LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers’ youth movement this season continued on Friday when the club called up right-hander Emmet Sheehan for a major-league debut against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.
Sheehan, ranked No. 13 in the Dodgers organization by MLB Pipeline, will become the sixth rookie to make his debut for the Dodgers in 2023, joining Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller, Michael Busch, Nick Robertson and Jonny DeLuca.
Sheehan’s appointment is an aggressive move for the Dodgers considering the right-hander hasn’t progressed past Double-A Tulsa this season. Sheehan went 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA and batted 88 in 53 1/3 innings. That dominance earned him a Triple-A Oklahoma City call-up over the weekend, though he has yet to reach that level.
But while he’s yet to play in Triple-A and the Dodgers need to play in the starting lineup, the club are confident the 23-year-old is ready at this point in his career to make his major debut. It’s the second time the Dodgers have started a candidate who didn’t throw over Double-A, with Michael Grove doing so in 1922.
Sheehan isn’t in the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, but the club has a vacancy after picking Adam Kolarek up ahead of Wednesday’s game.
Rather than starting a bullpen game Friday, the Dodgers also thought of Landon Knack, also just called up for Triple-A Oklahoma City, and Stone, who will start Friday for Triple-A OKC.
Stone, who gave up 16 runs in his first three major league starts, is still developing with the minors. The young right-hander continues to work on his slider, a pitch he’ll need to combine with his four-seamer and changeup before he can permanently pull hitters out of the big league.
Sheehan has been one of the Minors’ most dominant players this season. Scouts rave about the way his four-seam fastball lunges at batsmen, and he boasts an above-average changeup to match. It remains to be seen how long the Dodgers can last with Sheehan in the majors, but with Los Angeles in dire need of rotation assistance, a strong performance on Friday could help the right-hander.
With Sheehan starting Friday, the Dodgers will turn to Miller for the series finals against the Giants on Saturday and Tony Gonsolin on Sunday.