Daniel Hudson has been an important piece of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen all season, but he has struggled to perform recently and been moved out of high-leverage situations.
Hudson has thrown the second-most innings among relievers in the Dodgers bullpen at 61, just behind Alex Vesia’s 64.1. This year, Hudson has pitched to a solid 3.10 ERA, but his season has been a tale of two halves.
In the first half of the year, Hudson posted a 1.63 ERA across 38.2 innings. In his last 22.1 innings after the All-Star break, he’s pitched to a 5.64 ERA.
Hudson has most notably been hurt by home runs, giving up 2.01 per nine innings in the second half compared to 1.16 in the first half. That’s the main issue Roberts sees from Hudson, and the manager is expecting the veteran reliever to turn it around.
“I think he’s giving up some homers and it just seems he’s one pitch away from having clean outings,” Roberts began. “But we need him to put up zeros.”
In addition to his home run problems, Hudson has seen his strikeout rate drop from 9.78 hitters per nine to 7.25. His walk rate has risen from 1.63 to 4.43, and batters are now hitting .247 against Hudson instead of the .171 mark they posted in the first half.
That has translated to a 73.1% left on base rate compared to the 83.3% strand rate he had in the first half.
Fatigue seems to be playing a factor in Hudson’s struggles. He last threw more than 50 innings in the 2021 season, and he has not cleared 25 since then until this year. And at age 37, holding up for the entire season with an increased workload would be a challenge for anyone.
Since the start of the season, he’s seen his fastball velocity drop from an average of 95.6 mph to 94.4 mph in September. That has coincided with Hudson’s swing-and-miss rate on his fastball dropping from a peak of 38.2% in May to just 22.6% in September.
From June to August, his slider swing and miss rate dropped from 50% to 37.1%, but has since rebounded slightly to 43.2%.
Roberts gave Hudson more than a week off to reset and try to get his body rested again, but the results have not been promising since then.
Even during that time, Roberts remained committed to Hudson, but the more he struggles, the more of a question his role becomes.
Should Daniel Hudson make Dodgers playoff roster?
With no signs of a turnaround, the Dodgers would be best leaving Hudson off their playoff roster. Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol and Ryan Brasier have all been additions in the second half of the season that have been more effective while working their way into high-leverage roles.
In addition to Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda, the Dodgers have a group of seven quality relievers, leaving one spot open for a multi-inning option such as Landon Knack or Tony Gonsolin.
Other candidates for the Dodgers bullpen in October include Brent Honeywell, Joe Kelly and Ben Casparius, who all seemingly offer more upside than this version of Hudson.
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