The Dodgers played to a tie with Milwaukee on Friday afternoon, but that wasn’t the story. The stories are within the story and that is that it was announced that James Outman will be on the opening day roster and Ryan Pepiot will claim the 5th spot in the rotation.
James Outman was told that he was going to make the 26-man roster on Thursday Morning, then Thursday night he got 2 hits including his 2nd double and 10th RBI. Outman is hitting .283 in Spring Training to the point with an OPS of 904, so making the 26-man is more than deserved. The last thing you want to do to a bigtime prospect is put them in a situation where they’re not playing every day so expect Outman to get to play quite a bit while he is up with LA. For more on James and to hear from the Redwood California native himself, click on the picture on the left.
Congrats to Ryan Pepiot for being named the 5th starter to open the season. Pepiot has some of the best stuff on any pitcher in the game, and, when he’s in the zone, he’s as hard to hit as anyone. Pepiot has an ERA of 3.29 so far this year, and that could have been better but he got a little unlucky last time out in the sense that he was pulled after 74 pitches with 2 outs in the 5th with 2 runners on base that both scored. One thing Pepiot has done is get out of jams, so the odds are that he would have gotten out of that one too. For everything you need to know about Pepiot, click the picture to the right to watch his full feature.
Marshall Kasowski was brought in to put out a big fire that is better known as the 1st inning of Thursday’s game. Kasowski has worked very hard in the off-season to re-shape his slider and looked is looking forward to a big 2023. Kasowksi was just recently inducted into the West Texas A&M Hall of Fame in 2022 for his great career there in College. He set the single-season strikeout record while he was a buffalo.
Wander Suero had another good outing on Thursday going scoreless in his 1 inning of work. Suero has a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings and 8 appearances and his WHIP is just 0.78, so he has been dominant in his small sample size of work. If you click on the picture you’ll see the cutter that gives him a left turn, his changeup that turns right, and then also his curveball that has very good depth on it. He’s 91-92 on the cutter and 4-seam, so he’s not overpowering, but he gets great movement that entices a lot of weak contact.
Aaron Ochsenbein got work on the main field and had his split-finger on display. Ochsenbein was a 6th Round draft pick out of Eastern Kentucky in 2019 and made it as high up as AAA last year. He was throwing very well but then fought some injury about halfway through last year, so he’s excited to be healthy and ready to go for 2023. In the quote that he provided for Dodgers Daily, he mentioned that he’s worked very hard on the mental aspects of his game as well.
Mitchell Tyranski struck out the side in his 1 inning of action, which was his first action on the main field so far in Spring Training. Tyranski was a 12th Round Draft pick in the 2019 Draft out of Michigan State but hasn’t pitched since 2019 due to injury, so this is important work for him. Tyranski has a good sweeping slider and a good fastball.Â
Max Muncy got the scoring started for the Dodgers on Friday by hitting his 2nd home run of Spring Training. Muncy is healthy and motivated to have a bounce-back year and is hitting .282 with an OPS of .942.Â
Miguel Vargas is getting back in the swing of things after suffering a hairline fracture. He’s 8 for 25 since he’s been allowed to swing a bat, and looks like he’s rounding into form. He will be the starting 2nd baseman on opening day.Â
JD Martinez hit his 2nd home run of Spring Training and it’s a great site to see because he is a historically slow starter. Martinez has reunited with Robert Van Scoyoc and, as Dodgers fans, we all hope he’ll rekindle his great offense from years past. Martinez is hitting just .213 in Spring Training so far, but, as I stated earlier, that shouldn’t be of concern because of his typical slow starts. He’s had several Spring training’s where his numbers were not good, but then he turned around and had a very good Regular Season.Â
Brandon Lewis had a hit on the main field today which was his 3rd in 8 at-bats. Lewis is a corner infielder that can hit a lot of home runs, but he is also very good at shooting the ball the other way. He has a lot of Bob Horner in his game! Here’s his entire at-bat!
The more playing time Drew Avans gets at on the Main Field, the more people will catch on to all the things he does well on a baseball field. He’s a guy that you need to watch play every day for an extended period of time to truly appreciate all the things he does.
Watch the eyes of Hunter Feduccia on the replay of his double from Today. Shows how well he’s seeing the ball right now. Feduccia is hitting a cool .400 in Spring Training with an OPS of 1.338.
Caleb Ferguson looks like he has all the “feels” back from his Tommy John Surgery and is ready to have a big year for LA. I love stories of resilience and his story, which includes 2 Tommy John surgeries, is certainly that. Easy guy to root for!
Do yourself a favor and click the picture on the right and check out the change from Shelby Miller to finish his scoreless inning today. Miller had some rough outings early, but hasn’t given up a run in his last 3 & has yet to walk a batter. Between that control & the change-up he’s flashing, he might be turning a corner.
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