Dodgers Prospect Watch: Brusdar Graterol

Dodgers Prospect Watch: Brusdar Graterol

Name: Brusdar Graterol.

Vitals: Pitcher. 6' 1', 265, age 21, bats right, throws right. From Calabozo, Venezuela.

How acquired: Traded with Luke Raley by Twins for Kenta Maeda and Jair Camargo, February 10,2020.

Highest level of play: 2019 Minnesota Twins.

Potential date for major league debut: 2019.

Baseball America scouting report (subscription required): 

“After a year off to recover from Tommy John surgery in 2016, Graterol started making waves at the end of 2017 and continued to progress throughout 2018 at a pair of Class A stops. Shoulder soreness shortened his season at Double-A...recovered to make his big league debut as a reliever on Sept. 1…impressive enough that the Twins kept him on their roster in their Division Series loss to the Yankees.

“[Graterol has an] electric fastball. The pitch averaged 99 mph in his limited time in the big leagues and showed hard, heavy movement when he located it in the bottom of the strike zone.…pairs the fastball with a hard slider at 87-90 mph…has feel for a low-90s changeup…big-bodied pitcher who must watch his conditioning…upside of a top-end starter and the floor of a power reliever.”

[Follow Sports Illustrated’s Inside the Dodgers on Twitter.]

Comment: Graterol is the number three prospect in the Los Angeles system, with Gavin Lux and Dustin May ahead of him, in that order. And the Dodgers have Arte Moreno -  with a rather large assist from the Red Sox - to thank for it. 

Prior to the Dodgers, Red Sox and Twins consummating trades to send Mookie Betts, David Price and Graterol to Los Angeles, Alex Vedugo to Boston and Kenta Maeda to Minnesota, the Angels owner blew up a decidedly one-sided deal in his favor; one which would have made Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling Angels. Had Moreno simply waited a couple of days for Boston to come around to Graterol (and his medicals), he'd have added two key players to his 2020 Angels club, costing him primarily a dime-a-dozen middle infielder who neither gets on base nor hits for power.

I wonder if Moreno knows how much he helped the Dodgers on that score. Wait a minute; no I don't. He doesn't, nor does he know how much he saved Andrew Friedman from making one of the worst trades of his career..

Friedman ends up keeping Pederson and Stripling while adding Betts, Price and Graterol. Out with the wash goes the annually complaining swing-man Maeda, a fine but extraneous Verdugo and an even more extraneous minor league shortstop in Jeter Downs.

In parts of four minor league seasons, the 21-year-old Graterol posted a 2.70 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and a .212 batting average against, with 230 strikeouts in 214 innings over 51 games and 41 starts. At Minnesota late last season, he made 10 appearances (all in relief), finished four games, going 9 2/3, with 10 Ks, a 4.66 ERA, 3.42 FIP and 1.241 WHIP. 

With his first taste of playoff baseball at 20 last fall, Graterol pitched an inning versus the Yanks, with nothing across and two strikeouts.

In what looked to be a fine spring debut for the Dodgers prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, Graterol had allowed a hit and no walks, with 2 Ks in 3 IP. And looked great doing so.

It's not every day that a team acquires a pennant-race and postseason-tested 21-year-old flame thrower who can start or relieve, gets to keep guys like Pederson and Stripling who were headed elsewhere, while adding an MVP in Betts and the Cy Young-winning Price. But that's what happened. 

Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.