Do the Dodgers have the best pitching staff?

Sep 28, 2022 - 12:20 PM

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Let’s ignore the current state of Dodgers pitching for a moment. Let’s say everyone is perfectly healthy and throwing their best stuff. Would this staff be the best in baseball? Rob Friedman at Fox Sports certainly thinks so. Here’s one thing about each Dodgers pitcher that makes them stand out, according to Friedman.

Clayton Kershaw

Though his velocity is down, Kershaw’s precision is as excellent as ever. That’s good news for his slider, which relies on using the same path as his fastball to trick batters into swinging at nothing.

Julio Urías

Urías’s pitch mix is impressive, but his curveball stands out. The pitch averages more than 16 inches of horizontal break with a batting .202 average against it. And if you thought that was good, Urías’s fastball is even better — that one has a .179 batting average against it.

Tyler Anderson

For Anderson, the secret is in the mechanics. His twitchy front leg maneuver can confuse batters, as can his changeup. That pitch is currently ranged as the second-best in baseball, behind Sandy Alcántara.

Tony Gonsolin

Gonsolin’s splitter might be one of the most unhittable pitches in the Majors, Friedman writes. Batters have a .115 average against it, and it’s the best in the league when it comes to run prevention.

Andrew Heaney

Heaney likes to walk the line — of the strike zone. His arm slot allows his pitches to dance across the top edge of the box, resulting in plenty of swings and misses.

Dustin May

May knows how to move. His fastball and sinker can each hit about 100 mph, and his breaking ball routinely reaches 3,300 revolutions per minute. Talk about blink-and-you’ll-miss-it.

The Bullpen

Yes, Craig Kimbrel leaves something to be desired as a closer. But Evan Phillips has a 1.22 ERA out of the pen with excellent sliders and cutters. Alex Vesia’s fastball/slider combo can make a batter’s head spin. Yency Almonte can make you swing at a pitch that goes between your legs. And Brusdar Graterol, who’s only 24, has a 100 mph fastball with just enough drop to trick anyone into swinging.

Then there’s Blake Trienen, whose sinkers and sliders look absolutely unhittable.

When you pull it all together, the Dodgers could very well have one of the most threatening pitching staffs in baseball.

Dodgers Links

The Padres honored Dodgers Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrín, who will be retiring after this season, before Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers, writes Kevin Acee at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Robert O’Connell at FiveThirtyEight breaks down the Dodgers-Yankees rivalry of the 1970s.

Albert Pujols’s 700th homer was special, but for Latino fans, it had a little extra meaning, writes Jorge Castillo at the Los Angeles Times.