When the Dodgers selected a then 20-year-old Walker Buehler in the first round of the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University, they knew that, in spite of his remarkable success at the college level, there was a pretty good chance that he might soon need Tommy John surgery.

He did, and was immediately placed on the shelf for the next two seasons, until finally making his MLB debut for the Dodgers on September 7, 2017 out of the bullpen.

The 6′-2″ / 175-pound right-hander, who has long been compared to former Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke because of their similar body styles, appeared in eight games – all in relief – for the Dodgers after his September 1, 2017 call up, posting a 1-0 record and rather unattractive 7.71 ERA over his combined 9.1 innings pitched.

Fast forward to spring training 2018, when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that they were going to “slow play” it with the young Lexington, Kentucky native as he continues to build up arm strength towards becoming the guy they had hoped to get in that 2015 draft. Judging by his performance in his Cactus League debut on Friday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields, mission accomplished.

“It’s amazing what comes out of the body and that arm.” – Dodgers manager Dave Roberts
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although on a 40-pitch / two-inning limit, all Buehler did against what will probably be the Dbacks Opening Day starting line-up was allow no runs, no hits, one walk and strikeout two in his two innings and 38 total pitches, while consistently hovering around the 97-98-MPH range with his Greinke-like fastball.

That’s not a typo. Buehler consistently hit 98-MPH on the Salt River Fields radar gun during his Cactus League debut on Friday afternoon. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“I’m 23 and I feel good with where I’m at and what I’m trying to accomplish,” Buehler said, following his Cactus League debut. “Hopefully it all works out, and the biggest thing is this team is winning. And if I’m a part of that, great, and if not, they’ve got some good guys out there.”

What Buehler was referring to is what the Dodgers plan to do with the extremely polite and soft-spoken right-hander come Opening Day in less than two weeks. By every indication, Buehler will begin the 2018 campaign at Triple-A Oklahoma City with the full understanding that he will be the first guy called up to the bigs in the event of (Heaven forbid) an injury to one of the starting five, or poor performance from the (apparent) Dodgers left-handed-heavy Opening Day rotation.

As for his outing on Friday, Roberts was like a proud father when describing Buehler’s extremely successful – albeit short – Cactus League debut.

“I thought he threw well,” Roberts said. “He got ahead of some guys and didn’t put them away as efficiently as he’d like. Velocity was really good. It’s amazing what comes out of the body and that arm. The next piece, with the swing-and-miss pitches, is to put hitters away. But a lot of good stuff.”

Although the next step with Buehler is still up in the air and, in his words “…in the hands of those at a much higher pay grade,”  he plans to continue to improve the command of his near-triple-digit fastball.

Ironically, the Greinke comparisons go beyond just the physical similarities between the two. Buehler himself has mentioned in the past that he has long looked up to the former Dodgers and current Diamondbacks right-hander for most of his life not only because of their physical similarities, but even more so because of their pitching styles.

When you stop and think about that, it is both mind-boggling and leads one to believe that Walker Buehler may soon be drawing comparisons to yet another famous Dodgers right-hander – that of Hall of Famer Don Drysdale who, along with left-hander Sandy Koufax, were arguably the best righty / lefty combination the game has ever seen.

Might history soon repeat itself with a Kershaw / Buehler duo?

Stay tuned…