Over the past few seasons the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Achilles heel has been their inconsistent bullpen. Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen were a formidable duo in 2013, but Wilson struggled the following season and was released in December 2014.
The Dodgers attempted to address their bullpen trouble over the offseason by agreeing to a trade for flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman. However, the deal fell through after details of a domestic abuse case surfaced. Chapman eventually was traded to the New York Yankees and issued a 30-game suspension.
That left Joe Blanton and Louis Coleman as the lone additions to the bullpen for the 2016 season. Although the group of young relievers gained plenty of experience last season, consistency has again been an issue.
Albeit in a small sample size, Pedro Baez has recently cured his woes. He bounced back from allowing three runs to the Tampa Bay Rays in 0.1 innings pitched to put together a pair of scoreless appearances against he Toronto Blue Jays.
It prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to explain Baez has the repertoire to succeed so long as he establishes the correct mindset, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“The stuff is certainly there,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think it’s the mound presence, the confidence and the way he carries himself, the look in the eye that he wants the ball and going after guys and trusts his stuff and [is] not nibbling.”
Roberts added that Baez is capable of becoming one of the more dominant relievers in baseball:
“I think there are many guys that have pitched at the back end for years that don’t have the stuff Petey has. But it’s just that confidence they have to get guys out at the end of the game. But Petey’s getting there, and I trust him and like him at the back end, and he’s only going to get better, which is scary.”
Baez has not induced the kind of results the Dodgers were hoping for thus far into the season, but the 28 year old is averaging 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings, which can be attributed to his upper-90s fastball and sharp breaking pitches.
