Dodgers: Dave Roberts Praises Phil Bickford’s Impact Out of the Bullpen
It’s been a tale of two bullpens this year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On one hand, we’ve seen them eat up innings and shut lineups down in order to seal the win. But at other times they’ve also endured complete meltdowns.
It may come as a shock to some, but Kenley Jansen has been one of the biggest positives in the bullpen this year. However, thanks to Andrew Friedman, Phil Bickford has become a solid and reliable addition for Dave Roberts and the Dodgers to turn to in times of need.
The 25-year old reliever did not disappoint on Saturday as he came out of the pen to pitch 1 2/3 shutout innings. One of those innings only took him 3-pitches to complete, which is certainly something you don’t see often in baseball.
Phil Bickford just threw a three-pitch inning ? pic.twitter.com/XheE7SfX1z
— The Baseball Newsletter (@bbletter) June 27, 2021
After he helped the club secure a 3-2 win against the Chicago Cubs, Doc praised Bickford and his ability to put up zeros.
Phil was great. You don’t see too many three pitch innings in the big leagues, but his – his willingness and eagerness to take the baseball and pitch big innings regardless of when the spot is, is incredible. His gratitude for being a big league ball player playing for the Dodgers, his hometown team, is next level and he’s just been a complete joy for all of us.
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After accumulating 2 uneventful innings with the Milwaukee Brewers between 2020 and this season, Bickford was scooped up by the Dodgers. Since his arrival, he’s pitched14.2 innings while allowing 4 runs and 20 strikeouts to only 5 walks. But 3 of those runs were given up during a single bad outing against the Rangers.
Aside from those outings, Bickford has been surprisingly lights out for Los Angeles. Hopefully, he can continue to be a productive option for the team in the future.
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Liked him from the first time I saw him. Dodgers have remarkable skill at finding good cast-offs often. Front office, pitching, offense, defense…keys to success.
Yes AF and the FO are top notch!
Check out the location of the pitches in the 3 pitch inning. Clearly, he was pitching to contact. I hope he doesn’t plan to live there against better teams…
need more pitchers pitching to contact. go deeper into games!!
Bickford has been a great pick up! I’m routing for him.He reminds me of the Weaver brothers.
yes totally!
Hope he can stick with the team. A lot of these relievers issues too many walks so glad to see Bickford throw strikes.
I think Mark Pryor has a lot to do w/ his development and transformation. I remember the game where he loaded the bases w/ 3 consecutive walks on only fast balls, instead of taking him out, time was called and Pryor came out to talk to him, then Bickford started to throw some sliders for strikes and eventually got out of the inning w/ no runs scored. What a comeback! Pryor has a bright mind and helped the transformation of all the reclamation projects thrown at him. I know Kenley credits his adjustments to him. Even Orel has praised Pryor a lot. Now only if the pitchers can take controlling the running game more seriously and help the catchers.