Emmet Sheehan's absurd return to minors proves Dodgers need him back immediately

Emmet Sheehan got his first start on a major league mound since Sept. 27, 2023 on June 18 against the Padres. He underwent Tommy John in May of last year, but unlike most other injured Dodgers pitchers, he managed to make a timely return. He threw just four innings against the Padres but only gave up one run en route to a Dodgers victory.

The team optioned him back to Triple-A the next day for what can only plausibly be explained as more of an administrative move than anything. The Dodgers needed a fresh arm in the bullpen, so they brought up Jack Little for his MLB debut, only to send him down after giving up two runs in two innings.

The four innings Sheehan pitched in his season debut was the longest outing of the year up to that point, so the Dodgers probably wanted to send him down to get a few longer outings before bringing him back.

On Wednesday, he not only gave the OKC Comets length, but he did it flawlessly. He pitched six perfect innings — no hits, no walks — and struck out 13 batters out of the 18 he faced.

Emmet Sheehan was perfect through six innings after Dodgers demoted him to Triple-A

Tyler Glasnow is also in Oklahoma City rehabbing, but Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, and Tony Gonsolin's returns are still completely unknown. In the meantime, the Dodgers have really only had Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dustin May reliably giving them five or six innings, though Clayton Kershaw has been working his way up and has pitched as many as seven innings. Shohei Ohtani shouldn't be expected to pitch more than one or two for some time. If we're counting Ohtani as a starter, which would be a generous designation, that's still only four pitchers when the Dodgers need five (and would prefer to have six).

Sheehan couldn't have made a stronger argument for coming back to the majors and being returned to the rotation to make regular starts. He already looked pretty promising in his season debut, even more so than Landon Knack or Justin Wrobleski have in their starts or bulk relief appearances.

It would be easy enough to send carousel reliever Will Klein back to the minors, or even Wrobleski. Sheehan could take over in his role as a five-inning long reliever or make traditional starts. Either way, he looks more than ready to be reinstated as a regular member of the major league squad.