Emmet Sheehan

Sheehan began the season in Double-A but finished the season spending nearly as much time at the big league level as he did between Double-A and Triple-A. HIs minor league stats saw him strikeout 102 batters in 63 innings as his rising fastball was simply too much for many minor league hitters a la Joe Ryan. Sheehan did strikeout 64 major league hitters as well, but there were issues around those punchouts with 26 walks and 11 homers in those 60.1 innings. He made 11 starts and allowed multiple homers in four of them and in three other starts allowed four or more earned runs. Sheehan throws that rising fastball 60% of the time, so the homers are going to be an issue until he diversifies his portfolio some. He limited batters to a .205 average first time through the order, but that rose 50 points the next time through along with 7 of the homers he allowed. Sheehan's upside is obvious, but it is not without its risks.

The Dodgers definitely have something in Sheehan, it's just a matter of whether he has enough command and enough pitches to start. His mid-90s fastball can touch 99 mph and has a Joe Ryan-esque vertical approach angle (as close to flat as possible, which gives the pitch the illusion of rising). This pitch alone will allow Sheehan to have MLB success if he can locate it well enough -- last year Ryan threw his 92-mph "rising" fastball 60% of the time and the pitch had an elite -21 run value, per Statcast. Sheehan, who turned 23 this offseason, missed time to start the year, but he was dominant from mid-June on, logging a 1.25 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 92:20 K:BB in 57.2 innings, primarily at High-A but with a couple short outings at Double-A to close the year. He also struck out 24 with a 3.54 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 20.1 innings in the Arizona Fall League. Sheehan's changeup is an excellent second pitch, and he could use another trusty pitch like a cutter, but essentially it's his command that needs to just be good enough. The Dodgers have a lot of pitching depth and Sheehan isn't on the 40-man roster, so while he could probably have success in the majors out of the bullpen this season, we likely won't see him until 2024.