Blake Treinen finally made his 2024 season debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 5 against the Atlanta Braves and he looked just as effective as L.A. remembered him.
It was the first Major League action Treinen has seen since missing all of 2023 due to injury. It took until May for Treinen to make his debut this season thanks to an injury to his ribs that he suffered back in Spring Training.
Treinen has been a mainstay in the Dodgers bullpen since the 2020 season and has been extremely effective as their extreme high-leverage arm and eighth inning setup-man. He allowed one run in five innings before his injury in 2022, and had a 1.99 ERA and 32 holds in 72.1 innings the year before that.
He has been perfect in all three of his outings so far this season, with no baserunners allowed and four strikeouts.
The arsenal, his slider in particular, has looked just as devastating as ever and is why the Dodgers have so much faith in him as a reliever, according to Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“His stuff is in a great place right now,” general manager Brandon Gomes said in March. “There are a lot of outcomes where he’s an elite pitcher, whether it’s the 2021 form or not.”
With an increasingly dwindling bullpen, Treinen’s return came at just the right time for the Dodgers team that is in desperate need of relievers they can rely on in big spots.
His results in the Minors while on a rehab assignment were not great, with a 10.38 ERA in 4.1 innings. However, it did not worry Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as he knew better than to doubt the ability of Treinen’s stuff to play in the Majors:
“I wasn’t really too concerned about the stuff,” Roberts said of Treinen, who along with Daniel Hudson, Alex Vesia and Michael Grove make up the back end of the Dodgers’ current bullpen orientation.
“For me, it was hoping he could trust his stuff, whatever he had, in the strike zone; betting on the stuff to play and get major league hitters out,” Roberts added. “And that’s what I’m seeing.”
Evan Phillips is expected to be back with the Dodgers as soon as he is eligible to come off the injured list, but the team is still expected to be without Brusdar Graterol, Kyle Hurt, Ryan Brasier, and possibly Joe Kelly for an extended period of time.
Having an elite back-end arm like Treinen back goes a long way to making their losses sting less.
Dodgers bullpen has been improving despite injuries mounting
In the early part of 2024 and before their dominant 14-2 stretch, the Dodgers’ bullpen was around middle of the pack in terms of ERA. In the team’s last 16 games, the bullpen has moved all the way up to the sixth spot and has been a key contributor to the Dodgers recent success.
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