Alex Vesia was among the bright spots out of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen in their win over the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
With L.A. up 5-3, Evan Phillips battled through a scoreless sixth inning that was aided by Gavin Lux and Trea Turner combining for a dazzling double play. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts then turned to Vesia to face a string of lefties in the seventh inning.
Vesia pitches with concentrated aggression, a fastball that hovers around 95-96 mph, and mountain of fire, which he demonstrated after collecting a third strikeout of the inning.
“I felt like I was able to get ahead. I think that was the biggest key, making sure that I got ahead with the fastball and then put them away with either a slider,” Vesia said of his appearance. “I used my changeup once or twice. So, yeah, just getting ahead.”
Vesia was brought over from the Miami Marlins in an offseason trade prior to the 2021 season in exchange for Dylan Floro, another valuable reliever for the Dodgers in their 2020 World Series.
The former 17th-round pick out of Cal State East Bay has risen from the 24-year-old who allowed nine earned runs in 4.1 innings for the Marlins in 2020, to a dominant lefty who’s carried a 2.19 ERA over 94.1 innings for the Dodgers.
“Chip is on my shoulder all the time. I feel like I carry that in my heart pretty much every day. My college coach told me, ‘You’re not going to make your money in the Draft.’,” Vesia recalled. “He is like, ‘You’re going to make it in the big leagues.’ That’s always been pretty heavy on my heart.”
Roberts and the Dodgers believe in Vesia to perform in the big spot and the emotion with which he pitches is a welcomed part of their clubhouse.
“I think the biggest thing is to be yourself and that we embrace that around here. I mean, we have a bunch of different characters on the team. I think that nothing that you do is ever frowned upon, that we take our work seriously,” Vesia explained.
“There’s a lot of very, very good guys to bounce ideas off of and learn from, and I feel like I did that pretty well last year, and then I’ve just built on it this year more and more.”
The Dodgers dominated the season series against the Padres, and Vesia gave them 1.2 scoreless innings on Tuesday, which hit home for the San Diego native.
“My dad is actually a Yankee fan. Yeah, that’s a whole different conversation,” Vesia said. “Obviously, being from San Diego, I understand the question, and I’ve got a lot of friends and stuff that they’re not too happy with me, but I think it’s all right. I think they understand. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Alex Vesia & Dodgers bullpen has earned the trust of Andrew Friedman
The Dodgers bullpen was historic throughout the regular season, but the additions of Chris Martin and Yency Almonte, coupled with the maturation of Evan Phillips and Vesia have elevated them to new heights.
The group has been at or near the top of ERA leaderboards throughout Major League Baseball this season, and their run of four scoreless innings on Tuesday is another nod to the bullpen that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers front office have built.
“I think this arguably will be our deepest 13-man pitching staff, and that’s with missing a few guys,” Friedman said before the NLDS began.
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