Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Challenges Brusdar Graterol to Find a Slower Pitch

The Bazooka is too fast for his own good.

Brusdar Graterol is entering his fourth season with the Dodgers and expectations for the fireballer have never been higher. Over the last three years, the Bazooka has at times felt like a complementary piece in the bullpen. If he does well, awesome, but if he's struggling, they could save him for a weaker run of hitters or to only throw with a huge lead.

Now, with Kenley Jansen well in the rearview mirror and the Craig Kimbrel era mercifully over, the bullpen is going to be a work in progress as Dave Roberts aims to identify an unofficial official closer. 

One guy who would be great for that role is Graterol. He's long been looked at as a future closer. But in the eyes of Dave and the organization, the right-hander isn't quite there yet. Doc recently spoke about Brusdar and what the Dodgers are looking for out of the 24-year-old this season. Bill Plunkett of the OC Register reported.

“There’s a velocity differential that we’re looking for. When he’s on the mound, everything is hard. So if you can have something to slow the hitter down and get them off the fastball and cutter, it’s just upside. With Brusdar, he’s been searching for that breaking ball and the shape of it.”

Graterol came to the Dodgers in a trade with the Twins after the original version of the Mookie Betts trade fell apart in February 2020. At that point, the 100-mph-plus fastball was already well known, but the secondary pitches were a work in progress. 

Then, it was the fastball and the rarely-seen and inconsistent slider. He's since added a cutter that he'll use mostly to keep left-handed hitters honest, but he knows he needs all of his weapons if he's going to be successful.

“It’s about growing the other pitches, learning about the other pitches. Obviously the fastball is there. Now it’s about growing with the other pitches.” ... “I throw fastballs really hard. With the slider, I don’t always get the rotation I’m looking for because I’m so focused on throwing the fastball as hard as I can. So the slider rotation isn’t quite as good or where I want it to be right now.”

If Graterol could find that consistent slider, he would become one of the dominant relievers in the game. He's already been good over the last few seasons, but the knock on him is the lack of strikeouts. 

For a guy that regularly throws a fastball in the triple digits, his 7.2 strikeouts per nine is low. The problem usually is that hitters can sit on the higher velocity and spoil pitches rather than swing and miss. A slider or something with a bigger velocity differential, as Roberts said it, changes that.

Brusdar has been fine as usual so far this spring with 5 scoreless innings. But he knows, Dave knows, and the world knows that he needs that last little wrinkle to the repertoire to take him to the next level.