2018 was a tale of two seasons for Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling. The first-half saw him post a remarkable 8-2 record and even more remarkable 2.08 ERA, with 108 strikeouts and only 14 walks (that’s not a typo) for a WHIP of 1.08 in his 95.1 innings of work, earning him an invitation to his first All-Star Game.

But then disaster struck.

Stripling had a second-half that he – and Dodger fans – would just as soon forget, which actually began when he gave up back-to-back bombs in the 10th-inning of that aforementioned Mid-Summer Classic.

Then there was the back injury in August that kept him on the Injured List for almost a month and limited him to just 26.2 IP for the remainder of the season, during which he posted an ugly 6.41 ERA with opposing hitters torching him for a .968 OPS. Then came the news in October that the extremely polite Bluebell, Pennsylvania native and Dodgers 2012 fifth-round draft pick had been tipping his pitches in his own words “Big time.”

But Dodger fans on-hand at Camelback Ranch for Stripling’s first bullpen session of Spring Training 2019 – at least those paying close attention – noticed a new wrinkle in the 29-year-old former Texas Aggie’s delivery; he has returned to using a windup rather than pitching strictly from the stretch position, as he had done since 2017.

Stripling’s rationale for returning to a full windup centers around rhythm and giving hitters more moving parts – i.e., distractions – to watch than they had to when he pitched exclusively from a simple set position for every pitch.

Perhaps you remember a year ago when now former Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood also decided to abandon the windup, with comments like “What idiot created the windup and the stretch?” and “It (the windup/stretch) doesn’t make any sense. What is the benefit of it? There is no benefit.” But apparently the (now) Cincinnati Red has since changed his mind, as he is now saying that he will once again use a windup in 2019.

Now the question is, where will Ross Stripling wind up (pun intended) to begin the start of the 2019 season? Will it be as a member of the Dodgers five-man starting rotation or back in the bullpen, where he would most likely be pitching almost exclusively from the stretch? Or will he (shudder) be using his new old windup as a member of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers starting rotation?

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