by Cary Osborne
All Tyler Glasnow knew of Walker Buehler before he was his teammate was what he had seen from afar. The closest he saw of him was in the 2020 World Series with Buehler and Glasnow both key figures on each side of the Dodgers-Rays matchup.
And then they became teammates this season separated by just a few lockers in the Dodger clubhouse.
“He just looked like this mellow, kind of just a chill, regular dude,” Glasnow recalls of the Buehler he didn’t know. “And then you meet him. He’s definitely got an edge — just has some dog in him for sure.”
Buehler’s T-shirts this postseason further show that.
Before his start in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, he wore a shirt to the ballpark that read “Beware of Dog.” His shirt of choice for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series had a graphic of the horror flick “Friday the 13th.”
The edgy right-hander’s personality has been a big part of his Major League story. But it’s more than just edge. It’s a multi-layered mind that has often made him excel and be resilient in the postseason. It’s a purposeful human being, who often talks about accountability and responsibility and applies those — with that intensity — to his job.
There were times this season when Buehler talked about not meeting the standard for a Dodger pitcher. He would openly discuss some of the regular season struggles he was having and how he had to simply be better.
Both Dodger pitching coach Mark Prior and assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness point that accountability to Buehler’s days at Vanderbilt University and playing for head coach Tim Corbin.
“Coach Corbin is a big being accountable, own your behavior, own your performances (guy). And so I think that’s probably where I would guess some of it started,” Prior said.
Prior also believes the timing in which Buehler arrived with the Dodgers was critical in his development. The right-handed pitcher made his Major League debut in 2017 and played his first full season in 2018.
Those teams had veterans like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Chase Utley and Rich Hill each season.
“I think that’s just part of you’re around a lot of good players and you’re in a culture that expects to win, you kind of take on a little bit of that same type of personality as well,” Prior said. “And it’s probably just some of you want to be the best, you’ve got to take the good or the bad. And that’s just part of the responsibilities of being a pitcher, being any ball player in Major League Baseball.”
Honesty and responsibility are other key words with Buehler. Teammates and coaches have often spoken about his big-game success. Buehler has pointed out that it hasn’t been perfect, noting the 2021 NLCS against Atlanta when he didn’t get past the fourth inning in each start.
But it’s how he responds to the rough games that further illustrates how he attacks adversity.
“Even after a bad outing, it’s not just, ‘Oh, man, that was terrible.’ It’s like, ‘OK why and how can I make the adjustment for the next one?” McGuiness said. “I know it’s appreciated in the clubhouse. I know it’s appreciated when he owns it like that and takes on that accountability. That’s the biggest thing about him. I’m just impressed that he’s able to handle that mentally and then go jump into the deep end and take on a big start.”
This season began for Buehler in Spring Training with a slower track than other Dodger starting pitchers as he continued his recovery from a second career Tommy John surgery — this one in 2022. His first was in 2015, shortly after the Dodgers selected him in the first round of the MLB Draft.
In February, Buehler talked about responsibility in a way that he felt the need to give back what was given to him. His intent for the season was to make it back to the Dodger starting rotation, help the Dodgers win, get into the postseason and win there.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be put on really, really good teams my whole career,” Buehler said in February. “I get drafted here — and even the luck of needing surgery and kind of teams knowing that, and getting drafted where I got taken was very lucky and fortunate for me to come into an organization like this. Then for this organization to embrace me — kind of ran me to the big leagues pretty quick and kind of let me go (at it).”
Buehler came into the big leagues with an edge because he needed to. He says he got a little of that passion from him father, Tony. And then he developed more of it with the recognition that his thin build made him an underdog.
MLB.com had this in his draft profile:
“The biggest knock on him is that he’s just 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds, but he had been durable prior to this spring”
“My dad played everything in high school and was always on the bench. Just a little tiny guy,” Buehler said. “I got really lucky that I grew bigger than my family kind of says I should have. But early in my career, I talked a lot about being so small and feeling like you had to prove it and being able to do things that other people couldn’t do that were smaller. I just think we’re all talented, but there’s something that separates you.”
The early version of Buehler the Major Leaguer, Prior said, is a pitcher who could bully his way around and let his arm do the work. If he wanted to throw a fastball in a fastball count, he’d let it rip.
Buehler today has dealt with the arm injuries of the past and a hip injury that threw him off this season. It hasn’t been a linear, steady progression to get back. But here he is today, pitching Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Mets in New York.
So Buehler has let his mind go to work.
“I think he goes in there with a very good idea of how this hitter adjusts versus before it was like, ‘This is what I’m going to do, and you’re going to have to adjust to what I do,’” Prior said. “I think he’s trying to adjust and then use his imagination with all his pitches on how to effectively get that guy out — whether that’s a ground ball, fly ball or a strikeout, and not as much rely on the punchout as much as just getting out.”
“There’s no other guy that I trust more than in a big game, big spot,” McGuiness said.
That mind is in a good place for Wednesday.
New York. Postseason. Road game in the cold.
“I imagine it’s going to be rocking here,” Buehler said. “That’s what excites me more than anything is the noise and the excitement. And the kind of live-or-die feeling on every pitch is something I’ve really grown to love.”
First appeared on dodgers.mlblogs.com