Dodgers: Josiah Gray getting scratched from Triple-A start signaling promotion?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are hurting everywhere on their roster.

The offense is hardly producing. The bullpen is a mess. The starting rotation is somehow thin thanks to injuries to Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and David Price.

At this point, with the way the offense has been performing, the Dodgers can afford to go with a spot starter or a bullpen game. It’ll be a total waste and tax the bullpen beyond belief.

As a result, the calls for top prospect Josiah Gray have been growing louder, and rightfully so. The Dodgers can’t go through the rotation again without an answer at the No. 5 spot.

The fact of the matter is Gonsolin won’t be back in time. He’s still being built up as a starter and needs more reps to gradually increase his pitch count.

Interestingly enough, Gray was scratched from his Tuesday night start with Triple-A Oklahoma City, leading to speculation about his eventual promotion.

Hmmm … what does that mean, Mr. Roberts? The manager gave a vague response when asked about the situation and we truly have no idea what he’s referring to in regards to testing, unless he’s talking about COVID, but why wouldn’t he have mentioned that?

The Dodgers came out and said recently that Gray would not be an option in the interim to help out the major league pitching staff, but at this point their hand might be forced. The guys they’re shuttling back forth (or have the capability to do so with) between Triple-A (Mitch White, Edwin Uceta, Alex Vesia, Garrett Cleavinger) have ended up pitching far too many high-leverage innings for this team.

And Gray is filthy. So why not start his service-time clock now? Out of every organization in Major League Baseball, service-time considerations do not matter for the Dodgers. Their window is now.

At the very least, he could provide a band-aid for the rotation and eat some innings, gain some MLB experience, and be sent back down to Triple-A to continue refining his stuff when the time comes and the Dodgers are back to full strength.

Isn’t this the whole point of having capable top prospects? It’s a luxury. There’s no need to keep tip-toeing around the most obvious solution. Gray might’ve missed all of 2020 when the minor league season was canceled, but he’s still going to pitch innings in 2021. It shouldn’t matter if it’s with AAA or in MLB. His stuff will play at both levels.

Maybe Gray being scratched on Tuesday is a sign that the Dodgers have finally came to their senses.

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