Dodgers’ Emmet Sheehan flashes the kind of stuff that makes him an intriguing October arm
LOS ANGELES — Emmet Sheehan has established something.
Bobby Miller has been the one to separate himself, not just among the Los Angeles Dodgers’ talented crop of rookie starters, but among this pitching staff as a whole. He will likely start Game 1 or 2 of the National League Division Series and carry much of the stakes of the club’s October hopes on his right shoulder.
Ryan Pepiot has looked like a completely different pitcher than he was a year ago and has inserted himself firmly into the mix of the Dodgers’ nontraditional pitching hopes despite also being a rookie. Gavin Stone and Michael Grove remain possibilities to make the final group of 13 pitches the Dodgers will take with them once they start postseason play Oct. 7.
But when it comes to the refrain that Andrew Friedman has clung to in recent weeks, a bet on “big-boy stuff,” Sheehan certainly belongs in the mix.
“He’s right there in the conversation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Sheehan struck out a career-best nine hitters in 4 2/3 innings in a 7-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday. “He does something different in the sense that, I think in the organization he’s probably got one of the top fastballs in all of our organization and on this team. It’s just something different. He gets righties and lefties out. He’s unique.”
He has a carrying trait — a currency that will lend you opportunities, particularly in October.
The Giants offense has been in a perpetual state of ennui since the start of the second half (their defense, Thursday showed, hasn’t been much better). Only the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees entered Thursday night with fewer runs scored since the All-Star break, as the Giants — who were surging the last time they were at Dodger Stadium — have seen their postseason odds plummet.
Sheehan did little to wake them from their slumber. In 10 2/3 career innings against them, he has still yet to allow a hit. The ownership certified some history: No modern pitcher ever had put together consecutive hitless outings of four or more innings against the same opponent before, according to OptaSTATS.
“I don’t know (how),” Sheehan said. “Just making good pitches, I guess.”
San Francisco has clearly established it is not a postseason lineup, but Sheehan showed his growth anyway. The freshness of his sterling debut was replaced with dominance. When Sheehan debuted in June, his opponents marveled at his fastball. It was thrown from an atypical angle, for one, and generated enough life through the zone that it was nearly imperceptible to the opposing hitter until it was too late. Life in the major leagues has humbled that belief that he could thrive on the pitch alone.
“Whenever (those pitches are) in-zone and around the zone, that always goes better for me,” Sheehan said.
Which is what made Thursday so enthralling, so dominant. He struck out five of the first six, and seven of the first nine batters he faced, finishing off opposing hitters on each of his four primary offerings — his electric fastball, his “bullet” slider, sweeping slider and even his changeup.
“He’s got a good fastball,” Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “He’s just got really good stuff in general.”
That matters. Incorporating his whole mix will be a necessity in October, when matchups ratchet up and the toll of familiarity will come over various looks in a series.
“To be a one-trick pony, with the game planning the way it is in the postseason, it doesn’t play well,” Roberts said Thursday afternoon. “To be able to keep guys honest and off your fastball, it just makes everything else play up.”
It was a statement. In a short burst, he thrived. But betting on youth, as the Dodgers will, still means some growing pains.
As the night rolled on to the fifth inning, Sheehan showed what might still be holding him back. He recorded two quick outs, then plunked Yastrzemski on the foot with a backfoot slider that took things too literally. Marco Luciano, Blake Sabol and eventually debuting rookie Tyler Fitzgerald all worked full counts and refused to be put away a second time, drawing walks that pushed a run across. With his pitch count creeping up toward 90, the putaway offerings that defined his night dried up. Roberts surmised Sheehan was “running low in the tank” but was pleased with how Sheehan absorbed the moment.
“Stuff certainly plays,” Roberts said. “But also betting on young players being able to manage emotions, put the blinders on and execute pitches. What we’ve seen, betting on these guys, their growth, their compete, their preparation and, lastly, the stuff. All those components are the ingredients for postseason success.”
More hostile situations await. Thursday was just Sheehan’s 12th appearance in the big leagues, an arrival that came before he threw a single pitch at Triple A and came out of necessity. A return from the minors has come with positive strides as well as the continued refinement of an arsenal that looks like it could play — in short bursts, not full-fledged starts, as he showed over three scoreless innings Saturday in Seattle.
Thursday was just another intriguing taste.
