CINCINNATI – It was a long road back – including a stint with a team named after deep dish pizza – but Brock Stewart will be rejoining the Dodgers.
The Dodgers and Minnesota Twins have agreed on a trade that would bring the 33-year-old Stewart back to the team that drafted him in the sixth round of the 2014 draft and gave him his first opportunity in the majors during the 2016 season. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report the trade.
Elite relievers Mason Miller, Jhoan Duran and Ryan Helsley have been traded for significant prospect packages; Stewart represents a step down from that tier. It is uncertain at this point what the Dodgers gave up to re-acquire him.
Stewart was a swingman with the Dodgers from 2016 to 2019, making 11 starts and 25 relief appearances while repeatedly shuttling between Los Angeles and Triple-A. But he has found his niche as a setup man in the Twins’ bullpen over the past three seasons.
But there are durability questions. Stewart (who pitched for the independent Chicago Deep Dish in 2020) underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 after re-signing with the Dodgers and had arthroscopic shoulder surgery last August.
But a trip to Tread Athletics in 2020 led to a 5 mph jump in his fastball velocity (perhaps leading to his elbow surgery) and he emerged with the Twins’ Triple-A team (after passing through the Blue Jays and Cubs organizations) by striking out 17 in 8 ⅔ innings in April 2023. Stewart was promoted to the Twins and posted an 0.65 ERA in 27 ⅔ innings.
He spent time on the Injured List with elbow soreness that season and his 2024 season was cut short by arthroscopic shoulder surgery.
This season, he pitched in front of Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran for the Twins and had a 2.38 ERA in 34 innings with 41 strikeouts. He has been particularly effective against right-handed hitters, using his fastball — now averaging 96.1 mph after bottoming out at 90.9 mph with the Dodgers in 2018 — a sweeper and changeup to hold them to seven hits (one home run) and 29 strikeouts in 67 at-bats.