Tyler Glasnow’s issues have been the identical for years.
Spending an excessive amount of time caught up in his personal head, and never sufficient time really pitching on the mound.
Ever because the Dodgers acquired the tall, lanky and Southern California-raised right-hander, these two points have plagued the $136.5-million acquisition in ways in which have pissed off him, the crew and its fan base.
Glasnow made 22 begins final yr (a career-high in his injury-plagued profession) earlier than a nagging elbow downside ended his season early. This time period, he managed solely 5 begins earlier than his shoulder began barking, touchdown him on the injured record for one more prolonged stint.
By all of it, Glasnow has talked repeatedly concerning the must be extra “external” on the mound — targeted extra on execution and compete-level than the aches and pains in his physique and imperfections in his supply.
But, with every new setback, the veteran pitcher was left scrambling for solutions, always tinkering along with his mechanics and toiling along with his mindset in hopes of hanging an equilibrium between each.
That’s why, as Glasnow neared his newest return to motion, he tried to simplify issues. For actual, this time.
No extra worrying about backbone angle and launch level. No extra mid-game ideas concerning the many shifting elements in his throwing sequence.
“I don’t even know,” he stated when requested final week how he modified his mechanics throughout his most up-to-date absence, the type of bodily ignorance which may really be a very good factor within the 31-year-old’s case.
“I’m just going out and being athletic and not trying to look at it. And if there’s something I need to fix, or something the coaches see, then I’ll worry about it. But I’m just going out … [and] getting in that rhythm. Getting back into a starting routine.”
Two begins in, that new routine appears promising.
After pitching 5 stable innings of one-run ball in Milwaukee final week, Glasnow began the second half of the season with one other step ahead Friday, spinning a six-inning, one-run gem within the Dodgers’ 2-0 loss to the Brewers at Dodger Stadium.
“I’ve been feeling good since rehab, making changes and stuff,” Glasnow stated. “Feel solid right now. So gotta keep going.”
Because the Dodgers (58-40) got here out of the All-Star break, few gamers appeared as pivotal to their long-term success as Glasnow.
The membership is relying on him and fellow nine-figure free-agent signee Blake Snell (who, like Glasnow, missed nearly the entire first half with a shoulder harm however could possibly be again in motion by the top of the month) to bolster a rotation that has missed them dearly.
It’s hopeful they’ll be part of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and in some capability Shohei Ohtani, on the forefront of a pitching employees in search of vital enchancment because it tries to repeat as World Sequence champions.
Granted, the Dodgers — who want to keep away from including a beginning pitcher on the commerce deadline, and might need a tough time discovering an affect addition equivalent to Jack Flaherty final summer time even when they fight — did have related hopes for Glasnow final season.
“I think he’s in a really good spot. He’s healthy, feeling confident. And we’re better for it, for sure.”
— Dave Roberts, Dodgers supervisor, on Tyler Glasnow
Even when he first went down along with his elbow harm in mid-August, the preliminary expectation was that he’d be again properly in time for the playoff push.
As an alternative, Glasnow’s elbow by no means ceased to hassle him. When he tried ramping up for a dwell batting apply session in mid-September, he successfully pulled the plug on his season when his arm nonetheless didn’t really feel proper.
Ever since, Glasnow has lived in a world of frustration, spending his winter attempting to craft a more healthy supply solely to run into extra issues throughout the first month of this season.
“Certainly the talent is undeniable,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated final week, forward of Glasnow’s return. “But I think for me, for us, you want the dependability. That’s something that I’m looking for from Tyler from here on out. To know what you’re going to get when he takes that ball every fifth or sixth day.”
On Friday, Glasnow produced a template value following in a four-hit, one-walk, six-strikeout displaying.
Flashing elevated fastball velocity for the second-straight outing — routinely hitting 98-99 mph on the gun — he crammed up the strike zone early, going after hitters along with his premium four-seamer and rising reliance on a late-breaking sinker.
“It’s like the one pitch I can be late with, and it’s in the zone,” Glasnow stated of his sinker, which he had thrown sparingly previous to getting damage. “I don’t necessarily have to be perfectly timed up for it to have a lot of movement. I think if I’m late on it, it’s kind of my go-to.”
His big-bending curveball, in the meantime, proved to be an ideal complement, with Glasnow pulling the string for awkward swings and tender contact.
He retired the primary 5 batters he confronted, and didn’t let a ball out of the infield till Brice Turang’s two-out single within the third. He was late attending to the mound firstly of the fourth, leading to an automated ball to the leadoff batter, however remained unfazed, retiring the facet so as.
Milwaukee’s Caleb Durbin hits a run-scoring double in entrance of Dodgers catcher Will Smith within the fifth inning Friday.
(Mark J. Terrill / Related Press)
Glasnow did wobble within the fifth in opposition to Milwaukee (57-40). Instantly struggling to find the ball, he walked leadoff hitter Isaac Collins on 5 pitches earlier than giving up an RBI double to Caleb Durbin in a 2-and-0 depend, when he left a sinker over the center of the plate.
However then he settled down, escaped the inning with out additional harm, and labored round a high-hopping one-out single from Jackson Chourio within the sixth by hanging out William Contreras and Christian Yelich.
“It’s not turn [my brain] off completely,” Glasnow stated of his new, in-the-moment mentality. “But it’s not like, when I’m feeling bad, I resort more to, ‘How do we fix this?’ As opposed to like, ‘This is what I got today. Let’s just go get it.’ And I think a lot of that was due to the changes. I’m just in a better position right now to go out and be athletic.”
The outing marked Glasnow’s first time finishing six innings since April 13 in opposition to the Chicago Cubs, and was his first such begin yielding just one earned run since June of final yr.
“He’s been able to stay in his rhythm, stay in his delivery, just be in compete mode,” Roberts stated. “I think he’s in a really good spot. He’s healthy, feeling confident. And we’re better for it, for sure.”
Sadly for Glasnow, he was the second-best pitcher on the bump Friday. Reverse him, younger Brewers right-hander Quinn Priester dominated the Dodgers over six scoreless innings, recording the second-most strikeouts of his profession by fanning 10. Struggling veteran Kirby Yates didn’t assist in reduction of Glasnow, both, giving up a house run to Durbin within the seventh that despatched the Dodgers to a disappointing defeat.
“They’re pitching us well,” Roberts stated of the Brewers, who’ve received 4 straight video games in opposition to the Dodgers over the past two weeks whereas giving up solely 4 complete runs. “We gave ourselves a chance, but we just couldn’t muster anything together tonight.”
Nonetheless, for a crew with a cushty division lead and the shortest World Sequence odds of any membership within the majors, getting good beginning pitching stays probably the most urgent big-picture concern for the Dodgers.
On the finish of final yr, and for a lot of the primary half this season, Glasnow was unable to assist. Now, he may lastly be displaying flashes he can.
“[I want to] just go out and be athletic,” Glasnow stated final week. “Just go out and compete.”
