Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Will Neither Confirm Nor Deny the Gavin Stone Rumors
Dodgers fans were awarded with quite the treat on Saturday night when it was reported that the team would be calling up young RHP Gavin Stone later in the week. Juan Toribio of MLB.com reported that the team would call Stone up on Wednesday, and have him start that early game to make his MLB debut.
Stone is the Dodgers No. 4 ranked prospect, and second-highest pitching prospect per MLB Pipeline. After struggling in his first start in Triple-A this season, he’s settled in nicely over his last five starts. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of them, including three starts where he allowed one or zero runs.
His most recent two starts have been his best, as he’s gone a combined 9.2 innings and allowed just five hits, one earned run and four walks while striking out 15. Those two dominant starts have likely factored into the Dodgers’ decision to call him up this early.
While the reports of Stone coming up were, of course, just reports though, on Sunday, the beat writers were able to ask Dodgers manager Dave Roberts if they were true. And, in classic Doc fashion, he didn’t say much, but also gave a pretty decent hint.
“I can’t speak to it but possibly… It would just be more to give guys a blow, if we do decide to do anything. But for now, we’re going to stay the course,” he said with a sly smile. “As of now.”
Via SportsNet LA
Obviously, Roberts can’t talk about a move unless it’s already happened (or about to happen), so I understand him approaching it the way he did. However, he did make it sound like Stone would be coming up to pitch that Wednesday game, which will provide a huge boost to the Dodgers rotation.
It sounds like it could be a quick up-and-down for Stone, as he’s just coming up to allow the rotation an extra day of rest.
But if he dominates the Phillies, and proves he can pitch at the big league level, his call-up could easily turn into a much longer stay.
The Dodgers rotation is solid to start the year, but has been a bit shaky at times. Clayton Kershaw is the best and only consistent pitcher and the rest of the rotation has seen it’s up and downs. Julio Urias has struggled in his last two outings, Noah Syndergaard has struggled mightily on the road and Tony Gonsolin just made his return from injury.
So, if Stone pitches well, he could easily find himself starting every fifth or sixth day, or at least working as a hybrid starter/reliever depending on how where the Dodgers want to give their starters some rest.
Either way, Stone’s potential call-up is very exciting news for the Dodgers. He’s one of the many young players that this team is excited about, and he’s finally going to get his chance at the big league level this week.
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