Dodgers’ Brusdar Graterol working to expand his arsenal

Pitcher Brusdar Graterol #48 of the Los Angeles Dodgers poses for a portrait during MLB photo day at Camelback Ranch on February 22, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

GLENDALE, Ariz. – With Brusdar Graterol, his fastball has always been the main attraction.

Over the past three seasons, its average velocity has been between 98.8 mph (2020) and 99.5 mph (2021). Last year (99.4 mph), it was the sixth-highest average velocity in the majors. Graterol is the only pitcher to rank sixth or higher in fastball velocity each of the past three years.

But that alone isn’t enough. Developing secondary pitches has been the burly 24-year-old reliever’s annual challenge.

“It’s about growing the other pitches, learning about the other pitches,” Graterol said through an interpreter. “Obviously the fastball is there. Now it’s about growing with the other pitches.”

Graterol’s best secondary pitch has been a cutter he started throwing in 2021 – and it is a legacy pitch in the Dodgers bullpen. Graterol was first introduced to the cutter by former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen who rode his version of the pitch to the franchise saves record.

“Kenley was the one that originally helped me throw the pitch, taught me the pitch,” Graterol said. “He was more teaching me where to throw it, not so much the grip. (Walker) Buehler was the one who taught me the grip. Kenley was the one who taught me where to locate it.”

But Graterol’s cutter averaged 95.6 mph last season, not much slower than his sinking fastball. Finding an off-speed pitch with more separation from his fastball has been more difficult for Graterol.

“There’s a velocity differential that we’re looking for,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he’s on the mound, everything is hard. So if you can have something to slow the hitter down and get them off the fastball and cutter, it’s just upside.

“With Brusdar, he’s been searching for that breaking ball and the shape of it.”

Graterol has thrown a slider since coming to the majors with the Minnesota Twins in 2019. But he has de-emphasized it with the Dodgers and threw it a career-low 18 percent of the time last season. This spring, he has been “trying to grow that pitch” with assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness.

The emphasis, Graterol said, has been making the slider look like a strike – “be more on the plate with that pitch” – so that hitters can’t easily dismiss it.

“I throw fastballs really hard. With the slider, I don’t always get the rotation I’m looking for because I’m so focused on throwing the fastball as hard as I can,” Graterol said. “So the slider rotation isn’t quite as good or where I want it to be right now.”

Armed with his 100-mph fastball and an arsenal that includes an effective cutter and breaking ball, Graterol’s surprisingly low strikeout rate (7.2 per nine innings in his career) would no doubt increase – and he would profile as the quintessential closer, a role Graterol has said in the past he would like to fill some day. There is a vacancy there in this year’s version of the Dodgers bullpen but Graterol said he is not focused on that.

“I don’t want that to be a chip on my shoulder or a motivating factor. I think there’s a lot of really good arms on this team,” he said. “My motivation is to be really good and dominate. That doesn’t necessarily mean I have to be the guy in the ninth inning. I just have to be really good and help the team win and dominate whenever I get the ball.”

STONE COLD

Dodgers pitching prospect Gavin Stone has made nothing but positive impressions in his first big-league camp – and that’s even when he doesn’t pitch.

Players who aren’t in the day’s Cactus League game can leave early (usually after five innings). But Roberts said Stone has been in the dugout for every inning of every home game this spring.

“For a young player, especially a pitcher, just to sit there and watch games on days he’s not participating is telling,” Roberts said.

Stone struck out eight in three scoreless innings Sunday. He hasn’t allowed a run in 6 ⅔ Cactus League innings, striking out 14 while allowing five hits and walking two.

“It just gives me confidence. I feel like that’s key to being a good pitcher, having confidence on the mound,” Stone said of his Cactus League success. “If you don’t exude confidence then hitters are going to have better at-bats. So that’s just my main focus to stay as confident as possible on the mound, because if I throw my stuff, then I know my stuff is better than their stuff.”

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NELSON STRUGGLE

Veteran right-hander Jimmy Nelson is healthy this spring after a series of physical setbacks over the past several years — including a severe shoulder injury, back surgery and, most recently, Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers declined the 33-year-old’s option last fall but re-signed him this spring to a guaranteed $1.2 million contract.

But Nelson has struggled to regain his command this spring. In Sunday’s game, he threw 14 pitches. Only one (the 13th) was a strike. He walked three batters, hit another and threw a wild pitch. Over his past two outings, he has walked seven of the nine batters he faced and hit another.

“I think, for me, we’ve all got to be mindful that this guy hasn’t pitched in almost two years,” Roberts said. “So there’s the structural part. He’s got a new arm. What was normal to him back then is not normal now. … It’s a process. So that was kind of my message to Jimmy. And every athlete wants to kind of be good right now. But just understanding that it’s coming, and it’s just gonna take some time.”

Nelson’s spring struggles have clearly taken him out of the running for a spot in the season-opening bullpen, though the Dodgers could stash him on the Injured List.

“To give a hard date on when he needs to be ready, I just think that’s unfair to him,” Roberts said.

“The most important thing is to get him to feel comfortable and confident and convicted.”