The 2024 season started out in a fantastic way for right-hander Bobby Miller, tossing six shutout innings and racking up 11 strikeouts in a win against the St. Louis Cardinals in his first start of the season. After that, his season went downhill and he wound up ultimately losing his spot on the big league roster, toiling in the minor leagues to end the year.
Entering the third season of his young career, Miller’s chances of being a part of the Dodgers five-man rotation come opening day have asphyxiated with the signings of Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, along with the returns of Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May from injury.
Miller, who was ranked as the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect back in 2023, certainly still has plenty of upside with his pitching arsenal, highlighted by a fastball that can reach triple digits, and Snell is making it a mission to help Miller into finding his groove once again this upcoming season, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.
“I think that having Blake mentor Bobby is great in the sense of Blake is very big on process,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We all know how talented Bobby is, but Bobby’s got to be good. He’s got to be healthy, and he’s got to perform. I think that Blake is tapping into the mental side of that, and there’s not a much more powerful thing that can come from a guy who’s won Cy Youngs.”
Snell didn’t go as far to label himself as a mentor.
“Y’all are saying I’m taking him under my wing,” Snell said. “We’re just friends, learning. We’re just learning. I wouldn’t say I’m a mentor. We’re friends.”
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Despite ending the 2024 season as World Series MVP, Freddie Freeman’s season was anything but smooth, sustaining multiple injuries on the field and tending to his son, Maximus, dealing with Guillain-Barre syndrome.
After undergoing surgery on his right ankle in December, Freeman is on track to be ready by opening day, and he hopes that the 2025 season won’t feature as many bumps and bruises compared to last year, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“Obviously (I) dealt with a lot last year,” Freeman said. “So, hopefully it’s a smoother ride for the Freeman family this year.”
Dustin May is eager to take the mound for the first time since the 2023 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and after suffering a tear in his esophagus in July.
May recounted the experience, noting how the tear could’ve been life threatening had it not been for an emergency operation that very same night, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.
“It was definitely a life-altering event,” May said Friday, recounting the ordeal for the first time publicly. “It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency.” So much so, he added, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it.”