The Dodgers’ pitching staff suffered a major blow on Thursday, as it was announced that rookie Emmet Sheehan would miss the remainder of the 2024 season.
Sheehan had surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow on Wednesday. The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.
The way things were sounding with his recovery, I wasn’t expecting to see Sheehan pitch at all in 2024. Hearing he needed Tommy John surgery was certainly a surprise, though. Based on the timeline of TJ recoveries, it’s safe to assume we won’t see Sheehan until at least August of next season.
This whole injury really sort of developed out of nowhere. Entering the spring, Sheehan was expected to be the Dodgers’ No. 5 starter. Although there would be a competition in the spring, the last spot in the rotation was his to lose.
We never even saw him appear in a spring training game.
He threw live batting practice to some hitters in February, most notably Shohei Ohtani. Following that session, there were reports that he was dealing with general body soreness and would be shut down from throwing. No big deal, right?
Well, Sheehan never really bounced back. He was able to face hitters a month later, but was shut down from throwing once again. The Dodgers placed him on the IL before he season began, but not with that soreness that was reported. It was something that sounded a lot worse. Right forearm inflammation.
Yeah, whenever you hear that, it’s never a good sign. It also wasn’t a good sign when Sheehan was transferred to the 60-day IL just a week later, shutting him down through at least the end of May.
Now, the young right-handed pitcher will have to miss all of 2024 and majority of the 2025 season.
This is a major blow, as it looked like Sheehan was the next promising young starter for the Dodgers. He made the jump from Double-A to the big leagues last season and looked the part.
Overall, Sheehan made 13 appearances for the Dodgers and made 11 starts. He tossed 60.1 innings. Although a quick look at his numbers aren’t too encouraging (4.92 ERA, 4.85 FIP, 1.19 WHIP) his advanced numbers showed he was a lot better, as he posted a 3.50 expected ERA and 0.5 fWAR.
For the most part, it was one outing that really inflated his numbers. He allowed eight runs in 3.2 innings in his sixth career game. Over Sheehan’s final seven appearances, he posted a 3.19 ERA and held opponents to a .176 average. He also had 42 strikeouts in only 31 innings of work.
Over his final three outings of the year, Sheehan was even better. He posted a 1.98 ERA, 2.74 FIP and held opponents to a .130 average. He also struck out 47 percent of the batters he faced. It looked like he was really set to be a reliable option in LA’s 2024 rotation.
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait another year to see him back on the mound at Dodger Stadium. Hopefully he’s able to kick ass in his recovery and return to the Dodgers’ rotation at some point in 2025!