Daniel Hudson has been a key member of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen this season, but he has fallen into a rough stretch as of late.
Hudson posted a 5.79 ERA in August and has given up runs in four of his last seven appearances. In addition, Hudson has walked (4) more batters than he’s stuck out (3) in his 9.1 innings this month.
Due to his struggles and usage, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to give Hudson some time to reset as he did not use the reliever in a game from Aug. 21 through Aug. 28.
“He’s thrown more innings than he’s thrown since 2019,” Roberts said. “He started the season with us going wire to wire, so certain guys have had blows. And so now for Huddy to be able to kind of play the slice of, that’s what I was trying to do.”
After last facing the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 20, Hudson got back into a game for the first time on Aug. 29 against the Baltimore Orioles. He pitched just 0.2 innings, giving up a hit and walking two batters before he was removed from the game in favor of Blake Treinen.
“That was one of those situations where you have so many guys down and it was a perfect lane for Huddy,” Roberts said. “I wanted to pitch him tonight. I thought the stuff was much better than it was before he had the little respite. He was a little rusty. Got two quick outs and then got count leverage but lost a couple guys. The pitch count was getting up and I just felt we needed to limit the damage at that point in time.”
While the outing wasn’t encouraging for Hudson, Roberts still has trust in the veteran reliever and plans to keep utilizing him in a high-leverage role moving forward.
“But I really feel there were some good things for Huddy, so going forward I’m just going to use him like he’s always been used, and expect we got rid of some rust tonight,” Roberts added.
Overall this season, Hudson has thrown 50.2 innings with a 2.58 ERA, striking out 50 hitters and posting a 0.97 WHIP.
Due to the emergence of Michael Kopech, Hudson should receive fewer save opportunities than he’s had this season, but the Dodgers still need him to be an effective member of their bullpen.
Hudson dealt with injuries in 2023 and 2022 that limited him to just 27.1 innings across the two seasons. He is on pace to more than double that total this year.
Daniel Hudson among Dodgers high-leverage bullpen options
The Dodgers have a deep bullpen with multiple other high-leverage options they could use if Hudson continues to struggle. Kopech, Evan Phillips, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda and Alex Vesia have all been effective in the late innings, while Joe Kelly also has experience in big moments.
Brusdar Graterol is also progressing toward a return and would provide the club with another great option.
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