Dodgers add right-handers Jharel Cotton, Ross Stripling to 40-man roster

It’s that time of year where teams have to add eligible players to rosters or risk losing them in the Rule Five draft, so the Dodgers got busy Friday.

They added right-handed pitchers Jharel Cotton and Ross Stripling to their 40-man roster, neither move unexpected. They are currently at 39 players, but as we learned last off-season in the first year under the new front office, the Dodgers 40-man is a very fluid thing.

Cotton, 23, pitched on four levels last season, going a combined 6-2 with a 2.45 ERA (26 earned runs, 95 2/3 innings) in 21 games (11 starts). He struck out 114 and walked just 31 while posting a 1.18 WHIP and averaging 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

Cotton experienced most of his success at double-A Tulsa, where he went 5-2 with a 2.30 ERA in 11 games (eight starts). The 5-11 Cotton was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and played baseball at Miami-Dade College and East Carolina University. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 20th round of the 2012 draft.

Stripling, 25, underwent Tommy John surgery April 2, 2014, but bounced back well last season. He made 14 starts for Tulsa (13) and Class A Great Lakes (one), going 3-6 with a 3.66 ERA and holding opponents to a .234 batting average.

Stripling is 12-10 with a 2.83 ERA in 55 career minor league games (48 starts) since being drafted out of Texas A&M in the fifth round of the 2012 draft.