On Friday night, Walker Buehler entered the game in the fifth inning as part of a piggyback plan Rob Thomson had in place to see what the right hander might look like in a relief role. The team has some innings available for someone who can fill a role as right handed reliever once the playoffs begin. They have Orion Kerkering and David Robertson (and Jhoan Duran, of course), but outside of those two non-closers, there is an opportunity for someone to grab a spot and run with it.
Buehler looked good
in his audition, but has never gone on zero days rest before as a reliever. In fact, in the few career games as a reliever, the numbers are quite bad when he has little rest (it’s a small sample size though). Yet our question of the day is: do you think Buehler can be an effective pitcher as a reliever once the playoffs begin? It’s doubtful, though not out of the realm of possibility, he is a starter over someone like Aaron Nola, but likely, he’d be asked to come in and throw multiple innings if Nola can get through a lineup once.
Can he handle the role well?
