It’s no secret that the Dodgers have been extremely careful with the development of 23-year-old right-hander Josiah Gray, although spending the last two months on the Injured List for shoulder soreness certainly had a lot to do with this. And even though his major league debut on Tuesday night against the NL West first-place San Francisco Giants lasted only four innings and may not have gone as well as expected, the New Rochelle, NY native and Dodgers second-round draft pick in 2018 out of Le Moyne College in Syracuse did strike out seven of the 17 Giants batters he faced, while walking only one.

Of his 77 pitches on Tuesday night in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 42,344 (including a healthy contingent of family and friends), 53 of them were strikes. He did, however, allow four runs – the result of the three home runs he allowed in his four-inning MLB debut.

“Honestly, the butterflies were there throughout the whole time. It really never went away until, I want to say, I got that first out or got the first inning over with,” Gray said. “As I was sitting in the bullpen, I was antsy and really just trying to play out scenarios in my head. Obviously, you never can just because of the unpredictable nature of the game. But the butterflies were there the whole time, and they never truly went away. So that was a lot of fun just being able to handle those and go out there and get some outs.”

Butterflies notwithstanding, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Gray is officially now a member of his still-shorthanded starting rotation.

“I expect him to make his next start (on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium). Josiah’s onboard for whatever. He just wants to pitch,” Roberts said. “It’s just more of facing major league hitters and learning. And so, I thought there was a lot of good, and like I said last night, he’s only going to get better with experience.”

Although Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is still on the mend for left forearm inflammation, he began playing catch this week.

“I think he got to 90 (feet) today, then it would be to 120 probably tomorrow, then 150,” Roberts said. “And then once we get him off the mound throwing a pen, then we’ll have more kind of clarity of where he’s at.

Needless to say, Kershaw’s return can’t come soon enough, as the Dodgers strive to actually have a five-man starting rotation again.

Play Ball!

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