Our final installment in looking at pitching options for LA in 2025 provides a little relief.
With the six closer-quality relief pitchers we discussed in part 3 of our preview of Dodgers pitching, the team has an embarrassment of riches in the bullpen. On top of that, the Dodgers are also deep in starting pitching, so guys like Landon Knack, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, and others will probably find innings in relief. Today, we’ll look at the bullpen depth, which contains a hoard of very talented pitchers.
Anthony Banda
Banda is a guy who has pitched in the majors for eight consecutive years and defines the word journeyman. The Dodgers are his eighth team. He had never pitched more than 33 innings before last year, and frankly, he’s been mostly awful for his whole career. Enter the Dodger’s renowned pitcher-fixer technology, and he gave them 50 very decent innings. Banda held batters to a .238 batting average [after they hit .290 against him the previous seven years], and his 3.08 ERA was in contrast to his lifetime ERA of 4.89.
The 31-year-old cemented his best season by giving up just one run in 10 postseason games. The Dodgers avoided arbitration with Banda on a one-year contract for $1 million for this year and hope he can produce similar results. He is known as a hard worker and a great teammate and is an especially effective weapon against left-handed hitters.
Ben Casparius
He has been a starting pitcher, and his future may be as a starter, but for this coming season, he is likely to get most of his innings as a reliever. He is another guy who distinguished himself in the postseason, pitching 6⅓ innings and only giving up 1 run. Now he has come into this season with the trust of the team and a rumored uptick in stuff. With a bunch of lefties in the bullpen, and righties Phillips and Kopech beginning the season on the IL, Casparius will get innings at least until those guys come back.
Want some useless Casparius trivia? He’s just the second pitcher in major league history to make his first career start in the World Series.
Jack Dreyer
Dreyer has the potential to be an overlooked gem. 164 strikeouts in 124 innings and an ERA of 2.18 in 100 minor-league games are usually going to garner some attention. But there are 15 pitchers on MLB Pipeline’s top-30 Dodger’s prospect list, and no Dreyer to be found anywhere. His spring training results include 11 strikeouts against one walk and only four hits in seven innings. So far, the just-turned-26-year-old has been nothing but effective. As the fourth lefty in the bullpen, he’ll need to show he can get right-handed major league hitters out to stay on the team.
Interesting guys coming back from injuries at some point:
Brusdar Graterol: The 2023 season, when he pitched 68 games to the tune of a 1.20 ERA, seemed to break him, and he is still recovering. If he comes back from November shoulder surgery with a new arm, that will be another weapon [a bazooka?].
Edgardo Henríquez: When you get injured off the field, and no one wants to say what happened, that usually means you did something stupid. A left foot fracture has him out 4-6 weeks.
Kyle Hurt: He’s listed by MLB Pipeline as the Dodger’s 22nd-best prospect, and scouts have graded his fastball as a 70 and his change-up as a 60 [on the 20:80 scale]. In 2023, he led all minor leaguers in strikeout percentage, swinging strike percentage, and strikeout-minus-walk percentage. That’s pretty freaking dynamic. Then he had Tommy John surgery last July 30. We are awaiting his return, and we’ll see how he bounces back.
Nick Frasso: Another Andrew Friedman steal, Frasso was obtained in a trade for nobody any good. He then became their number-one pitching prospect before suffering a torn labrum. Like Hurt, we are waiting to see if the repaired Frasso is better, worse, or the same as they were before surgery.
And lastly
Luis García: He pitched for the Angels, so he’s damaged. The last we saw of him, he gave up 14 earned runs on 24 hits in 15⅓ innings for Boston. He might have made the team while some guys are injured, but I suspect he’ll go bye-bye before not too long.