Dodgers: Assessing the Team’s Left-Handed Pitching Depth

I understand how this slide makes people feel. It’s a mixed bag of emotions.

On one hand, there exists a feeling of excitement that Julio Urias will make the roster at all. For a while, there was an actual conversation as to whether or not the young southpaw would start the season with the Dodgers or in Triple-A.

But, after an awe-inspiring spring training to this point, there is almost no doubt in anyone’s mind that the 22-year-old will make the roster.

Urias has pitched magnificently this spring.

In nine innings pitched, Urias has allowed just two base hits, good for a batting average against of just .074 with nine strikeouts to go alongside it.

But, Urias’s spring success has more than likely landed him a spot in the bullpen, not the starting rotation. Hence the disappointing part of the Urias situation.

The Dodgers appear to be set to limit Urias’s innings this year with the young and still developing pitcher only a year removed from serious shoulder surgery.

The move is in place to protect an arm that projects to be right at the top of the rotation with Walker Buehler but that is obviously heavily dependant on whether or not Urias can stay healthy. The Dodgers will do their part in making that happen.

Urias will be limited to 70-100 innings in 2019 making him the primary piece in the bullpen lefty depth department. Urias should be able to pitch multiple innings with the occasional spot start. It may even be safe to say that Urias has surpassed Cingrani all together on the depth chart.

Staying on the theme of the young and the dominant, Caleb Ferguson figures to be a large part of the Dodgers 2019 bullpen plans.

Ferguson does not get the press for being incredibly young but at 22-years-old, the southpaw is just 41 days older than Julio Urias and health is of no concern.

Ferguson debuted with the Dodgers last year as a spot starter. But, after a few disastrous attempts as the starting pitcher, the Dodgers moved Ferguson to the bullpen where he dominated his way onto the postseason roster and into the spotlight for the world to see what he is made of.

After speculation that he may be built back up to a starter in the spring and sent to Triple-A, the Dodgers appear to have shifted gears on Ferguson, building him to just four innings and preparing for another season of predominantly bullpen work.

Now, what is interesting with Ferguson is the lefty could very well see time as a starter just in a more unconventional way.

It has become clear that LA is willing to try the opener. Ferguson, a starter at heart, is a perfect candidate to do the same work that Scott Alexander did a few times last year and Sergio Romo coined for the Rays.

Ferguson is a great left-handed bullpen option as well for the Dodgers.

In 2018 he ranked in the 92nd percentile in major league baseball curveball spin rate and in the 69th percentile for fastball velocity amongst all pitchers, not just lefties.

Ferguson has the stuff to be very effective. At such a young age and with so much unlocked talent, look for him to be a key cog on the Dodgers lefty depth chart.

Scott Alexander does not really require much mention here as he is the only player on this list with a guaranteed role in the Dodgers’ bullpen as a left-handed specialist.

Alexander picked up the slack left by Cingrani in 2018 and, so long as Cingrani is hurt in 2019, the trend should not change.

To the naked eye, Alexander was nothing special in 2018 and his effectiveness came into question on multiple occasions but never more than when he was sent down.

In 2018, Alexander had a 3.68 ERA in 73 games. But, he also had a 108 ERA+ suggested the lefty was actually an above average reliever despite some discouraging numbers.

Take away all the stats and just leave the games played there and Alexander was one of the team’s most valuable assets. He played in 73 games while spending almost a week in Triple-A. The guy was a workhorse.

If 2018 can be any replication of what he did in 2017 with the Royals, the Dodgers will have a seriously dominant trio of lefties in Alexander, Urias and Ferguson.

As the Josh Fields era came to end just a few weeks ago, the Dodgers filled the right-handed veteran’s roster spot with 28-year-old lefty, Donnie Hart.

Hart has spent his entire career with the Orioles and in their farm system.

Hart was a 27th round pick in the 2013 draft out of Texas State University.

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He subsequently joined the Orioles as a left-handed reliever and continued to relieve until making three starts with their triple-a team in 2018.

But, in claiming Donnie Hart from Baltimore, the Dodgers added an actual minor league depth piece that has options left.

Hart was shuttled back and forth between the majors and the minors last year, pitching a total of 52 games (20 in the majors, 32 in the minors) to the tune of a combined ERA of 3.43.

That number is a bit misleading, however, as Hart’s major league ERA in 2018 was 5.59 and 2.41 in Triple-A.

But, in the sidearm throwing lefty, the Dodgers have the shuttle man, a guy that can spend the season partially in the bigs, partially in the minors and partially on an airplane in between the two.

The Dodgers are far from in trouble when it comes to left-handed depth. These are four of many, many options to replace Tony Cingrani or any other southpaw for that matter.