Since returning from their midseason trips to Triple-A Oklahoma City, Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler I’ve been in a similar boat.
He Dodgers They continued to believe in their potential, even after a poor, injury-plagued first half of the season.
But to be counted on in October, they will have to back it up with their late-season performances.
So far, only one has responded to the call.
While Buehler has shown signs of life — and said he’s felt more like his old self — with back-to-back encouraging starts, Miller continues to trend in the wrong direction, hitting perhaps a new low in his frustrating sophomore campaign in Wednesday night’s 10-1 loss to the Angels in Anaheim.
Miller’s first inning was a complete disaster. He walked his first batter and then hit the next one. He allowed two runs on consecutive singles and then gave up a three-run homer to Mickey Moniak on the first pitch.
Just like that, the score was 5-0… before Miller got his first out.
Things didn’t get much better from there for the 25-year-old right-hander. Despite striking out eight batters, he issued three walks in total and allowed two more home runs — first to .079-hitting designated hitter Niko Kavadas in the second inning, then another to Taylor Ward in the fifth.
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The five-inning, seven-run start left Miller with a 7.79 ERA in 11 starts this year (more than double his 3.76 mark in a promising 2023 debut).
And now, with Landon Knack set to be called up on Friday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto returning from his shoulder injury next Tuesday, as manager Dave Roberts announced before the game, it’s fair to wonder whether Miller will remain in the Dodgers’ rotation any time soon, much less be considered for their still-uncertain October staff.
In what has been a recurring problem for last year’s rookie star, Miller struggled to control his secondary pitches and was punished by the fastballs he threw over the plate (his four-seam fastball averaged 98.3 mph, but he didn’t produce any strikeouts).
He also continued to look out of sync with his mechanics, perhaps due to a knee issue that has bothered him since his return from a two-month midseason absence due to shoulder inflammation.
The good news for the Dodgers is that pitching reinforcements are coming.
Yamamoto’s start Tuesday will be his first since suffering a rotator cuff strain on June 15. Though the Japanese rookie right-hander only pitched two innings in his final rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday, the 53 pitches he threw in that outing (including 17 in an at-bat against former MLB All-Star Omar Narvaez) were enough for the club to feel comfortable bringing him back.
“What we’re looking at is we’re going to get four starts out of him (before the postseason),” Roberts said of Yamamoto, who was 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA before getting hurt. “If we can get four starts and get the volume up, we’ll be ready to go beyond that.”
Team ace Tyler Glasnow is also making progress in his recovery from elbow tendinitis. He did a flat-ground session before Wednesday’s game and could begin doing bullpen sessions again this weekend, according to Roberts.
If the Dodgers get both pitchers back in time for October (or Clayton Kershaw, who continues to play ball while recovering from a bone spur in his left big toe), the team might not need Buehler or Miller in its October rotation, with Jack Flaherty and Gavin Stone showing more consistency than either of them to this point in the season.
But given the Dodgers’ injury luck on the mound this year, it’s still quite possible there will be openings to fill in the postseason.
Over the past week, Buehler has provided reasons for optimism.
Miller, for his part, is going back to the drawing board.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.