You may not remember Emmet Sheehan. The last time he pitched was 2023, when he put together a 4.92 ERA across 60 1/3 innings. But as he prepares to make his return from Tommy John surgery Wednesday, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with him and some of his other numbers.
For example, in the lead up to his promotion two years ago, he had a 2.43 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 14.6 K/9 between two minor-league stops. Those aren’t the sort of numbers you’d see from just any pitching prospect, and I haven’t even mentioned the most impressive one: a 19.2 percent swinging-strike rate.
A mark that high is basically unheard of, at least among starting pitchers. The current major-league leader is Tarik Skubal at 17.2 percent. Last year’s leader was Logan Gilbert at just 14.9 percent. Spencer Strider set the full-season record at 18.9 percent when he struck out 281 batters in 2023.
Of course, comparing major-league rates to minor-league rates is apples to oranges. During his time in the majors two years ago, Sheehan’s swinging-strike rate was a still-impressive-if-not-so-outlandish 13.7 percent. But what’s also likely to be forgotten following his lengthy absence is that he needed some time to adapt to the majors. Only after a return trip to Triple-A that year did he achieve his final form. So what was his swinging-strike rate over his five September appearances back in the bigs? Try 19.7 percent. And in case you wonder what that translates to strikeout-wise, he had 19 in 10 2/3 innings over his final two starts.
Dude is a next-level bat-misser, and his 22.0 percent swinging-strike rate across three Triple-A rehab starts this year would suggest that his Tommy John surgery didn’t cost him anything in that regard.
There’s a great deal more for Sheehan to prove, of course. He did struggle to keep runs off the board as a rookie, and his control has been known to get away from him at times. Innings accumulation could be a real weak point, particularly with him pitching for the Dodgers, and we’ve seen higher-end pitchers coming back from similar procedures (Spencer Strider, Sandy Alcantara and Eury Perez, to name three) struggle to regain their footing.
It’s why Sheehan comes in only 33rd here on the eve of his return … though I’d say that’s still too high for you to ignore!
Too valuable to drop, period
Also really difficult to drop
Still a priority on some level
Stashing is purely a luxury
