Circle the date on your Dodgers calendar, April 14, 2019, and add the note:  25-year-old Josh Sborz was added to the active roster. No doubt this is a memorable date for Sborz and his family. Hopefully, it will become a red letter date for the Dodgers this season, as well as future seasons.

The year 2015 was a memorable one for the 6′-3″ right-hander from the University of Virginia. The aggressive Washington, D.C. native and closer for the 2015 College World Series champion Cavaliers was named the Outstanding Player of the Series, after which he was the second-round supplemental draft selection by the Dodgers in the MLB 2015 First-Year Player Draft.

After only two games (one start) with the Dodgers Pioneer Rookie League Ogden Raptors and two starts with the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons, Sborz was promoted to the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, where he soared in his nine games (six starts) with an outstanding 1.50 ERA.

Sborz began the 2016 season in Rancho’s starting rotation, pitching to a 2.66 ERA, holding opposing hitters to a .207 batting average, and striking out 108 batters in 108.1 innings. Late in the season he was promoted to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, where he made 10 relief appearances. He returned to Tulsa for the 2017 season, a mainstay of the Drillers starting rotation, recording a solid, if not spectacular, 3.86 ERA in twenty-four starts.

In 2018 the Dodgers permanently moved Sborz to the bullpen, which put him on the fast-track to the majors. Where he had been a starting pitcher with two pitches, a low-90’s fastball and mid-80’s slider starter, Josh became a late-innings reliever and occasional closer. 

Not included in the Dodgers 2019 Top-30 prospects by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America considers the 25-year-old right-hander to be the Dodgers number 18 prospect. The difference in the two rankings may be attributed to the recognition by Baseball America that Sborz’s two plus pitches and bulldog mentality moved him from a fringe, bottom-of-the-rotation starter to a legit back-end-of-the-bullpen prospect.

Off to a fast start for Oklahoma City in 2019, Sborz pitched four innings while giving up no runs, three hits, one walk and striking out nine. As a result (and due to a heavily-used Dodgers bullpen over the past week), Sborz ‘got the call’ prior to Sunday’s 7-1 pounding of the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium to snap a six-game losing streak.

The good news is that the Dodgers won because of a stellar eight-inning performance by right-hander Ross Stripling. The bad news is that because of the stellar eight-inning performance by Stripling and a scoreless ninth inning by 27-year-old right-hander Jaime Schultz, Sborz has yet to make his major league debut.

Although a roster move will be required prior to Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds when Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will be activated from the Injured List, it will probably be Schultz who gets optioned back to OKC since he has pitched on consecutive days. That being said, it could also be Sborz who goes.

Regardless, keep up the great work Josh! Dodger fans are looking forward to you helping the 2019 team return to the World Series this season.

…and future seasons.

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UPDATED April 15 at 3:15 pm (PT)

It was indeed Jaime Schultz who was optioned to OKC to make room on the Dodgers 25-man roster for Clayton Kershaw.

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