Suffice to say that four games in does not a season make. But it is also sufficient to say that aside from the addition of 2018 World Series hero Joe Kelly to the Dodgers bullpen, the 2019 version of said bullpen is very much the exact same bullpen that Dodger fans struggled to embrace last season.

But while it may be premature and even unfair to compare the 2019 pen to that of 2018 after only four games, it is difficult not to see some early similarities, especially for one particular individual.

Yes, that would be oft-criticized right-hander Pedro Baez who, by every indication, has picked up right where he left off last season … and the season before that, and so on and so on.

As most Dodger fans know, the 31-year-old Bani, Dominican Republic native finished the 2018 regular season with a respectable – but somewhat misleading – record of 4-3 and an impressive ERA of 2.88; misleading in the fact that this is not a true reflection of the seemingly high number of inherited runners that Baez has a propensity for allowing to score, even if not charged to himself.

Case in point.

During Sunday’s eventual 8-7 Dodgers win over their division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks, Baez was brought in to relieve a struggling Walker Buehler in the top of the fourth inning with no outs and the Dodgers clinging to a precarious 4-3 lead and runners on second and third. Baez immediately gave up a two-run double to Dbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed, but hey, they weren’t his runs, right? But the one-out / two-run home run that Baez coughed up to (wait for it…) opposing starting pitcher Luke Weaver were his runs and, although an admittedly small sample size, means that Baez has already allowed a total of four earned runs in his (thus far) 1.2 innings pitched this season for a team-worst 21.60 ERA.

Vintage Pedro Baez.

Stay tuned…

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