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.^[1] 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 47+1⁄3 innings.^[2] He made four starts in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3] Stone also played collegiate summer baseball in the Northwoods League for the Battle Creek Bombers in 2019 and the Great Lakes Resorters in 2020.^[4]

Professional career

The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Stone in the fifth round, with the 159th overall pick, of the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.^[5][6] He signed for $100,000.^[7] Stone made his professional debut in 2021 with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons in mid-August.^[8] Over 22 starts between the two teams, he went 2–3 with a 3.76 ERA and 138 strikeouts over 91 innings.^[9]

He returned to Great Lakes to open the 2022 season.^[10] After six starts in which he went 1–1 with a 1.44 ERA over 25 innings, he was promoted to the Tulsa Drillers.^[11] After 13 starts with Tulsa in which he posted a 6–4 record, a 1.60 ERA, and 107 strikeouts over 73+1⁄3 innings, he was promoted to the Oklahoma City Dodgers in mid-August,^[12] where he had a 1.16 ERA in six starts^[13] and ended his season by striking out 11 in six scoreless innings against the Salt Lake Bees.^[14] For the 2022 minor league season, he was 9–6 with a 1.48 ERA in 121+2⁄3 innings in which he struck out 168 batters.^[15] Stone was selected by the Dodgers as their 2022 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year.^[16] Stone returned to Oklahoma City to open the 2023 season^[17] and he was called up to the majors for the first time on May 3, to start against the Philadelphia Phillies.^[18] In his debut, Stone allowed four earned runs on eight hits and two walks in four innings. He recorded one strikeout, of Nick Castellanos.^[19] On August 27, Stone picked up his first major league win against the Boston Red Sox.^[20] In the majors, he pitched in eight games (four starts) and gave up 31 earned runs in 31 innings (9.00 ERA)^[21] while he pitched in 21 games (19 starts) at Oklahoma City with a 7–4 record and 4.74 ERA with 120 strikeouts.^[13] Stone struck out 10 in 6+1⁄3 innings to help Oklahoma City win the Pacific Coast League championship series.^[22]