SEOUL, South Korea — After the Dodgers acquired Tyler Glasnow and signed him to a contract extension this past winter, they talked about him the way stock traders talk about getting a stock just as it’s about to take off.
“We feel like the arrow is really pointing up,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
The Dodgers’ belief in the 30-year-old Glasnow is evident in their setting him at the front of their rebuilt rotation. Glasnow will make his first start as a Dodger in the season opener against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday (3 a.m. PT) at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
“I hope so,” he said of the Dodgers being right to be bullish on his future with them. “I mean, I feel really good. It’s a year-whatever after Tommy John, pitching last year and coming into this year. Just working with the coaches and the strength guys with the team I just feel I’m in a really good spot right now. Just ironing out stuff early in spring then just kind of keeping it on a consistent routine throughout spring.
“I’m in a good spot, for sure.”
Glasnow’s reputation has been well-established over the first eight years of his career. First, he has one of the best pitch arsenals in the game – mainly a four-seam fastball that averages 97 mph, a power slider at 90 mph and an exceptional curveball – all delivered from a 6-foot-8 frame that stretches his release point 7½ feet in front of the rubber, giving hitters even less time to react and producing 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings during his six seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays (fourth among MLB starters in that time).
It’s the kind of pitch profile that makes Trackman quiver and analytic types drool.
“I don’t know how anyone hits him,” Friedman recently said in an interview with USA Today. “It feels like it’s an accident when someone does.”
But the other half of Glasnow’s reputation has also hardened over the years. He can’t stay healthy. He had only thrown as many as 90 innings once in the majors before pitching a career-high 120 last year in Tampa.
Glasnow has explained much of his injury history as being related to the elbow problems that led to Tommy John surgery in August 2021. He has said it was “definitely a positive” that he had the surgery and the farther he gets from the procedure the more certain he is that he will be a more durable pitcher now.
Proving that is his main challenge with the Dodgers.
“Well, I mean, one for him to step forward is to be on the field. And I think he knows that. I think he was kind of on his way last year a little bit,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said this spring. “Sometimes to take a step forward, you just have to be healthy. Sometimes that’s a skill too. It’s a way to manage your body, it’s a way to understand when to back off a little bit and make sure you’re fully recovered, when you can you go and you get your work done. So I think that’s the first step – making sure that he’s posting.
“Until you can continue to get out there and post and post then things can take on a different light in how you view his next step.”
The Dodgers’ staff has been “kind of opening … the hood on him” this spring, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. What they’ve discovered is a pitcher with an inquisitive nature. That extends to conversations with teammate Clayton Kershaw this spring as well as a long-standing friendship with Padres ace Yu Darvish.
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“We have the same agent so it’s been a lot of back and forth through Joel (Wolfe). I’ve texted him, asking him questions,” Glasnow said. “He’s very much a pitching guru, especially with grips. Just kind of picking his brain with that stuff.”
Glasnow and Darvish will square off in Wednesday’s historic opener in Seoul with high expectations following both Glasnow and the Dodgers onto the field.
“I think I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing,” Glasnow said. “The routine of a starter is, I think, really helpful in that each day is its own day. You go to the next start and the next start and the next start. I think if I start to think about, ‘I’ve got to do good for this many starts or this many or this and that’ (it’s not good) – I learned that pretty early on in the minor leagues.”
HOME/ROAD
The Dodgers and Padres will take turns playing as the home team at Gocheok Sky Dome this week. The Dodgers will be the visitors for the season opener on Wednesday then play as the home team on Thursday (also 3 a.m. PT) when right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to make his MLB debut.