SEOUL, South Korea — After the Dodgers acquired Tyler Glasnow and signed him to a contract extension this past winter, they talked about him the way stock traders talk about getting a stock just as it’s about to take off.
“We feel like the arrow is really pointing up,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
The Dodgers’ belief in the 30-year-old Glasnow is evident in their setting him at the front of their rebuilt rotation. Glasnow will make his first start as a Dodger in the season opener against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday (3 a.m. PT) at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
“I hope so,” he said of the Dodgers being right to be bullish on his future with them. “I mean, I feel really good. It’s a year-whatever after Tommy John, pitching last year and coming into this year. Just working with the coaches and the strength guys with the team I just feel I’m in a really good spot right now. Just ironing out stuff early in spring then just kind of keeping it on a consistent routine throughout spring.
“I’m in a good spot, for sure.”
Glasnow’s reputation has been well-established over the first eight years of his career. First, he has one of the best pitch arsenals in the game – mainly a four-seam fastball that averages 97 mph, a power slider at 90 mph and an exceptional curveball – all delivered from a 6-foot-8 frame that stretches his release point 7½ feet in front of the rubber, giving hitters even less time to react and producing 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings during his six seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays (fourth among MLB starters in that time).
It’s the kind of pitch profile that makes Trackman quiver and analytic types drool.
“I don’t know how anyone hits him,” Friedman recently said in an interview with USA Today. “It feels like it’s an accident when someone does.”
But the other half of Glasnow’s reputation has also hardened over the years. He can’t stay healthy. He had only thrown…
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