Dodgers' Walker Buehler is taking off with fine-tuned approach

Tom Gatto

Dodgers' Walker Buehler is taking off with fine-tuned approach image

Walker Buehler is big on being in sync when he delivers the ball to the plate. The Dodgers' right-hander is one of MLB's best pitchers when all the parts work in concert.

Buehler kept everything together for all nine innings Friday as he fanned 16 Rockies and walked none in his first career complete game. The outing continued a stellar two-month run that has coincided with LA taking control of the National League West race.

Over his past nine starts, the 24-year-old Buehler has a 1.89 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP in 62 innings. He also has an outlandish 19:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (76 Ks, four walks) and .512 opponents' OPS in that span.

LA is 6-3 in those games, dating to May 6; more importantly, it has added 10 games to its division lead over that time. The margin is now 11 with a shade over half a regular season to play.

SN CONVERSATION: Buehler needed time to get into baseball

The Dodgers brought Buehler along slowly in spring training after his electrifying outing in last year's World Series. A sluggish March and April followed (5.22 ERA in six starts). Then came May, and Buehler found a higher gear (2.90 ERA in five starts). Then came June, and the turbo jets kicked in: three runs, 13 hits and 42 strikeouts in 31 innings over four starts.

The Los Angeles Times (subscription required) notes that the surge began as Buehler started taking an increased role in preparing for games with the catchers and coaching staff.

"Obviously, doing your own stuff and knowing it in your head gets you a little bit more convicted," Buehler said, per the Times. "and that’s never a bad thing."

More postseason starts are in the offing for Buehler as LA works toward claiming a seventh consecutive division crown. His performance in those games might come down to how well manager Dave Roberts pulls off his own balancing act in the second half.

Roberts will want to keep Buehler sharp while also ensuring he isn't overworked. Buehler is on track to surpass the 161 innings (regular season and postseason combined) he threw in 2018, which he wants to do in his second full major league season.

"I want to eat innings. I want to throw 200 innings," he said Friday, per MLB.com.

Roberts could insert Ross Stripling as a sixth starter on occasion, assuming the current rotation stays healthy and Stripling isn't needed as a replacement. He could also put together occasional bullpen games. The big lead and the majors' best pitching staff, by ERA, give him a lot of options.

There's a chance that such moves will disrupt Buehler's rhythm, but protecting the organization's most accomplished young pitcher and one of the keys to a Dodgers championship is a must.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.