Young Dodgers starter showed concerning velocity drop in latest spring training start

Emmet Sheehan is arguably the most successful homegrown Dodgers starter since Walker Buehler. Dustin May was a bust, Tony Gonsolin was a bust, Bobby Miller was a bust. Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, and even more contemporaries of Sheehan got injured at the wrong times.

Sheehan did undergo Tommy John in 2024 after a rocky debut season (4.92 ERA in 60 1/3 innings in 2023), but he came back with a vengeance in 2025 while Stone, Ryan, and Hurt were on the shelf. He pitched 73 1/3 innings (12 starts in 15 appearances) for a 2.82 ERA.

It made him the natural replacement for Blake Snell, who will start the season late after a slow ramp-up in spring training. While Ryan and Stone appeared to fight for a roster spot that neither of them actually got, Sheehan's spot was never in question.

He didn't pitch until March 9 after contracting an illness at the start of spring training, tossing 2 1/3 one-run innings against the Brewers. There were some control issues (he gave up three walks), and only two strikeouts, but it was hard to fault him too much; it was his first time out, after all.

But his second appearance on Sunday against the Cubs offered a little more to be concerned about. He gave up two runs in 3 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and only one walk, but his velocity took a concerning nosedive toward the end of his outing.

Emmet Sheehan's fastball velocity took a concerning dip in latest Dodgers spring training outing

Sheehan's fastball looked pretty normal in his first start, sitting around 95 MPH, but he failed to hit 95 on a single fastball in his second outing. His velocity dipped all the way down to 91.8 in his second-to-last at-bat.

His illness could be to blame; though the Dodgers have not expounded upon the severity of it, it was clearly bad enough to keep him off of a mound until March. We all remember what happened to Mookie Betts when he got sick at the beginning of the season — he lost over 15 pounds and then had the worst offensive season of his career.

The Dodgers have not commented on Sheehan's velocity dip, so maybe it's not something that they think they need to concern themselves with right now. But with so many young pitchers fighting to be the first in line whenever LA needs another starter, they might want to get to the root of Sheehan's issues quickly.