Walker Buehler joins small Dodgers draft group with first MLB start

Walker Buehler makes his first major league start in the Dodgers’ series opener against the Marlins on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

Buehler faces a terrible Marlins team that comes in with four straight losses, seven losses in their last eight games, and a 5-16 record. With 69 runs scored in 21 games, Miami ranks 27th in MLB at 3.29 runs per game. The Marlins have scored two or fewer runs in almost half (10) of their games.

This, possibly followed by a Saturday start against the Giants (3.14 runs/game, 29th in MLB), make this week a perfect time for Buehler — the club’s first-round pick in 2015 and their top prospect heading into 2018 — to make his first major league start(s).

With his brief stint in the Dodgers bullpen last September, Buehler already has major league experience. But Monday is his first start. Just by making the start Buehler is already setting himself apart in the universe of pitchers drafted in the first round by the Dodgers.

In the last 40 years the Dodgers have drafted and signed 27 different pitchers in the first round of the MLB draft (Luke Hochevar and Kyle Funkhouser, who were drafted but didn’t sign, don’t count). A little fewer than half (13) made the majors, and Buehler will be just the eighth to even make a major league start, and the fifth to make a start with the Dodgers.

Here is the full list of first-round Dodgers pitchers in the last 40 years, beginning with Steve Howe and Steve Perry in 1979. It has been quite a journey.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network