Los Angeles Dodgers: Remembering each pitcher’s first career start

ALEX WOOD

MLB DEBUT: 5/20/2013

AGE: 27

DRAFTED: Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the second round of the 2012 June Draft out of the University of Georgia

I have a theory, and that theory is this; Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi are utter geniuses. That may seem like a bold statement and, if it does, good because I mean it. In an ESPN article written by Sam Miller last September, he called the Dodgers “baseball’s ultimate Moneyball-with-money team.”

Remember that quote, because it’ll be interesting to see how long it remains true.

Zaidi and Friedman, who joined the team as GM and President of Baseball Operations respectively at the end of the 2014 season, completely rewrote the future of this team. They traded for guys like Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor and signed guys like Brandon Morrow. They took players who were undervalued (sound familiar?) and gave them a chance to play baseball for a perennial contender. When those guys take the field, they don’t disappoint.

Enter Alex Wood.

The Dodgers traded for Wood on July 30th of 2015. At the time, he was a starter for the Braves but had appeared in about 31 games out of the pen in the two years before that.

It probably wasn’t the relief appearances the Dodgers loved, not entirely. In 2015, he started 32 games, 20 for Atlanta and 12 for LA. In those games, he boasted a 3.84 ERA and had struck out 139 batters by seasons end.

Wood made his first start with the Dodgers on August 4th of that season against an old foe, the Philadelphia Phillies. In 6 1/3  innings pitched, he gave up 4 runs, in a game the Dodgers would eventually lose 6-2.

That was his first start, but I think we can all agree that Wood reinvented himself in 2017. He surprised Dodger fans. He finished in the top 10 of Cy-Young voting for the first time in his career.

Were we, the fans, surprised? Probably. Were Zaidi and Friedman? Maybe, maybe not. Wood, in my opinion, was the start of this whole Moneyball-with-money phenomena and I don’t see it coming to an end anytime soon.