There is zero doubt that had the near trade of Dodgers All-Star pitcher Ross Stripling and All-Star outfielder Joc Pederson to the Angels of Anaheim actually gone through, the 30-year-old right-hander and the 27-year-old left fielder would have been in the Angels starting rotation and everyday starting lineup respectively; no doubt whatsoever.

But with a probable Dodgers Opening Day starting rotation of left-hander Clayton Kershaw, right-hander Walker Buehler, left-hander David Price, left-hander Alex Wood and either left-hander Julio Urias or right-hander Tony Gonsolin, and with a probable everyday outfield of Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts, and one of either A.J. Pollock, Kiké Hernandez or Chris Taylor, Stripling will probably begin the 2020 campaign in the Dodgers bullpen and Pederson as a platoon outfielder.

For the Dodgers and as we have heard (ad nauseam) all Spring, this is “a good problem to have,” even though Stripling and Pederson might not see it as such.

Although Joc has missed considerable playing time thus far this Spring while dealing with a lingering sore right hip/side, Ross has been absolutely lights-out on the mound this Spring … as a starter. In fact, it wasn’t until the third inning of his third Spring Training start on Friday night against the Seattle Mariners at Camelback Ranch that the Bluebell, PA native and Dodgers fifth-round draft pick in 2012 out of Texas A&M finally gave up a run in his (now) combined six innings pitched

Stripling entered Friday night’s contest without having given up a run or walk with two strikeouts. He exited the game after three solid innings of work now having allowed a combined one run (a second-inning solo home run by Mariners left fielder Jake Fraley), still no walks, and now a combined five strikeouts and an excellent 1.50 ERA.

“Really, my change-up wasn’t there, so I was trying to throw a bunch of curveballs,” Stripling told SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo following his third start of the Spring. “I was throwing some good changeups, I would pull a couple, and then my good ones were just short, they just kind of were balls out of the hand, so I was getting into a lot of not great counts, and the curveball is kind of my old faithful. I was throwing that well, a little bit more than you want to in a Spring Training game, but when you’re not as sharp with your other pitches, it kind of comes down to just getting guys out. That was with the curveball tonight.”

As most Dodger fans know, Stripling added that changeup to his pitching repertoire late last season and has been working on it almost exclusively this Spring with great success, even if he doesn’t think so; at least on Friday night, that is.

“Half of [my changeups] were fine and half of them were terrible,” the extremely popular Dodgers right-hander said in an unwarranted self-deprecating tone. “You at least want to be competitive with all of them, not just absolutely awful with half of them.”

As for whether or not he has a legitimate shot to break camp in the Dodgers starting rotation, Stripling is pretty much in the same boat that all of us are in right now.

“I probably won’t know until tomorrow, probably still getting built up [to be a starter]. I imagine that I’m fighting for a job as much as anyone for that, so that’s my mentality,” Stripling said. “Obviously you don’t know, but I assume I’ll have a four-innings outing probably in five or six days.”

As he so often does, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t even go there with what Chicken Strip’s role will be to open the 2020 season. He did, however, acknowledge that Stripling has been very good thus far this Spring and has been working hard to get better, especially on that aforementioned changeup.

“To his credit, he was very good tonight,” said the Dodgers skipper following his team’s rather ugly 9-3 loss to Seattle. “With Ross, you just know what you’re going to get. He pounds the strike zone, he has multiple pitches that he can get guys out with, and yeah, today… he’s been working on [his changeup] all Spring, getting a feel, today he didn’t have that feel but he had the breaking ball and the fastball location is still good.”

With Opening Day now only 18 days away, Roberts will soon have to make that decision as to who’s in his starting rotation and who is not. And while this may be “a good problem to have” for Roberts and new pitching coach Mark Pryor, it’s probably a safe bet that Ross Stripling doesn’t necessarily see it this way … although you will never hear him say so.

Play Ball!

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