You don’t have to look long or hard to find Dodgers fans who have already thrown in the towel on 36-year-old Dodgers left-hander David Price. But if what we saw during Wednesday’s matinee game between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium is any indication, you can bet that a good many of those towel-tossers are scurrying to get them back right about now.

Although the Murfreesboro, TN native and first-round draft pick in 2007 out of Vanderbilt University in Nashville most certainly isn’t the same pitcher who won a Cy Young award in 2012, was a five-time All-Star, a two-time ERA title winner, and won a World Series trophy in (ugh) 2018, he was lights out in his first inning of relief since returning from the COVID-19 injured list this past week.

All the 6′-5″/215-pound soft-spoken gentle giant did was retire all four D-backs batters he faced in his 1.1-inning of work on Wednesday afternoon, striking out three of them and getting the fourth to ground out harmlessly to third base to end the top of the eighth inning, doing so on only 16 total pitches of which 11 were strikes. In fact, Price struck out D-backs third baseman Josh Rojas, the first batter he faced, to end the seventh inning on three pitches.

Price last appeared in a regular-season game for the Dodgers on April 22 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Two days later, it was reported that he had symptoms of the ongoing pandemic and was immediately placed on the COVID-19 IL.

Although 322 of his 366 career appearances were starts, Price was traded to the Dodgers on February 10, 2020 (along with some guy named Mookie Betts in exchange for Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, and Jeter Downs, and cash) to be primarily used out of the bullpen, with an occasional spot start when needed. In fact, of his (thus far) 45 appearances as a Dodger, all but 11 were out of the bullpen. And even though he has yet to start a game for the Dodgers this season, and despite his (thus far) 0-0 record, he owns a very respectable 1.50 ERA in his (thus far) 6.0 innings pitched out of the pen.

If you are among those towel-tossers, you might want to go get it back.

Play Ball!

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