The Los Angeles Dodgers have managed to maintain a six-man starting rotation throughout the season despite losing pitchers to injury at various points. That hasn’t applied to Justin Wrobleski, who along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, has been a mainstay.
Wrobleski’s first appearance this season was four innings out of the bullpen on March 30, but he has gone on to make 20 starts after that. But now that Tyler Glasnow is nearing the end of his rehab assignment and Shohei Ohtani is making progress in a throwing program, Wrobleski is poised to get bumped out of the rotation.
Justin Wrobleski moving to bullpen
Prior to Wrobleski again giving up multiple home runs in a start, manager Dave Roberts downplayed concern over his innings total so far in 2026 and noted the left-hander is in line for a role change.
“You know, I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate in the sense of what he threw in the Minors, what he threw in the postseason,” Roberts answered when asked if Wrobleski can withstand the physical demands of increasing from 66.2 innings at the Major League level a year ago.
“But regardless, is it sustainable? We’ll see. And at some point in time he’s going to go to the ‘pen anyway with the guys we have coming back.”
Wrobleski threw a combined total of 123.1 innings last year between his time with Triple-A Oklahoma City and the Dodgers, including the postseason. For his part, the 26-year-old said he wasn’t concerned over the increase this year and felt the 2025 total was more when factoring in unofficial bullpens.
Earlier this season Roberts indicated efforts would be made to shorten his outings when possible, but that’s only occurred at his discretion once.
Before his six innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, Wrobleski did have back-to-back outings of just 4.1 and 3.1 innings, respectively, due to subpar performance.
Roberts publicly revealing the Dodgers’ plan to shift Wrobleski to the bullpen doesn’t come as any sort of surprise. It always was the presumed decision for October under the notion that Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Ohtani and Glasnow were healthy. It became all the more likely after the Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal.
Going back to a multi-inning relief role he excelled in last October could prove beneficial for Wrobleski as he’s reached a rough stretch since earning a first career All-Star selection. Included in that is Wrobleski having surrendered 11 home runs over his last four starts.
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