2024 review: Landon Knack

Yesterday at 01:03 PM

Knack was literally the last starter standing left on the Dodgers' roster as he traveled back and forth on the old Ross Stripling Express on their way to a championship.

Landon Knack entered the Dodgers minor league system in 2021, after being selected in the second round of the 2020 draft, at the age of 23. His progress until this year had been steady, if unspectacular work, primarily as a starter. With a four-seam fastball and slider as primary weapons with a curveball and change-up as secondary offerings, Knack fit the mold of an "innings eater" starter to a tee.

Knack was never the highest person on the prospect pitching depth chart, overshadowed by the likes of Gavin Stone, River Ryan, and Emmett Sheehan.

However, if there was a word that defined Knack's 2024 season, it would be attrition.

Whoever had "Landon Knack would play a critical role in the 2024 Dodgers World Series run?", outside of the Knack household, needs to get themselves to Vegas immediately as your powers of prediction are being wasted on such trifling mortal affairs.

All kidding aside, there is usually at least one young Dodger pitcher who usually travels on what is now affectionately known as the Ross Stripling Express. This pitcher usually makes the underappreciated trip back and forth from Triple-A Oklahoma City to the big league club when innings need to be eaten or when injuries occur. From Ryan Pepiot in 2022 to Gavin Stone in 2023, there is always one such constant traveler.

In 2024, this role, in part, was played by Landon Knack.

Now one does not achieve Ross Stripling Diamond status on the Ross Stripling Express by making more than the maximum of five trips lest one get kicked off the railroad and onto the waiver wire.

Only one person reached the maximum in 2024, not Knack, but Justin Wrobleski. Knack only had four official options like his colleagues Ben Casparius and Nick Ramirez. Technically, Knack was optioned five times in 2024, but that first option was the "mulligan" option for players on the taxi squad for the Korea Series.

Knack, J.P. Feyereisen, and Gus Varland share this unique distinction. Knack also has another bit of unique trivia: he was the only one of the 13 active Dodgers pitchers in Seoul who did not play.

As such, his major league debut had to wait until April 17 when he started and had a hard-luck loss against Jake Irvin and the Nationals in Los Angeles. Five innings of two-run ball in support of an injured rotation is all you can realistically ask from someone making their major league debut.

In another quirk of scheduling emblematic of Young Master Knack's season, his next start was a week later against Jake Irvin and the Washington Nationals. Once again, Knack gave up two runs in his start. The difference was the Dodgers' offense brought the fireworks early in an 11-2 rout.

From this point on, Number 96's season fell into a familiar, if escalating, pattern: make an appearance (or two or three), soak up some innings with performances ranging from "quality start" to "meh," get returned to Oklahoma City, and repeat the process all over again next month. To his credit, Knack had only one clunker of a start all year and that was in mid-September against Atlanta.

• April — 3 starts, 16 IP, 5 R, 5 BB, 11 K, 3 HR allowed
• May — 1 start, 4⅔ IP, 1 R, BB, 5 K
• June — 2 starts, 9⅔ IP, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR allowed
• July — 3 starts, 12⅔ IP, 8 R, 4 BB, 17 K, 5 HR allowed
• September — 4 starters, 21 IP, 12 R, 6 BB, 25 K, 5 HR allowed

After Knack's final start in July, he was optioned back to Oklahoma City after Tyler Glasnow returned from the injured list. While at Triple-AAA in 2024, Knack appeared in 14 games (12 as a starter) with 68 innings of work and a 3.71 ERA.

Knack was called up one last time for coverage before rosters expanded in September. Knack's sole August outing against the Brewers had him join the club of a team-record 14 different Dodgers that recorded a save in 2024. It was the Dodgers' first four-inning save since Ryan Yarbrough did it in August 2023, and only the second of three three-inning (or more) saves in 2024 (Wrobleski, September 28th).

When the rosters expanded, out of necessity, Knack was pressed into regular starter's duty. Knack made five appearances in September, with four as a starter. He averaged around 4⅓ IP per start during this stretch. In 2024, Knack eclipsed his career high of 100⅓ innings pitched as a professional with a total of 137 IP pitched in Los Angeles and Oklahoma City.

Overall, while with the Dodgers, hitters had a .220/.276/.428 slash line against Knack. However, while his WHIP for the year was 1.101, his FIP was a gnarly 4.72, and he allowed 1.8 home runs per nine innings. The Dodgers went 6-9 in his appearances in 2024.

With these facts in mind, it was no surprise when Dave Roberts and company opted to use Knack in the postseason run as a long-man out of the bullpen rather than as a dedicated fourth starter.

The plan had mixed results. Knack closed out the successful relay in Game 4 of the Division Series against the Padres. However, Knack was the reason the relay imploded in Game 2 of the Championship Series against the Mets after giving up a grand slam to Mark Vientos. To his credit, Knack hung tough and threw four innings of one-run ball in the punting of Game 4 of the World Series against the Yankees.

Barring an unexpected spike in development or something calamitous, it is likely that Landon Knack will start 2025 in Triple-A to serve as depth in the rotation. To his credit, Knack was fine in 2024. However, just fine is not going to cut it as a core contributor to this organization.

Knack needs to cut down the number of home runs allowed and build on his success from eclipsing his career high in innings pitched. Whether Knack has the knack to bust the figurative door down in 2025 ala Gavin Stone in 2024 or gets nicked as roster fodder ala Ross Stripling in 2020 is an open question. Time is currently on Knack's side as he is currently healthy and is under team control for the next couple of seasons.

What is likely based on the current history of injuries with the Dodgers for others is that Knack will have the opportunity in 2025 to establish himself as a fixture in the rotation.

2024 particulars

Age: 26

Stats: 3-5, 3.65 ERA, 4.72 FIP, 69 IP, 18 BB, 69 K, 0.9 rWAR, 0.5 fWAR

Salary: $740,000 (prorated to $232,583 for his 79 days on the roster)

Game of the year

Knack had only one start in 2024 where he pitched at least five innings, got the win, and allowed zero runs: September 18 against the Marlins in Miami. He struck out seven over five innings of shutout work.

Roster status

Knack has 79 days of major league service time, and has two option years remaining.