Dodgers: Grading the starting pitchers for June

McCarthy had a decent month of June going 1-2 with an excellent 3.20 ERA in five starts. He continued to be a solid number three starter behind Kershaw and Wood. His ERA remains terrific, however, there are some other stats that might indicate he could be trending towards going into a slump soon.

In 25.1 innings this month he struck out only 16 while walking eight. A 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio isn’t great, and opponents also hit .270 against him this month, well above league average. In his last start against the Rockies, it seemed as if his case of the yips had returned.

Maybe the Dodgers saw him starting to struggle a bit and decided to put him on the DL as a precaution. McCarthy isn’t expected to be back until mid-July.

*written before his start against the Padres

Rich Hill had been struggling to find himself all season long. He still hasn’t quite gotten into a rhythm yet this due to injury. He went 2-2- this month with a 5.04 ERA in five starts. If it weren’t for one bad start against the Cleveland Indians in which he allowed seven ER over four innings, he would’ve had a decent month.

Hill’s biggest issue isn’t his stuff. He allowed only a .223 OBA while striking out 29 in 25 innings. His issue right now is his control. Hill walked 14 batters in those 25 innings. He did go at least seven innings for the first time this year which is a positive.

However, he still only averaged five innings per start, which isn’t good enough for a guy who was billed as the Dodgers’ number two starter going into this season. Because of his blister issue, Hill will probably never be a guy you could rely on to consistently go deep into ball games. But if Hill is only going to give you five innings, he needs to make sure those five innings are extremely productive, and he is not consistently doing that this year.

Ryu was inconsistent this month as he has been all season long. He was 1-1 in five starts with a 4.73 ERA. He allowed hitters to hit a very high .300 against him. Ryu did, however, have an excellent strikeout to walk ratio of 27:5.

Ryu does throw strikes and command his pitches well; he just no longer has the same stuff he had a few years ago before the injuries. He can’t throw it by anybody when he gets in trouble and has to rely on changing speeds and having pinpoint accuracy. At this point of his career, a 4.00+ ERA guy might just be who he is for the Dodgers.