When 23-year-old right-hander Brusdar Graterol first burst on the Dodgers scene back on July 23, 2020, he became an immediate fan – and teammate – favorite for his fist-pumping, air-punching, skyward-pointing cheerleading on the mound and in the Dodgers dugout. His exciting show of youthful emotions was often caught on camera and shown on the jumbotron at Dodger Stadium, which, of course, immediately fired up the crowd.

…until it didn’t.

Over the past two days, the Calabozo, Venezuela native – who was acquired from the Minnesota Twins on February 10, 2020, along with Luke Raley and future considerations in exchange for Kenta Maeda, Jair Camargo, and cash, and who regularly hits 100+ on the radar gun – has given up six late-inning earned runs that led to consecutive losses to the NL East first-place New York Mets.

“There’s just inconsistent command,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Graterol after his team’s 10-inning / 5-4 loss to the Mets on Sunday afternoon. “The fastball, it’s a pull-side yank, the slider, he just doesn’t have a feel for the slider right now, and the one’s in-zone, it’s just not sharp. So, you know, it doesn’t matter how hard you throw, you still gotta command the baseball, and he’s just not… you know, he’s running deeper counts, and he’s just not commanding the baseball.”

Ouch.

In his last two appearances (2.0 innings pitched), Graterol faced 12 Mets batters, to whom he allowed six earned runs on five hits (including a home run) on 17 and 26 pitches, respectively, of which 14 and 16 were strikes, respectively. In those 2.0 innings, he has one blown save and has seen his ERA soar from a very respectable 2.83 to a less-than-stellar 4.81.

Ouch.

There is no disputing that when he is on (i.e., not grooving his pitches right over the middle of the plate), Graterol is flat-out unhittable. The problem is that many major league hitters can catch up to a 100+ MPH fastball that is grooved right over the middle of the plate – and when they do, the ball tends to go a very long way.

So, what’s the answer for the extremely likable fun-loving young Dodgers right-hander?

I guess we’ll all find out together.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *