches.

Newcombe reached the pinnacle of his career in 1956, when he won both the Cy Young and NL Most Valuable Player awards while playing for the Dodgers.  That season, Newcombe went 27-7 with a 3.06 ERA, leading the NL in fewest-hits-and-walks-allowed per nine innings.   He was named the Rookie of the Year in 1949.

The Dodgers will also honor Newcombe in pregame ceremonies on April 27 when they induct him into the Legends of Dodger Baseball and salute him with a commemorative bobblehead.

(Jon Chapper provided some information furnished in this report)

 

 

38 thoughts on “Dodgers Announce Pitchers for Cactus League Opener”

  1. With apologies to the guys pitching Saturday, Sunday looks more interesting to me. Really looking forward to seeing Gonsolin and May, neither of whom I have seen pitch before. On the other hand, we’ll get to see Allie, Quackenbush and Broussard on Saturday and I haven’t seen those guys either. It’s Spring Training. Everything is good! Until it isn’t. (threw that last sentence in for Bear).

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      1. I hear that Pollock won’t play at all this spring. They don’t want to take any chances that he might hurt himself. 🙂

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  2. Apparently there’s an article up on The Athletic explaining that Brock Stewart, through some technicality, has a fourth option year. I don’t subscribe but maybe one of you who does can chase down the information and give us a quick synopsis. If it’s true, I’m happy that he’ll have one more year here to show AF what he’s got. Of course, at this point he might rather be traded.

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      1. Considering who writes for them now, I would gladly pay, but that would mean I would spend even more time on that kind of stuff than I already do, and it’s already too much (not that I read anything but TBPC of course)

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      2. Stewart earned a fourth option year because he has been optioned in three seasons but has not yet logged “five full seasons of professional experience.” The distinction there is “full.” Players who reach the big leagues quickly are at risk. Stewart has pitched five pro seasons and, when he was drafted in 2014, pitched 17 times in rookie ball that year. But a full season requires a player to be on an active roster for at least 90 days, and the rookie-league season spans a week shorter than that.

        And Stewart is not the only player dealing with this situation this year. Because he was drafted in 2015, White Sox pitcher Carson Fulmer was also awarded a fourth option, despite appearing in the majors and minors in each of the last three years.

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      3. Apparently, he told the writer he didn’t want the fourth option if it would subject him to what he endured with all the back and forth last year. However, he said it’s out of his control.

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      4. I don’t blame him but I’m afraid that’s exactly what will happen to him all over again this year, although they may just leave him at OKC this year depending upon the health of the other guys. His best bet would be to have a strong first half at OKC and then find himself included in a trade at the July deadline.

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      5. That’s what Andy and I were just talking about. Dennis Santana may be ahead of Stewart, as may Urias depending on the time of the year and the need for a starting pitcher. Maybe Caleb Ferguson, too, if they definitely plan on using him as a starter, at least in the first half of the season. My guess is that Ferguson is in the pen for the stretch run. Lots of speculation.

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  4. Caleb Ferguson just doesn’t have another pitch to be a starting pitcher. There’s nothing wrong with it, he can be a fantastic late inning reliever but I think if we’re going to find a 3rd pitch it already would have happened.

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  5. When Kersh first came up all he had was his fastball and curve. Then he developed his slider. Heard that Ferguson working on a change. But your right he needs a third pitch. That’s why he starts in OKC to develop that third pitch

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    1. I don’t know why a third pitch couldn’t be developed quickly. These guys are young professionals. I taught a 16 year old a two seamer in 30 minutes. He used it that day. It’s just a fastball with a grip change.

      Stewart is what might be called a 4A pitcher. He’s 27, been ok in spurts, can take the ball in an emergency, but I don’t think we need him. He might be more valuable to some other team. Maybe we could move him for organizational depth.

      Dennis’ lead on this post sounds very much like an announcement to me. I knew one was coming. We might get another one today or tomorrow.

      I got 13” of snow in my yard. More in the way

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  6. First spring game today……so it starts, and Bryce Harper and some other free agents still do not have homes. The one I really have a hard time understanding is Adam Jones. That guy is a very talented outfielder. Guess he has Ethier’s disease……Kuechel is still out there too……..Got to love a pitcher with the name Smoker…….

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    1. Yeah, Keuchel. He’s 31 and projects about 180 innings of 3.7. That ERA would go down a bit in the NL. He would look good after Buehler in our rotation. He would look scary in Philadelphia.

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  7. MLB.com had a story today on the players on each team most likely to win an award. On the Dodgers it was Buehler as a Cy Young candidate. Makes sense since they have no ROY candidates that are considered locks to make the team, and none of their everyday position players are really MVP caliber.

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    1. I beg to differ Bear. I’m certainly not saying they’re the favorites, but Turner, Seager or possibly even Bellinger could be strong MVP candidates based on past performance, a healthy season and some luck.

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      1. That’s cool, it is all opinion anyway. I just am saying what they had in the story. I do not think Bellinger is a serious MVP candidate unless he cuts down his strikeouts and is more consistent. Turner needs to be totally healthy and productive all year, and Seager would need to prove he is the same. Past performances not withstanding, none of them have put up MVP like numbers ever.

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  8. Probably nothing.

    https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/clayton-kershaw-unhappy-with-bullpen-session

    Probably

    Buehler is that good. But I doubt he has the innings to win the Cy. Too many horses that throw 200 and maintain a stat line worthy of the award.

    Urías apparently the early talk of camp. I still say any innings of his limited count thrown in Oklahoma is a waste. Let him go 3 every 4th day or so, then turn him loose late summer. We’ve got 6 starters, none of whom will go over 6 very often. There will be plenty of opportunities for Julio out of the pen.

    I think I feel an announcement coming. Maybe later today…. maybe tomorrow.

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      1. He was referring to the story on MLB.com about Kershaw not feeling very good about his bullpen session the other day saying he did not feel right. So Roberts gave him the day off. Most immediately took it to mean that physically, something was wrong.

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      2. Ah, haven’t had my first cuppa yet so the brain wasn’t totally in gear. Yeah, I saw that and took a hard gulp. Chicken Strip or Julio might start the year in the rotation. Or maybe it was just mechanics. We’ll know soon enough.

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      3. Or maybe the Phillies sign both Harper and Keuchel…. followed by announcing pitchers for next weeks meaningless scrimmages.

        We know who will make up the bulk of this roster. A lot ot blog jabber about our 1-35 depth. I agree it’s there, and we will see some roster shuffling through the course of the year. Our big move might not be until the deadline. We don’t have to do anything and we should be in or near first place all year. The big question is how do we prepare a team to compete against the better AL teams, who will likely have home field, should we prevail in the NL again.

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  9. A big key to our season is Seager and can he regain his previous production. If so he’s definitely an MVP candidate. He finished third in the MVP voting in 2016. The last year he was completely healthy. And I think Bellinger has a big bounce back year! It’s not like he was a dud last year. He still had a .814 OPS but I think he will go .900+ this year. Get it done Belly!

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  10. I think this Kershaw thing is something to worry about. He’s a very type A personality and to sound so defeated is alarming. His pitches have not only lost velocity but they have lost movement as well over the last 2 years. His once unhittable slider is now just a cut fastball without the downward bite it used to have and his once sneaky 94 mph fastball is more like 91. His curveball is still the same amazing pitch but he hardly ever throws it anymore which tells me it either hurts his arm to throw it or he’s worried of injury by throwing it too often.

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  11. Kershaw is shut down after reporting discomfort in his throwing arm. Well, there’s 33 million well spent….I am being sarcastic. They will not let him throw for a few days. Some of these younger arms may get thrown into the fire very soon. If Kersh is out any length of time, Urias can step in. Ferguson will be at OKC working on that 3rd pitch. If I was the GM, there are a couple of things I would do before the end of next week. 1. Trade Brock Stewart for whatever I could get for him. He is not going to be happy no matter what by the end of spring,, and he deserves a shot somewhere else. 2. I sign Kuechel. He is a solid guy, and a veteran presence. 3. I either release or place Toles on the restricted list. There are no signs he is going to show up anytime soon, and the longer he is away, the less chance he has of making any kind of an impact on the team. Get rid of him. Use the roster spot for Kuechel.

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      1. Is Keuchel all that much better than Urias or Stripling? As someone pointed out, no reason to worry, it’s not his back or his shoulder, it’s only his arm.

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      2. I like Keuchel. Is he that much better than Urias or Stripling? Uh…. yeah. He might put up as many innings as both those guys combined.

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      3. If innings pitched is the primary way you rate pitchers then, yes, he’s better than Stripling and Urias. Stripling had a substantially better ERA and a better WHIP last year and an almost identical WAR in about 40% fewer innings. Since WAR is calculated cumulatively, that’s a pretty large discrepancy. Keuchel will probably cost about 30-35 times as much in salary this year. If we knew today (and maybe they actually do) that Kershaw will miss a large part of the 2019 season I definitely wouldn’t mind going after Keuchel but if CK’s absence is undetermined at this point I think it’s probably money we should save to spend in July.

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      5. Tell me again who Orlando and Castro are? Pollock being rested for all of spring training and the first 81 games of the schedule.

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      10. Oh hell yes I value a 200 inning pitcher. A guy like that takes the ball 30 times and keeps you in those games until the bullpen takes over. Those pitchers lengthen the bullpen – fewer meltdowns late in the year. Yep… I value reliability. We have NOBODY like him. Even Buehler won’t come close to 200 innings. That said, Bora$$ is Keuchel’s agent so … I figure we won’t overpay for him but somebody might. I know his numbers are trending down but coming to the Dodgers means fewer innings in a pitchers division AND facing weaker NL lineups. I think he would do well for maybe 3 years here. Not sure what the demands are but knowing $cott Bor@$$ we know they are grandiose.

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