Free For All Friday #17

If you’re a free subscriber and typically only open the newsletter on Friday, I have good news for you. Until a World Series champion is crowned in October, I will be publishing newsletters every day, Monday through Friday. Each newsletter will highlight the most interesting and important things going on in baseball each day as we head down the stretch and into the postseason. There will be something for everyone—a mix of posts for paid and free subscribers.

Earlier this week, paid subscribers received two posts analyzing the remaining schedule for each contending team; on Tuesday, the focus was on the American League and on Wednesday, the National League. Yesterday, everyone received my take on the Astros’ three-game blowout of the Rangers in the battle for the AL West.

Near perfecto for Pepiot

Okay, it wasn’t that close, but I like the alliteration.

The Dodgers called up 26-year-old right hander Ryan Pepiot to make Thursday’s start against the Marlins in Miami because another regular starter wasn’t available. As you have may have heard, MLB placed Julio Urias on administrative leave pending a league investigation following Urias’ arrest Sunday night in Los Angeles. Urias was charged with a felony of corporal injury on a spouse or partner—fancy words for domestic violence.

Pepiot made his MLB debut in 2022 and was announced in Spring Training as the fifth starter for LA before he suffered an oblique injury in his final pre-season tuneup. That injury put him on the shelf for four months. He debuted this season on August 19 out of the bullpen and made his first start on August 30 against the Diamondbacks. He went 5 innings and gave up no runs in a Dodgers victory.

On Thursday, he pitched 6 2/3 innings of perfect baseball, throwing 75 pitches without allowing a baserunner against a Miami Marlins team that had scored 6+ runs in their prior 6 games. Josh Bell broke up the perfect game with a single off Pepiot in the bottom of the 7th. Pepiot then struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end the inning.

Pepiot’s ability to go deep into a game while maintaining his effectiveness might be the most important development for the Dodgers as they head into the postseason. Clayton Kershaw’s left shoulder injury—which put him on the shelf for 6 weeks—has sapped his velocity and played havoc with his typical pinpoint control. After 5 good starts, Lance Lynn has reverted to being 2023 Lance Lynn. Who knows how many more innings rookie Bobby Miller has left in him. And Walker Buehler has shut down his effort to come back from his second Tommy John surgery this season.

Jordan Lawler’s MLB debut boosts Diamondbacks’ Wild Card hopes

Arizona cut ties with long time shortstop Nick Ahmed on Wednesday and called up top prospect Jordan Lawler to take his place. Ahmed had played 888 games for the D’Backs, dating back to the 2014 season. He was an exceptional defender at short; he won the Gold Glove in 2017 and 2018. But his offense—never particularly good—fell off the table this season and with Arizona in a 4-way race for the last Wild Card spot, they simply couldn’t continue to pencil Ahmed into the lineup.

Jordan Lawler is currently ranked 10th in MLB.com’s prospect rankings and, preseason, was 9th on Keith Law’s Top 100 prospect list. Law likes his ability to hit for average and get on base while flashing power. In other words, he doesn’t swing for the fences every time but the power is there.

Lawler debuted for the D’Backs in Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Cubs—a win that put the D’Backs 1/2 game ahead of the Marlins and Reds, and 2 1/2 ahead of the Giants, for the final WC spot. Lawler got his first major league hit when he put a soft grounder toward the third base line and sprinted to first base. He also played exceptional defense.

Enjoy the weekend, everybody. Go watch some baseball.

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