Walker Buehler Expected to Remain in Starting Rotation

If Walker Buehler hasn’t purchased a house in Los Angeles, he might want to soon. On Saturday, it was announced that the rookie will remain in the starting rotation moving forward.

Walker Buehler will stay in the rotation. “We expect Walker to continue to make starts for us,” Dave Roberts said.

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— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) May 5, 2018

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as Buehler has arguably been the best starter for L.A. this season. On the early season, the 23-year-old is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA. He has 19 strikeouts in 16 innings, and has a WHIP of just over one.

The news comes just a day after the Dodgers combined to throw a no-hitter, their first combined no-no in franchise history. Buehler got the start, going six innings, which was a career high. In six innings of work, he held the Padres hitless, while getting eight strikeouts.

A lot of eyes were on Dave Roberts, who pulled the young right-hander after six innings. After recovering from Tommy John Surgery, the former first-round pick is still getting back to form, and needs to be eased into the starting rotation slowly.

Roberts said he will continue to monitor Buehler’s workload because of his injury history and resulting lack of professional innings pitched.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) May 5, 2018

Regardless of being on an innings limit, Roberts knows that Buehler in the starting rotation gives them the best chance to win ballgames.

#Dodgers will worry about innings limit at some point later this season but “Right now we need to win games”

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) May 5, 2018

Analysis

This doesn’t come as much of a surprise with Dodgers fans. Buehler was expected to see a plethora of starts due to the amount of injuries L.A. has already faced on the young season. After throwing six innings of no-hit ball, it just helped Roberts solidify his decision. Dodgers fans expected to see Buehler pitch this season, but I don’t think any expected to see him thrown into the rotation this early. Regardless, the potential he has shown early on has to have fans catching a series case of ‘Buehler-Fever’. If we can expect anything like these first three starts, this could be the beginning of something truly special.