Rich Hill's latest blister could open door for 'new' Alex Wood in Dodgers rotation
Rich Hill is dealing with another blister. Does this give Alex Wood and his newfound velocity a chance to start?
By
Mike Axisa
•
3 min read
Sunday afternoon the Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed left-hander Rich Hill back from the 10-day disabled list. And then they said goodbye to him again.
After taking his warm-up pitches prior to the fourth inning, Hill was forced to exit the game after "re-aggravating" a blister, the club announced. Hill missed plenty of time with blister issues last season -- at one point he was removed from a perfect game bid to prevent a blister from flaring up -- so this is becoming a chronic problem. The blisters aren't going away.
It is still very early in the season, so you can be sure the Dodgers will play it safe with Hill. They'd rather him miss a few games now than many games later, when the team is pushing for a postseason spot or a division title. Fortunately, Los Angeles is blessed with plenty of rotation depth. Here is their rough depth chart:
- Clayton Kershaw
- Rich Hill -- dealing with another blister
- Kenta Maeda
- Brandon McCarthy
- Hyun-Jin Ryu
- Julio Urias -- on an innings limit
- Scott Kazmir -- on the disabled list with a hip issue
- Alex Wood
- Ross Stripling
- Brock Stewart -- on the disabled list with a shoulder issue
Urias is a pretty excellent replacement for Hill, though the Dodgers have a workload plan mapped out for him and may not want to change things on the fly. Especially not with Wood and Stripling available to start.
Wood, 26, made a spot-start last week when Hill was dealing with the blister the first time around, during which he allowed two runs (one earned) in 3 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs. He was on a strict pitch count -- Wood threw only 70 pitches in that outing -- which is why he didn't pitch deeper into the game.
The renewed blister issues for Hill could give Wood an extended opportunity in the rotation, giving the Dodgers a chance to see whether his newfound velocity is real. Here is his month-by-month average velocity over the years, via Brooks Baseball:
So far this season Wood is throwing harder than he has at any point since early in the 2013 season, when he was first called up. His velocity declined steadily from 2013-15 before ticking up last year, and against early this year.
Injuries, obviously, have something to do with that. Wood missed time with a forearm issue in 2014 and last year with a triceps/elbow problem. He also had Tommy John surgery back during his high school days too, so arms issues are nothing new to him. He's had on and off problems for years, and that could very well explain the velocity dip from 2013-15. And on the other side of the coin, a health arm could explain this year's velocity spike.
Wood has always been a bit of a stat-head darling because of his strong strikeout (21.4 percent from 2014-16) and ground ball (48.6 percent from 2014-16) rates, though the injuries as well as bouts of wildness and hittability have held him back. More velocity won't necessarily solve the problems. It will give him more margin for error though. No, velocity isn't everything, but it's not nothing either. Adding 2-3 mph from one year to the next like Wood is a big deal.
For now the Dodgers will hope Hill's blister is nothing major and won't require an extended disabled list stint. They want him in their rotation as much as possible. They're also not going to push him too hard. The club's pitching depth allows them to let Hill take as much time as he needs to get rid of this blister, and, as an added bonus, it'll give them a chance to see whether this "new" version of Wood is for real.
