The combination of nitro-fueled fastball and nickname doesn’t just suggest that Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol has the makings to be a major league closer. He yells it.
The burly right-hander has a nasty sinking two-seam fastball that averaged 99.8 mph with 20 inches of drop and 15-inch break left to right last season and a four-seam that averaged 99.4 mph and touched 102.5 mph.
“He’s got the best stuff on the planet,” Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia said.
And a nickname to match. Graterol’s Minnesota Twins teammates nicknamed him “Bazooka” when he broke into the majors in 2019 because the ball seems to explode in his hand like it’s fired from a rocket launcher.
“I think it’s the perfect nickname for me,” Graterol said.
But until Graterol can take out left-handed hitters more consistently, develop a more effective slider to keep hitters off his fastball, and avoid the pesky injuries that derailed him the past two seasons, he won’t be called “closer.” ”.
Graterol has held right-handed hitters to a .202 average, a .512 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and two home runs in 292 plate appearances over four major league seasons, but lefties have hit .294 with an OPS of . .847 batting average and five home runs in 183 plate appearances against him.
The 24-year-old Venezuelan threw a slice fastball, mostly to lefties, that averaged 95.6 mph with a 22-inch drop but virtually no horizontal break last season, which is why hitters hit .302 (13-for-43) in the cutters that put into play.
“He certainly has the mindset and stuff to close, but there’s a neutrality to being a dedicated closer,” manager Dave Roberts said, alluding to the need for ninth-inning specialists to be effective against lefties and righties. “We’re still working on making him a more neutral pitcher.”
The Dodgers will open the season without a designated closer. Right-hander Evan Phillips, their most effective and durable reliever last season, will pitch in the biggest situations. Daniel Hudson will also be a vital part of the group, but it is not likely that he will be ready for the start of the season due to persistent knee and ankle injuries.
Graterol and lefties Vesia and Caleb Ferguson will pitch in high-stakes situations, but Graterol could also take a ninth-inning role.
“Yeah, it’s right in front of him, so go ahead and take it,” assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness said. “His ceiling of him is as high as he wants it to go. He is a hard worker. He is one of the best athletes I have ever seen. He plays so well that he could win a Gold Glove. For him, it’s just a matter of going out there and executing.”
Graterol notched the first four saves of his career last season. Roberts wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Graterol shutting down, but the manager often prefers to use him against a streak of tough right-handed hitters no matter the inning.
“The bottom line is that I trust Brusdar in any situation,” Roberts said. “You could argue that some of the places I’ve put him in have more clout than a three-run save situation in the ninth. People get very invested in a role and feel that this is their value. That is something that as a coach I have to navigate and understand.
Brusdar Graterol pitches against the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the National League Division Series on October 12, 2022 at Dodger Stadium.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
The 6-foot-1, 262-pound Graterol has looked good this spring, allowing five hits, striking out four and walking one in five innings of five games, including Saturday’s scoreless inning against the White Sox. from Chicago where his slider fared better. depth.
The slider averaged 90.6 mph with a 30-inch drop and a seven-inch right-to-left break last season, and Graterol held opponents to a .158 average (six-for-38) in at-bats that ended with the launch. But Roberts believes a better slider will improve Graterol’s modest strikeout rate of 7.2 punches per nine innings.
“He’s been looking for the right form for that breaking ball,” Roberts said. “Hopefully I can find something that I like and that I can be consistent with because the mastery of the fastball is elite. Hopefully he can find something that he can rely on to go in a big place, that will give him the speed differential that we’re looking for.
“When he’s on the mound, everything is difficult. If you have something to slow down hitters a little bit, to get them off the fastball and the cutter, it creates more leads.”
Despite all the tinkering and tweaking this spring, Graterol has one goal going into the season: “To stay healthy all year,” he said. He didn’t in 2021 and 2022.
Acquired from Minnesota for starter Kenta Maeda in February 2020, Graterol avoided injury in his first season in Los Angeles, going 1-2 with a 3.09 ERA in 23 games of pandemic-shortened 2020 and allowing three earned runs in 7 ⅔ innings out of nine. playoff game to help the Dodgers win the World Series.
He was 3-0 with a 4.59 ERA in 34 games in 2021, missing three weeks of April with COVID-19, all of May with a tight right forearm, and all of June with a demotion to triple-A for what Roberts called, in that moment. , “finishing school.”
Graterol got his bearings in October and pitched in eight of 12 postseason games in 2021, allowing one run on four hits, striking out seven and walking none in nine innings.
He was 2-4 with a 3.26 ERA and four saves in 46 games in 2022, striking out 43 and issuing 10 walks in 49 ⅔ innings, but missed two months with shoulder and elbow injuries.
“His ceiling is as high as he wants it to go. He is a hard worker. He is one of the best athletes I have ever seen. He plays so well that he could win a Gold Glove.”
— Connor McGuiness, Dodgers assistant pitching coach, on Brusdar Graterol
It has been speculated that because Graterol has a shorter stride and generates much of his torque with his upper body, he is putting more pressure on his shoulder and elbow. But the Dodgers have no plans to change his mechanics.
“It’s hard to say that a mechanical change is going to prevent injuries every time a guy is throwing 100 mph,” McGuiness said. “I think you’re running down a slippery slope trying to change someone’s stride length or something, especially considering their delivery.”
Graterol didn’t think his weight was a problem, but modifications to his winter training regimen (he worked out three times a day most days, with more stretching and cardio) and his diet helped him lose 285 pounds to 262.
“My weight had gone up, but my veil was there, I was throwing 102-103 mph,” Graterol said. “But I feel much better. I feel like I can make everything easier.”
Teammates noticed the weight loss immediately. “I saw him the first day of spring training,” Vesia said, “and I said, ‘You came here ready to play this year.’ Roberts said losing weight didn’t necessarily show more commitment. “I would say it shows the maturity of him,” Roberts said.
McGuiness isn’t sure if or how Graterol will benefit from being lighter.
“It can help you build a proper foundation to last the full season and help you bounce back a little bit better,” McGuinness said. “But there is an argument that carrying on a little more weight at the start of the year can also be beneficial. So there are two sides of that coin.”
The Dodgers had an established closer for a decade when Kenley Jansen held the job from 2012 to 2021, and they entered 2022 with veteran closer Craig Kimbrel as their ninth-inning specialist.
Late-game pitching decisions will be based more on matchups than defined roles this season, but whether you’re closer, setup man or short reliever, Graterol will be a big part of the mix.
“Doc will continue to put him out there in big situations, and we’ll need him to be healthy all year,” Vesia said of Graterol. “He’s going to be a big part of our bullpen, whether it’s in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning.”
