2024 Dodgers in review: Michael Petersen

The first Dodgers player born in the United Kingdom was hard-throwing Michael Petersen, who made his major league debut at age 30 this season.

Signed to a minor league deal by the Dodgers in January, the longtime Brewers and Rockies minor leaguer put up strong numbers for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with a 1.64 ERA in a Pacific Coast League that averaged 5.69 runs per game. Petersen struck out 44 and only walked eight in his 33 innings, striking out 35 percent of his batters faced.

Petersen got his first call to the big leagues on June 16, and two days later made his major league debut at Coors Field. At 30 years, 33 days old, Petersen was the oldest Dodger to make his MLB debut since left-hander Edward Paredes on July 24, 2017.

He did the up-and-down between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City three times in nearly three months. Most of his 11 appearances were lower-leverage situations — among the 14 Dodgers pitchers with at least 10 games in relief, Petersen’s 0.587 average leverage index ranked 13th — but Petersen did enter three tied games and another with only a one-run lead, and combined for 4⅓ scoreless frames in those games.

Petersen’s 97.1-mph average fastball was in the 92nd percentile among major league pitchers this season. That was a bread-and-butter pitch for him, throwing it nearly two-thirds of the time.

Petersen’s time on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster ended with him getting designated for assignment on September 8, and two days later the Marlins claimed the right-hander off waivers.

Eight days after he joined the Marlins on waivers, Petersen faced his former team in Miami, but allowed two runs on three singles and an intentional walk while recording two outs in the eighth inning of a Dodgers’ win.

In between the Dodgers and Marlins this season, Petersen posted a 5.95 ERA and 5.21 xERA with 14 strikeouts and 10 unintentional walks in 19⅔ innings.

2024 particulars

Age: 30

Stats: 3-0, 6.43 ERA, 6.31 FIP, 14 IP, 8 BB, 11 K

Salary: $210,860, the minimum salary of $740,000 pro-rated for his 53 days in the majors (Dodgers paid him roughly $131,290 in the majors)

Game of the year

Petersen’s major league debut looked very much like a soft landing spot, as he entered with the Dodgers down four runs in the seventh inning. He struck out a pair, including getting Elehuris Montero swinging for his first MLB strikeout.

But Petersen also allowed a run, and left the game with the Dodgers down five runs with only three outs left. This was Coors Field though, and the Dodgers rallied with a grand slam by Jason Heyward and a three-run game-winning home run by Teoscar Hernández to not only stun the Rockies, but also make a winner out of Petersen in his very first game.

Petersen was the first of two Dodgers to earn the win in their major league debut this season, along with Ben Casparius on August 31. Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, they’ve had a pair of players win their MLB debuts in only two other seasons — 1987 (Shawn Hillegas, Tim Belcher) and 2016 (Kenta Maeda, José De León).

Roster status

After ending the season with Miami, Petersen was claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays on November 5.