Dodgers News: Yency Almonte Wasn't Exactly a Fan of His Slow Ramp Up This Offseason
Dodgers RHP Yency Almonte was sitting on the sidelines a lot early in spring. Almonte, who broke out for the Dodgers last season to the tune of a 1.02 ERA in 33 appearances, dealt with some elbow issues that cost him a lot of last season.
Then, those issues persisted in spring, which kept him on the sidelines while his fellow pitchers were ramping up for the season.
For Almonte, it was a much slower ramp up than usual, and he wasn't exactly a huge fan of it. He was sitting on the sidelines, watching the other pitchers work, when he knew he was healthy enough to do the same.
However, the Dodgers knew they needed to be extra cautious with him, as it's much more important for him to be healthy over the course of a long season than be fully ramped up in spring training.
And, when it was all said and done, Almonte told Kirsten Watson of SNLA that he ended up understanding that he just had to trust the process that the Dodgers staff had him going through.
"It was a weird one," Almonte said about the spring. "It was a spring where a lot of adversity of me telling myself that I know I can be ready, but being held back and not being able to throw when the guys were throwing. I think I started throwing when the guys already had 3 to 4 innings and I was like, 'I'm late. I need to catch up and get ready.' But, just give me the process and telling me what I need to do and seeing the way I pitched (recently) and feeling great, I think that's the most important thing. I'm starting to trust that the most important is being healthy and just being out there for the team."
Although he had a slower ramp up, Almonte is sill ready to go for Opening Day, and will be a key piece of this team's bullpen in 2023. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has made it clear that he's going to use a closer-by-committee this season, and Almonte is sure to get his opportunities in the 9th inning.
However, he'll also get plenty of work in the earlier innings, both in high-leverage and lower-leverage situations. And no matter when he comes in, he's just focused on making the most of those appearances, and getting batters out when his name is called.
