Tyler Glasnow named Dodgers’ opening day starter; Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting Game 2 in Korea
The Dodgers acquired Tyler Glasnow this winter confident he could become the next ace of their starting rotation.
When the team’s regular season begins in South Korea next week, Glasnow won’t have to wait long for his first opportunity to start proving it.
Glasnow will be the Dodgers’ opening day starter, the team announced Monday, for its March 20 game against the San Diego Padres at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
He will face veteran Padres right-hander Yu Darvish in the opener. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the other game of the series against Joe Musgrove.
“It means everything,” Glasnow said of getting the opening day nod. “Just to sign here, that all being a reality feels crazy. Then when they told me I was the opening day starter, I definitely felt a lot of pride and excitement.”
For the first time since he was released by the Dodgers last year, Trevor Bauer returned to Camelback Ranch to pitch for a Japanese tryout club.
Glasnow wasn’t the most expensive addition of the Dodgers’ offseason, which was highlighted by the $700-million signing of two-way star Shohei Ohtani and the $325-million acquisition of Yamamoto.
But after being traded to the Dodgers in December from the Tampa Bay Rays, then immediately signing a five-year, $136.5-million deal that secured his future in L.A. long-term, Glasnow could have as much of an on-field effect as almost anyone on the club’s new-look roster.
The 30-year-old will be asked to help anchor the pitching staff, after flashing tantalizing potential during his six-year stint with the Rays — including a 27-16 record, a 3.20 ERA and one of the most highly touted pitching arsenals in the majors.
He will also be trying to stay healthy over a full campaign, having never logged more than 120 innings in a single season (he set the mark last year) thanks to a long list of injuries, including a Tommy John procedure in 2021, over his eight-year MLB career.
This year will mark Glasnow’s second career opening day start. It will also serve as the latest reminder of Glasnow’s importance in a year Yamamoto will be acclimating to the majors and Walker Buehler will be working his way back from Tommy John surgery.
“Getting a top-end starter by way of trade [in] Tyler — who has pitched in playoff games, pitched the most he’s ever pitched in a major league season last year — anchoring our staff,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “it’s a pretty good recipe.”
So too, the Dodgers hope, is having Yamamoto in the No. 2 spot of the rotation.
Roberts said part of the consideration for putting Yamamoto behind Glasnow in the rotation is schedule-based.
The Dodgers are expected to manage the pitcher’s workload early in the year, as he transitions from the once-per-week schedule he had in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.
And by saving Yamamoto for the second game, Roberts said, the Dodgers should be able to better utilize their four off days in April to give him extra rest between starts.
“I wouldn’t say [he will be on] a hard and fast once a week [schedule],” Roberts said. “But we’re going to do everything we can to give him the rest that he’s been accustomed to having.”
A couple weeks into this year’s spring camp, Walker Buehler’s exact timetable to return remains unclear. But it is not an unexpected development.
Neither Glasnow nor Yamamoto — who are also now scheduled to pitch the team’s first two home games of the year when they return from Korea — were too emotionally wrapped up in Monday’s announcement.
Yamamoto said he was excited to begin his major league career, something that has been a lifelong dream for the 25-year-old.
“It’s kind of like a ‘cloud nine’ feeling,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.
Glasnow, meanwhile, joked that he was “not the most sentimental person” when it comes to honors like opening day starts — even in his debut season with his hometown club.
“I don’t try to block it out,” he said. “But I’m very much like, ‘I’ve got a job to do. I’m here to pitch.’”
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