How Tanner Scott went from ‘revolving door’ to marquee Dodgers free-agent signing
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PHOENIX — As Tanner Scott walked off the plane, Evan Phillips was waiting to board.
This was late June 2019, when Scott and Phillips were in the early stages of their MLB careers. At the time, each was trying to establish himself as a big-league talent. But both watched flashes of potential be overshadowed by inconsistent overall performance.
On bad Baltimore Orioles teams focused more on rebuilding their roster, it made both pitchers victims of regular roster shuffles. During 2018 and 2019 alone, they were optioned to the minors a combined 17 times.
“The revolving door,” Scott quipped. “It was not a fun one.”
On this day, that turnstile created a chance encounter in the Seattle airport. Scott, a hard-throwing left-hander battling command issues, had gotten a call-up to join the team during a road series against the Mariners. Phillips, who profiled similarly from the right side of the mound, was being sent down along with another Orioles player.
Throughout October, several health-related headaches defined the Dodgers’ run to a championship. But behind the scenes, the team’s injury problems were even more pronounced.
By chance, the plane that brought Scott from Baltimore’s triple-A affiliate in Norfolk, Va., was the same one operating Phillips’ flight back to the minor leagues. In the gate area, the two literally passed each other when Scott walked out of the jetway.
“I remember seeing him and I was like, ‘Ugh,’” Scott recalled, having grown close with Phillips during their time in the organization. “I mean, you’re happy to see your friend. But you’re also like, ‘Dang, it’s those guys who are in the revolving door.’”
Phillips’ reaction?
“I gave him a little high-five,” he joked, “and said, ‘Good luck!’”
Six years — and a remarkable amount of personal improvement from each — later, Scott and Phillips could still vividly recall the moment in the Dodgers’ clubhouse last week, using it as an example to illustrate how far they’ve come.
In Baltimore, the two were fringe big-leaguers just looking for opportunity. Now, after Phillips’ rise with the Dodgers and Scott’s four-year, $72 million signing with the team this offseason, they are teammates again on a juggernaut Dodgers roster, expected to serve key late-innings roles as two of the sport’s best current relief arms.
“It was not a fun [situation],” Scott said, reflecting back on their shared time in Baltimore. “But you’ve got to appreciate the journey you’ve been on.”
Dodgers fans are plenty familiar with Phillips’ journey, having watched the 30-year-old veteran blossom with the club to the tune of a 2.28 ERA and 44 saves over the last four seasons.
Scott, also 30, arrives in Los Angeles having experienced a similar ascension, transforming over the last two years into a shutdown late-game option thanks to a 2.04 ERA and 34 saves with the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres.
“He’s someone that we have watched and admired from afar over the years and have tried to acquire multiple times,” general manager Brandon Gomes said at Scott’s introductory news conference this offseason. “Tanner possesses all of the qualities we value as an organization when looking to bring on a free agent.”
Scott was not always so coveted.
An Ohio native and sixth-round pick in 2014 out of tiny Howard College in West Texas, the 6-foot southpaw has long wowed scouts with his upper-90s mph and swing-and-miss slider. During his first five MLB seasons with Baltimore from 2017 to 2021, he showcased his premium stuff by racking up 208 strikeouts in his first 156 innings in the majors.
The problem, at that stage, was his command.
There is no concern about Will Smith, who returned to game action on Friday against the Angels, missing the start of the regular season on March 18.
In that same period, Scott issued 96 walks and found the strike zone on just 44% of his pitches. After a promising performance in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he posted a 1.31 ERA and gave up just 12 hits over 20 ⅔ innings, he regressed in 2021, posting the fifth-worst walk rate among qualified MLB relievers (14.7%). When he was traded to the Marlins the following offseason, his career ERA was 4.73.
“I was always just trying to stay [in the majors],” Scott said.
In Miami, Scott started to turn a corner. Under the tutelage of veteran Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., he cut down on his walks and found confidence attacking the strike zone. In June 2022, he began getting opportunities as the club’s closer, collecting 20 saves that season and 12 more during the Marlins’ surprise run to playoffs in 2023, when he also posted a 2.31 ERA (best in his career for a full season).
Then, last year, he finally unlocked the full potential of his arsenal.
During the season’s first four months, Scott posted a 1.18 ERA and earned his first career All-Star selection. At the trade deadline, he was sent to the San Diego Padres in a blockbuster deal, helping them make the playoffs and push the Dodgers to the brink of elimination in the National League Division Series.
“The fear in the batter’s box against him is certainly real,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Scott, who pitched three scoreless innings in the NLDS and memorably struck out Shohei Ohtani all four times he faced him.
“I’m happy he’s on our side [now],” Roberts added, comparing the quiet, bearded pitcher to an “assassin” on the mound.
Before landing in San Diego last year, the Dodgers made a push to acquire Scott themselves; coming “pretty close” to a deal with the Marlins at the deadline, according to Gomes, before the Padres swooped in.
This winter, the Dodgers made sure not to miss again. When Scott became a free agent, he said the Dodgers were the first team that reached out. And after small tastes of the postseason the past two Octobers, he craved the opportunity to join the defending World Series champions.
There have been 2,555 major league pitchers who had Tommy John surgery. Of those, 162 had a second procedure, and fewer still achieved their previous level of success.
“I mean, you look at the lineup, you look at the pitching staff, it’s gonna be fun,” Scott said. “They do a lot of things the right way.”
In recent seasons, one part of the Dodgers’ way has been a closer-by-committee approach. And while Scott will get the “brunt” of save opportunities now, Roberts said he hasn’t been designated as the closer yet, with the Dodgers also viewing Phillips, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech and others as ninth-inning options
Asked about that dynamic this week, Scott said he was on board with however the Dodgers choose to use him. Remembering the revolving door (and chance airport encounters) he endured in Baltimore, he said he’s simply happy to pitch “whenever my name is called.”
“It was tough, but you gotta enjoy the process,” Scott said. “Because it makes you who you are.”
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