Shortly after being drafted by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University, it was learned that then 21-year-old right-hander Walker Buehler would require Tommy John surgery without having made even one pitch in professional baseball.

Upon his recovery and over the course of the next three seasons, the Lexington, Kentucky native skyrocketed his way through the Dodgers minor league system, with one huge caveat – he was always on a very strict pitch count at every level along the way, up to and including the major league level, where he made his debut on September 7, 2017, tossing only 9.1 innings in eight relief appearances.

In 2018, Buehler appeared in 24 games (23 starts), throwing a combined 137.1 innings and posting an 8-5 record and excellent 2.62 ERA. He made 100 or more pitches in only six of those outings but never more than 105, which he did twice.

And then came spring training 2019.

For reasons that were never disclosed, Buehler had what Dodgers beat writer Ken Gurnick called “slow progress due to an undisclosed arm ailment,” the result of which Buehler made exactly one spring training appearance on March 19 vs. the Cleveland Indians, when he went 2.2 innings, allowed one run on three hits, while walking none and striking out two. And though there was speculation that Buehler might replace Dodgers future Hall of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw (who had also been shut down during spring training due to shoulder discomfort) as the Dodgers Opening Day starter, it never happened, with the Opening Day start going to left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu instead.

Buehler made his 2019 season debut on March 31 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium in the team’s fourth game of the season but went only 3.0 innings and made a total of only 66 pitches. He allowed five runs on five hits with one walk and no strikeouts in the eventual 8-7 Dodgers win. He made five starts after that, none with more than 6.1 innings pitched and none with more than 96 pitches thrown.

…until Monday night at Dodger Stadium against the Atlanta Braves.

In his seventh start of the season and with a 3-0 record and 5.22 ERA coming in, Buehler pitched 7.0 very strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits, while walking none and striking out eight. His fastball was consistently at 97-MPH and topped out at 98.8-MPH and his breaking ball was absolutely filthy.

“For me, it was fastball command, getting ahead with the fastball, as he did all night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. “That’s a very good lineup over there. There’s slug in there, there’s on-base, they don’t punch, and Walker navigated it very well.”

But perhaps of greater interest in the Dodgers 5-3 win is that Buehler made a total of 100 pitches, of which 74 were strikes. As such, it now appears that the extremely popular (and very intelligent) 6′-2″ / 185-pound right-hander is off the leash and no longer under an innings or pitch-count limit.

…and that’s a real good thing.

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Buehler Fun Facts

Buehler is 12-5 in his 30 career starts. No drafted Dodgers pitcher has won that many games in that few starts, including fellow first-rounders Clayton Kershaw, Bob Welch and Chad Billingsley.

In franchise history, only Kenta Maeda (16), Don Newcombe (15), Fernando Valenzuela (15), Hyun-Jin Ryu (14), Kaz Ishii (14) and Hideo Nomo (14) rank ahead of Buehler for wins in their first 30 Major League starts. Buehler is tied at 12 with Pedro Astacio.

Additionally, Buehler has limited the opposition to a .195 batting average in those 30 starts, sixth in MLB all-time behind Jose Fernandez (.181), Vida Blue (.181), Nomo (.185), Juan Guzman (.192) and Matt Harvey (.195).

(Courtesy of LA Dodgers)

Play Ball!

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