Dodgers Will Face Tyson Ross on Opening Day

When the Dodgers open the season in San Diego, they will have a tough foe on the mound.

With the regular season set to kick off on April 4 in San Diego, the Padres just announced the pitcher the Dodgers will have to face out of the gate.

Tyson Ross will get the ball on opening day for the Padres against the Dodgers. The 28-year-old Berkeley native established himself as the ace of the Padres’ rotation last year and will throw the first pitch of the Padres’ season against whoever leads off on Dave Roberts‘ lineup card.

Ross made a league-high 33 starts last year and posted a 3.26/2.98 ERA/FIP over 196 innings. He reached the 200 strikeout mark for the first time in his six-year career. Ross still has a bit of work to do, as he also led the NL in walks and wild pitches last year with 84 and 14, respectively.

Ross began his career in Oakland, but Billy Beane moved him to San Diego for Andy Parrino and Andrew Werner. In his time in Oakland, Ross, like most pitchers, relied on his fastball. He threw his fastball 66 percent of the time in his final season in Oakland, and that was the lowest fastball usage of his career up to that point. Ross’ highest slider rate came in his first season in Oakland, where he threw it 26.6 percent of the time.

In San Diego, Ross started throwing his fastball less and his slider more, and the results were good. He threw his fastball a career-low 51.9 percent of the time in 2015 and threw his slider a career-high 41.6 percent of the time. His wFB (fastball runs above average) was -9.5 and his wSL (slider runs above average) was 22.6, the third highest among qualified starters in baseball last season behind Francisco Liriano and Chris Archer.

Ross has had decent success against the Dodgers in the past, with a 2.67 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts) against the Dodgers in the past. However, Ross is still seeking his first career win against the Dodgers.

Carl Crawford has nine hits in 18 career at bats against against Ross, but it would be a bit of a surprise if he were in the opening day lineup. Yasiel Puig and Justin Turner are the only Dodgers to homer off Ross in the past.

The Dodgers have yet to announce their opening day starter this season, but that’s basically been a formality for the last seven years, as Clayton Kershaw will all but certainly be the starter on April 4th in San Diego.

Next: Dodgers Sign Louis Coleman

In a bit of personal news, I’ll be at Opening Day in San Diego with the group at Pantone 294. So if you’re at that game in San Diego, come say hi if you’re not a stalker or murderer.