A team adding a pitcher to the bullpen after a long extra-inning game is not unusual; it is almost SOP these days with teams optioning and recalling players from their respective alternate training sites as frequently as kids used to trade baseball cards.

After Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler pitched the first seven innings of the April 16 game against the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers used six relievers for the remainder of the 12-inning game. Adding a fresh arm seemed inevitable; it was only a matter of which pitcher would be recalled and which player would be optioned (or possibly moved to the IL).

The player sent back to the Dodgers Camelback Ranch alternate training site was utility infielder/outfielder Matt Beaty, who has had a miserable beginning to his 2021 season. With only one hit in 13 plate appearances, Beaty’s slash line is an embarrassing .091/.231/.091/.322 with a strikeout rate approaching 50 percent. While being optioned off the active roster is a blow to any player, it does provide Beaty the opportunity to work on his hitting mechanics and approach in a much less stressful environment.

But which pitcher would be added to the relief corps? Since we have no information on how players are performing at the alternate site, we can only guess which pitchers may have been considered.

Twenty-five-year-old left-hander Alex Vesia was the team’s choice. Vesia and 22-year-old right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Hurt were acquired from the Miami Marlins on February 12, 2021, for 30-year-old veteran right-hander Dylan Floro.

How long will Vesia be on the roster? You might say that he is in command of his time on the roster. During his brief (two-season) Miami Marlins minor league career, his win-loss record was 11-2 with a 1.62 ERA, commanding a most impressive 5 to 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In Spring Training this year with the Dodgers, he maintained that ratio. If Alex can replicate his minor league success in his Dodgers audition, then he can expect to see plenty of mound time in LA.

But waiting in the roster shadows is 22-year-old right-hander ‘Bazooka’ Brusdar Graterol, who, with his triple-digit fastball, is very close to returning to the Dodgers active roster; perhaps as early as Sunday’s series finale against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. And, at some point, the team hopes that 26-year-old right-hander Tony Gonsolin will also return to add his arsenal of pitches to the roster.

Borrowing an idiom for the entertainment industry for good luck, ‘Break a leg,’ Alex. We wish you success in your Dodgers’ audition.

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