Alexander: Tyler Glasnow has established himself as Dodgers’ ace
SAN DIEGO — By now, there should be no question. Tyler Glasnow, the guy the Dodgers acquired last winter and then signed to a five-year, $136,562,500 contract extension, has been a bargain so far. A steal, really.
He is the ace. With a pitching staff that’s basically regenerating itself and will undoubtedly look a lot different, and likely even better, when all of its pieces are in place, the 6-foot-8 Glasnow has taken command at the top of the rotation.
He was magnificent Friday night in San Diego, as has become usual, and only one pitch spoiled the masterpiece, a one-hit, 10-strikeout work of art through seven innings. Padres catcher Luis Campusano jumped on a 97 mph four-seamer high in the strike zone in the third inning, sending it screaming into the San Diego bullpen in center field, for a 429-foot solo home run.
“I have to tip my cap,” Glasnow said. “That was just a good swing.”
It wasn’t the winning run but it gave San Diego the lead. Eventually the Padres won, 2-1, on a ninth-inning walk-off hit by newcomer Luis Arraez, leading to the sort of celebration that seems over the top until you remember who they’re playing. Every opponent treats a game against the Dodgers as if it’s the World Series.
Given that context, what Glasnow has done in his first nine starts after returning home to greater L.A. has been even more impressive. He’s 6-1, with a 2.53 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP, a .159 batting average against, and seven quality starts (six innings or more, three runs or less) in his nine.
His last four outings, he has a 1.28 ERA and has allowed six walks while striking out 39 in 28 innings. On Friday night, he struck out 10 for the third time in four starts, the fourth time this year he’s had double-digit strikeouts. All of those Jack in the Box patrons who take advantage of free Jumbo Jacks every time Dodgers pitchers strike out seven in a game have to be looking forward to Glasnow’s starts. (And the folks who came up with that promotion might have been wondering why they reduced the number downward from 10.)
Is there such a thing as momentum for a starting pitcher? I asked him if he feels like things carry over from one start to the next.
“I think you can take stuff from your previous outing into the week, and I think when you feel good, you can kind of remember what it is,” Glasnow said. “It’s never like always exactly the same. But I think you can kind of get on a roll, I guess.”
He has the stuff to make it work, and to carry over.
“I don’t know all of Tyler’s career, but what he’s done for us this last month and a half has been pretty spectacular,” Manager Dave Roberts said following Friday night’s game. “The strikeouts. He doesn’t walk guys. Yeah, he’s just in control from pitch one, and so he makes pitches when he needs to. His curveball has been as consistent as I’ve seen it all year. The slider is sharp, and then the fastball to the top, to the knees. And, I do think that he’s in a physically and mentally good spot.”
It is, of course, dangerous to assume health and success, especially with pitchers. In fact, it was Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter who noted, shortly after his group took over the club in 2012, that signing pitchers to long-term or big money deals represented a risk with the classic one-liner: “Pitchers break.”
Glasnow had his own Tommy John surgery in August of 2021, while with Tampa Bay (and less than a year after he’d faced the Dodgers in the World Series, giving up 10 runs in nine innings over two starts). He made two starts at the tail end of 2022 and was 10-7 with a 3.53 ERA in 21 starts and 120 innings for the Rays in 2023.
Yes, he’s had an injury history, but how many major league pitchers haven’t? Right now, he said, this might be the best he’s felt since the 2021 surgery: “I think just like rhythm-wise and, like, fluidity of mechanics and everything, it definitely feels the best it’s been since then for sure.”
The guys playing behind him certainly appreciate what they’re seeing.
“What he’s been doing all year is what I’ve been seeing when I’m facing him,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Getting in the box against him is not fun. It feels like he’s releasing the ball right in front of you. When you are late on the heater, you try and gear up for that. And that’s when the 90 to 91 mile-an-hour sliders come, and the curveball off of it.
“You know, he just feels good. And he’s been rolling for for a while now. That was just a beautifully pitched game by him.”
The guys following Glasnow in the rotation have emulated him, especially during the stretch over the last 2½ weeks in which the Dodgers won seven in a row and 14 of 16. The Padres’ Michael King stopped that streak Friday night, allowing one hit and striking out 11 in seven innings and matching Glasnow pitch for pitch.
And have we said the Dodgers’ rotation figures to get better as the season progresses? Walker Buehler makes the second start of his return here on Sunday, more reinforcements are on the way (Bobby Miller relatively soon, Clayton Kershaw and possibly Dustin May later in the season), and those currently in the rotation are picking up on the ace’s example.
“I think it really has been contagious,” Roberts said before Friday’s game. “I think when you get your front-line guy going out there and setting the tone, it’s a lot easier for the guys to kind of follow suit. … I do think it starts with Tyler.
“Obviously the stuff itself is really impressive. I think we’ve found a good rhythm as far as his workload – when he pitches, giving him days to recover. Mark (Prior, pitching coach) and him have been very tight, locked in, with player performance (personnel) as well as far as his body, related to his mechanics. And then I think the sequencing part, as far as preparing for each lineup, I think that there’s a lot of trust from Tyler’s part.
“So right now it’s that perfect storm of everything working together, but obviously a lot of the credit goes to Tyler.”
This is what aces do.
jalexander@scng.com