Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Injury Update: Pair of Relievers Heading Out on Rehab Assignments

As the Oklahoma City Dodgers prepare to lose starting pitcher Dustin May, whose rehab assignment in Triple-A will conclude this weekend, their bullpen is about to get a major shot in the arm.

According to J.P. Hoornstra in the Orange County Register, Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol, two fireballing Dodgers relievers, will join OKC on Friday to begin their rebab assignments. The goal is for each righty to return to the Dodgers in the next few weeks, with Graterol probably a few days ahead of Treinen simply because of the length of time they’ve each been sidelined.



Graterol hasn’t pitched since July 10, when a sore shoulder sent him to the injured list. According to Hoornstra, Graterol is itching to get back on a big-league mound.

“I feel great. I feel like I’m back again.”

For Treinen, the road has been much longer. While his diagnosis was roughly the same as Graterol’s — “shoulder soreness” — he has been out since mid-April and has had a much slower ramp-up in returning.

Treinen didn’t pitch enough this season to say much about performance, but he was inarguably the Dodgers’ best reliever in 2021, when he led all Los Angeles relievers with 72.1 innings pitched and posted a stellar 1.99 ERA with 85 strikeouts and a 0.982 WHIP.

The Dodgers bullpen has been outstanding this season, but it sometimes feels like it is being held together with duct tape. The three top performers have been Evan Phillips, Yency Almonte, and Caleb Ferguson, but of those three, only Phillips has been healthy all season.

Closer Craig Kimbrel has been shaky in most of his appearances, and while the Dodgers seem hopeful that Kimbrel’s still-excellent stuff will eventually win out, it will definitely ease their minds to have a proven veteran like Treinen available to help in that capacity if necessary.

The question for Graterol, besides his health, remains whether his ability to miss bats will ever align with his stuff. He is having his best season, but while his strikeout rate is better than it has been in previous seasons, it is still far below what you would expect from a guy who throws 102 mph.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is hoping initially to ease both righties back.

“Some softer landings initially would be better for everyone. The goal is to have both those guys take on any role in leverage, then be able to use (Evan) Phillips, Graterol and Blake kind of interchangeably, as far as right-handed relievers.”

Let the musical chairs in the bullpen commence, but in the end, it’s a better staff with a healthy Treinen and Graterol.

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Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

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