With the 21st pick in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, the Boston Red Sox selected a high school shortstop named Mookie Betts. Turns out the kid plays a pretty nasty shortstop role.
With the first pick in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected a pitcher from Hart High named Tyler Glasnow.
Fourteen years later, with Betts playing behind him, Glasnow gets his chance Thursday to pitch his hometown Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
“That would be awesome,” Glasnow said. “Growing up, loving the team, being able to present for them now?
“That would be it.”
For Glasnow, yes, but also for the Dodgers.
That would eliminate the possibility of the Dodgers playing for their lives on Saturday, amid the deafening decibels of Citizens Bank Park.
And that would justify the Dodgers’ strategy of shelving an elite starting pitcher for nearly three weeks, then handing him the ball and asking him to win them the division series.
Glasnow last had a normal start 19 days ago.
He’s pitched twice since: an intentionally abbreviated three-inning start 12 days ago, and a relief appearance five days ago, in Game 1 of this division series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“I think he’s all in,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was good to get him involved in Philadelphia, but as far as his preparation, I think it’s just a normal start.”
To be fair to the Dodgers, little did they know that this would finally be the year where they would have a room full of healthy, effective starters at the end of the season, rather than at the beginning.
They settled on Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani as their top three starters. The wild-card round only lasted two games and Glasnow is starting game four of the division series.
That meant juggling the rotation to get the top three ready for the wild-card round and giving Glasnow a relief outing to keep him sharp.
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow delivers in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Phillies on Saturday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“He’s started all season,” receiver Ben Rortvedt said. “I don’t think it changed much. He was thrown out of the bullpen and I think that was the big challenge for him.
“He’s back on his schedule, back doing what he’s doing. I’m looking forward to it.”
It’s not entirely fair to judge a player by his salary, but that’s what you sign up for when you play for the Dodgers, who traded for Glasnow two winters ago and subsequently gave him a $136.5 million contract. He made the All-Star team last season, but tendinitis in his throwing elbow kept him out of the playoffs.
It’s also not entirely fair to judge a player on his postseason results, but that’s also what you sign up for when you play for the Dodgers.
In 10 postseason starts – all for the Tampa Bay Rays – Glasnow is 2-6 with a 5.72 ERA.
In his only appearance against the Phillies this season, Glasnow pitched more than two innings, walking five and allowing five runs.
The opposing pitcher that day is the opposing pitcher Thursday: Cristopher Sánchez, with the Dodgers one win away from a spot in the NLCS.
The Dodgers invited Steve Garvey to throw out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday and then deliver the ritual words that precede every home game.
Garvey inserted a word into Vin Scully’s trademark phrase.
“It’s time for Dodgers championship baseball,” Garvey said.
On Thursday, Glasnow can make sure it’s time for baseball’s Dodger Championship Series.
