Gavin Blaine Stone (born October 15, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Career

Amateur career

Stone attended Riverside High School in Lake City, Arkansas and the University of Central Arkansas, where he played college baseball for the

Central Arkansas Bears The Central Arkansas Bears and Sugar Bears represent the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in NCAA Division I's Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA football) as a member of the ASUN Conference. The athletic program is supported b ...

. As a sophomore in 2019, he appeared in twenty games (two starts) and went 4–3 with a 1.52 ERA and 58 strikeouts over innings. He made four starts in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stone also played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

in the Northwoods League for the

Battle Creek Bombers The Battle Creek Battle Jacks are a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. All players on the team must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Their home games are played at the ...

in 2019 and the Great Lakes Resorters in 2020.

Professional career

The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Stone in the fifth round, with the 159th overall pick, of the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

. He signed for $100,000. Stone made his professional debut in 2021 with the

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and play their home games at LoanMart Field. The franc ...

and was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons in mid-August. Over 22 starts between the two teams, he went 2–3 with a 3.76 ERA and 138 strikeouts over 91 innings. He returned to Great Lakes to open the 2022 season. After six starts in which he went 1–1 with a 1.44 ERA over 25 innings, he was promoted to the

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

. After 13 starts with Tulsa, in which he posted a 6–4 record, a 1.60 ERA, and 107 strikeouts over innings, he was promoted to the Oklahoma City Dodgers in mid-August, where he had a 1.16 ERA in six starts and ended his season by striking out 11 in six scoreless innings against the Salt Lake Bees. For the 2022 minor league season, he was 9–6 with a 1.48 ERA in innings in which he struck out 168 batters. Stone was selected by the Dodgers as their 2022 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Stone returned to Oklahoma City to open the 2023 season and he was called up to the majors for the first time on May 3, to start against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. In his debut, Stone allowed four earned runs on eight hits and two walks in four innings. He recorded one strikeout, of

Nick Castellanos Nicholas Alexander Castellanos (; born March 4, 1992) is an American professional baseball right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds ...

. On August 27, Stone picked up his first major league win against the Boston Red Sox. In the majors, he pitched in eight games (four starts) and gave up 31 earned runs in 31 innings (9.00 ERA) while he pitched in 21 games (19 starts) at Oklahoma City with a 7–4 record and 4.74 ERA with 120 strikeouts. Stone struck out ten in innings to help Oklahoma City win the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

championship series. During spring training in 2024, manager Dave Roberts announced that Stone would break camp as the team's fifth starter in the rotation.

References

External links

Central Arkansas Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Gavin 1998 births Living people Baseball players from Arkansas Battle Creek Bombers players Central Arkansas Bears baseball players Great Lakes Loons players Great Lakes Resorters players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Oklahoma City Dodgers players Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players Tulsa Drillers players