Dodgers: Caleb Ferguson to Start Bullpen Game for the Dodgers

The Dodgers have decided who will “start” tonight’s game against the Brewers and it will be Caleb Ferguson.  The game will be a bullpen game as Fergie isn’t stretched out to start.

When the Dodgers announced that a spot starter would be needed for today’s game, there was speculation that Tony Gonsolin would get called up to make his first big league start.  I even broke down the possible candidates to start in place of Hyun-Jin Ryu and figured that the Dodgers would call up a starter since they have two open forty man roster spots.

Instead, the Dodgers will go with Caleb Ferguson who last pitched on Tuesday against the Cardinals.  Caleb’s pitch count was worked up in the spring but during the season he has been a one-inning reliever.  In an ideal scenario, Ferguson would give the Dodgers three innings before giving way to the rest of the bullpen.  The more likely scenario is that Caleb pitches two innings.

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So far this season, Ferguson has pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and only one walk allowed.  Opposing batters are hitting just .227 against Fergie.  Last season, Caleb made three starts before moving to a relief role for the rest of the regular season.  In those three starts, he went about four innings each start allowing at least two runs in each start.  His big league debut came in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.

Caleb Ferguson emerged as an effective reliever for the Dodgers last season and now for one start, he can try and carry those lessons into his spot start.  It’s possible that Ferguson may end up a starting pitcher in the long run, but for now, he has been too good out of the bullpen to move back into a stacked starting rotation.

By going with a bullpen game, the Dodgers are in danger of overworking their bullpen even more.  Between Ryu leaving Monday’s start early and the rotation maxing out at 5 1/3 innings pitched in a game, the bullpen has had to pick up plenty of innings already.  The return of Clayton Kershaw Monday will hopefully insert an innings eater into the rotation so the bullpen can get a bit of a break.