Mired in a 5-20 stretch and four-game losing streak entering Thursday’s series finale with the Philadelphia Phillies, there’s plenty of blame to be distributed amongst the Los Angeles Dodgers for their shortcomings over the past three-plus weeks.
Starting pitching has struggled to provide length, the bullpen has faltered, and offense has hit multiple lulls. Yet, Pedro Baez has received the brunt of the criticism as he’s struggled throughout the month of September.
Baez was again in the spotlight following Tuesday’s loss as he failed to navigate the bottom of the Phillies lineup in what amounted to a four-run seventh inning. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said in no uncertain terms the right-hander was slipping from contention for a spot on the postseason roster.
On Wednesday, Roberts said Baez will not pitch for at least two games, nor even sit in the bullpen and will instead join his manager in the dugout, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Probably give Petey the next couple or three days off,” manager Dave Roberts said of his slumping setup reliever. “I asked Petey to sit with me in the dugout. He’s going to hang out with me and we’ll talk about things, just to get him away from the ‘pen, get his mind off things. He said he feels good, wants to pitch tonight. I appreciate that, but I do think it’s best for him to have the turfs [shoes] on and watch the game from the dugout.”
Roberts was sure to specify the situation is not a punishment but rather an opportunity for his beleaguered relief pitcher to take a break from what’s been a trying stretch.
Since walking three and only retiring one of five batters faced Aug. 21 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baez is 0-4 with two blown saves, a 12.38 ERA and allowed opponents to hit .306/.490/.667 in eight innings across 11 games.
In seven relief appearances during the month of September, Baez has allowed 12 runs (10 earned) in 4.1 innings pitched (20.77 ERA), walked seven, struck out five and surrendered three home runs. Opponents are batting .417/.563/.917 during that stretch.
Following his latest stumbles, Baez acknowledged a need to revert make to throwing his secondary pitches more frequently. He’s thrown a slider 16.5 percent of the time, which is a career high.
Baez’s changeup usage is down to 10.4 percent from last season’s career-high 12.7 percent. He’s has thrown a fastball 73 percent, which is around his career average of 74.7 percent. Though, Baez’s fastball usage during September has spiked to 81 percent. That’s correlated to his slider dropping to 11 percent and changeup to eight percent.
Over 62 relief appearances this season, the 29-year-old is 3-6 with a 3.17 ERA, 4.76 FIP and 1.36 WHIP.
