Ahead of Thursday night’s opener against San Diego, the Dodgers announced that they have added left-handed pitcher Adam Kolarek to the 25-man active roster and optioned left-handed pitcher Caleb Ferguson to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kolarek will wear uniform No. 56.
The 30-year-old Kolarek was obtained just hours before the 2019 trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for minor league outfielder Niko Hulziser. Prior to being traded to Los Angeles, Kolarek appeared in 54 games for the Rays, recording a 5-4 record with a 3.95 ERA (19 ER/43.1 IP) and 36 strikeouts.
In parts of three major league seasons, he is a combined 6-3 with a 4.19 ERA (40 ER/86.0 IP) and 59 strikeouts, while limiting left-handed batters to a .209 (29-for-139) batting average. The southpaw was originally drafted by the New York Mets in 11th round of the 2010 MLB draft out of the University of Maryland.
It’s been a struggle so far this season for the 23-year-old Ferguson, who has appeared in 27 games for the Dodgers, going 0-1 with a 5.88 ERA (17 ER/26.0 IP) and 32 strikeouts. The Ohio native is in his second season with the Dodgers, compiling a 7-3 overall record with a 4.32 ERA (36 ER/75.0 IP) and 91 strikeouts. He was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the 38th round of the 2014 MLB draft.
In other news, the Dodgers plan on calling up young righty Dustin May to start the second game of the series against the Padres on Friday. The team has yet to make an official announcement or a corresponding roster move; however, the fireballer is indeed listed as the starting pitcher on the schedules of multiple media outlets.
May, 21, is 6-5 with a 3.37 ERA across Double- and Triple-A this season. He features a fastball that can run close to triple digits.
According to MLB Pipeline, May is ranked as the second-best prospect in the entire organization. The site’s scouting report says that coaches had May switch from a four-seam fastball to a two-seamer, which jumped three mph last season to sit at 94-97 mph with groundball-inducing run and sink.
After May threw a curveball and slider that tended to blend together, the Dodgers had him concentrate on the curve, which has become a hard-breaking weapon that also creates groundouts. He added a cutter in 2018 and it has become equally as devastating while reaching the low nineties.
May also has a changeup, and while it’s raw and gets a bit too firm at times, he shows enough aptitude that it should become an average fourth offering at some point down the road.
Thursday night’s lineup vs. lefty Luchessi:
- Pollock CF
- Muncy 2B
- Turner 3B
- Bellinger RF
- White 1B
- Smith C
- Verdugo LF
- Negrón SS
- Kershaw P
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Having seen May pitch in person this spring at Glendale, I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, knowing full well that debuts can sometimes go very badly. Does anyone know if this is supposed to be a one-time start or if he’s going to be kept in the rotation for awhile (like until Strip returns)?
Along with his great stuff, the thing that impressed me most when I saw him was how agile he is for a big guy and how well he fielded his position. Go get ’em Dustin!
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Found my answer. Doc says May could make multiple starts depending, among other things, on Stripling’s health.
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Can’t wait to see this kid pitch.
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It’s August. Time for the Hot Tub Shuffle.
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Hot tub shuffle???? In August???? Little too hot for my taste.
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Gyorko going to Tulsa to start re-hab stint on Friday,.
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Once again who needs a stinking bullpen when you have Will Smith! Move over Belli you may have some comp for MVP!!!!!
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Keibert Who????? Smith goes yard again with a Grand Salami !! Go ahead homer again. Will the Thrill in BLUE!!!!!!
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As I said on the other thread, pitchers haven’t solved Smith. Until they do… viva LA Will!
Just saw the replay. Center cut fastball. Luchessi is pissed.
And it’s Ruiz. You’ll be reading about him in a couple years.
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Will the Thrill in Blue….
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I just ran across a very encouraging stat that might cheer some people up after yesterday. Don’t look now but since May 8th Joe Kelly has a 2.25ERA with 33 Ks over 24 IP. Those are 8th inning guy numbers. I really do believe things are going to continue to improve in the pen. Getting a legitimate LOOGY is going to help tremendously. Even though this guy isn’t a big name, sidearming lefties are usually hell on lefty batters so I think we are good shape there.
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Read an interesting stat in the newspaper today, the bull pen has 18 losses this season , while the starters only have 21, that seems like a lot of losses for a bullpen. If AF figures this out we could be a very good team.
Poor Barnsy may never get back in the line up the way smith is playing. It’s funny last season all the catching talk was about Ruiz, he was the flashy name, We all couldn’t wait for Ruiz to get here. Smith sure has made the most of his opportunity, and made all of us forget about Ruiz.
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He’s made all you forget about Ruiz. I haven’t.
I got news for you. It ain’t this easy. Smith will not hit .349 for the season. I doubt he hits .300.
The more important news to me is the bullpen didn’t give up any runs. Of course, the Pads are a team 8 games under .500 and 20.5 games back.
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Those are the teams you need to beat, and remember, the last time SD was here, they took 3 of 4 and won the last 3 games just before the break. They have some good hitters over there.
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In 14 games, Smith has more HR’s than either Martin or Barnes, only 4 less driven in than Barnes. Barnes has about as much chance of getting his job back as I have of managing in the majors. That being said, I agree with Scoop that it is doubtful that Smith can continue to rake at this rate. He will probably lose some steam along the way. But what ever he contributes it will be more than we were getting out of the anemic bat of Austin Barnes.
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Yes they do have a decent lineup. They haven’t really put it together yet (24th in runs scored, 26th in AVG) but you know they will.
Smith is hot exactly when we need him to be – now. Teams are learning he can punish mistakes (like last night) so they will stop making them. At least the better pitchers will. If he ends up OPSn anywhere near .800 I will be thrilled.
Direct TV recently eliminated CBS and they black out nationally televised Dodgers games. WTF? Can somebody tell me if Roku ,Hulu, Bumfu or Scruyu can give me better service?
What’s with hitting in OKC? Just noticed Ruiz is hitting ,300 there. Don’t forget, when Smith was Keibert’s age he was still at Louisville. And as we also know, Cartaya may be the best catcher we have. I’m still surprised one of them wasn’t moved.
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If Smith goes 0 for the rest of the season he will still have given us more than Barnes! But you’re right Scoop he will have to adjust to the pitchers adjustments. I think he will be seeing a lot less fastballs and we’ll see if he can hit off speed stuff
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I know how I’d pitch him…, high and tight, low and away. My grandpa, a Texas League pitcher, watched me getting clobbered by Warren Kuhn in 1960. Warren was 6’3” in Little League and could hit it off his fists to the fence. Grandpa told me then “you want to cool off a hot hitter you bust him up and in with heat and low and away with breaking stuff.” It worked then and I used that approach until I stopped pitching at age 56. He also taught me a change up when I was 12. He called it a “change of pace”. Keep it down though and never throw it to a bad hitter. It’s my opinion that the league will catch up to Smith. In the mean time, ain’t he fun to watch? Nobody making a head call or a beer run when he’s due up.
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Assuming your Grandpa hasn’t had a chance to impart information to anyone now pitching in the majors, I expect Smith will continue at this pace for his entire career………………………….unless you come out of retirement.
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“I expect Smith to continue at this pace for his entire career”.
No you don’t. And I’m not coming out of retirement.
I remember playing catch with with my grandfather when he was in in his 50s and I was about 12. I was a Little League catcher, and thought I was pretty good. It was like he was throwing a whiffle ball. He could make it go any direction and still had a knuckle ball. I learned a lot from him. It was all about spin, location, and change of pace.
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That’s great to read about you and your grandpa playing ball together scoop, every kid should have that in their lives.
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