Despite a rather quiet offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers still completed a three-team trade with the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals that netted southpaw Scott Alexander and Jake Peter.
Alexander is coming off a breakout campaign for the Royals in which he posted a 2.48 ERA and 3.23 FIP over 69 innings with a ground ball rate of 73.3 percent — good for the second-best mark among qualified relievers.
The 28-year-old has lived up to his reputation and expectations in camp thus far, utilizing a power sinker that has generated a plethora of ground balls in the early going.
That prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to voice his satisfaction with Alexander’s work and ability to retire left- and right-handed batters, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“I’ve seen what we’ve expected,” Roberts said. “Heavy sinker. Attacking. Gets righties and lefties out. Puts the ball on the ground.”
Alexander has appeared in four Cactus League games to date, compiling a 4.91 ERA and 1.36 WHIP over 3.2 innings of work. He last took the mound on Thursday against the Cleveland Indians, where he yielded one run and recorded two outs.
Alexander still has five years of team control remaining, along with two Minor League options. He figures to crack the Opening Day roster as one of at least two left-handed relievers in the bullpen, joined by Tony Cingrani.
Given the departures of Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson, Alexander will have plenty of opportunities to seize the wide open eighth inning vacancy, though his versatility of logging multiple innings won’t limit him to just one specific role.
