The Dodgers have chosen the contract of right-hander Brent Honeywell, based on a staff announcement. Honeywell will take the energetic roster spot of right-hander Joe Kelly, who the membership has positioned on the 15-day Injured Record because of proper shoulder irritation. A corresponding 40-man roster transfer was not wanted to accommodate Honeywell, who will take the spot vacated by veteran outfielder Jason Heyward final week. The Dodgers have additionally formally introduced the location of veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw on the IL that was reported earlier this night.
Honeywell, 29, returns to the large league Dodgers for a second stint after being designated for project by the membership simply two weeks in the past. As soon as a consensus top-15 prospect within the sport with the Rays, Honeywell has confronted a lot of injury-related struggles all through his profession that brought on him to overlook three full seasons of motion from 2018 to 2020 earlier than being restricted to only 103 1/3 innings of labor throughout the 2021 and ’22 seasons.
These lengthy layoffs price him a number of key years of growth and robbed him of his skill to start out, however he re-emerged as an enormous league reliever with the Padres final season. He posted first rate center reduction numbers in San Diego earlier than being squeezed off the roster and ending up with the White Sox, with whom he was shelled for seven runs in 5 2/3 innings down the stretch. That disastrous finish to 2023 price Honeywell his roster spot in Chicago, however he managed to discover a minor league take care of the Pirates over the winter and made his technique to the majors in July.
In 23 2/3 innings of labor with the Pirates and Dodgers this season, Honeywell has posted sturdy outcomes regardless of lackluster peripherals. His 2.28 ERA is nothing in need of wonderful, however the truth that he’s managing to stop runs to that diploma regardless of a microscopic 13.8% strikeout fee seems more likely to be unsustainable, notably if his whopping 89.6% strand fee regresses to a extra typical determine. Even so, Honeywell figures to be as strong a guess as any to eat innings in a beleaguered Dodgers bullpen that was compelled to make use of seven relievers after Kershaw departed within the second inning of final night time’s recreation because of harm.
Honeywell can be taking the roster spot of a type of seven relievers, as Kelly is headed to the IL with a bout of shoulder irritation. The 38-year-old hurler has been struggling mightily for the previous month as he’s posted a 7.71 ERA with a paltry 18.2% strikeout fee and a hefty 13.6% stroll fee. Final night time’s outing was notably troublesome for the veteran as he surrendered two runs on three hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings of labor whereas placing out only one and hitting two batters.
Kelly’s brutal outcomes over the previous month have brought on his season numbers to go from strong to effectively beneath common, as he entered August with a 3.93 ERA and a sterling 2.41 FIP. These numbers now sit at 5.20 and 4.83, respectively. It’s unclear how lengthy Kelly is predicted to be out of motion, however with only a month left within the common season it’s attainable the right-hander received’t be wholesome sufficient to return earlier than then. Kelly might hypothetically return sooner or later within the postseason even when he isn’t capable of make it again earlier than the tip of the common season, although given his deep struggles of late it’s unclear how strongly he would issue into L.A.’s postseason plans even when wholesome.