Dodgers News: LA Set to Lose Brusdar Graterol for a Few Games

The Dodgers are set to be without Brusdar Graterol for a few games — likely the series in Pittsburgh. Just as he was becoming the club’s best reliever, Brusdar heads out on paternity leave as he and his wife, Allison, welcome their first child this week.

The Athletic was the first to share the news.

While Roberts said Phillips is expected to rejoin the club in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, they’ll do so without another reliever, as Brusdar Graterol heads out for his own paternity list stint.

Via The Athletic

The paternity list has been a revolving door for the Dodgers for the last few weeks. Mookie Betts and his wife Brianna welcomed their second child, a baby boy named Kaj. Evan Phillips is away from the team, although we are waiting to learn more about where things are at with him and his family. And now Graterol heads out.

For the Dodgers, it’s a big blow to the bullpen as he’s been one of the best arms down there for the last week to 10 days.

Bazooka along with Caleb Ferguson and surprise standout Justin Bruihl have helped solidify the back end of games for Dave Roberts, particularly over the last week. Graterol has leaned more on his slider than ever before, throwing the pitch at a 25.4% clip this season.

As mentioned earlier, the reliever will likely miss the Pittsburgh series and rejoin his teammates when they return to Los Angeles for a series against the Cardinals starting on Friday. The thinking is that there’s no reason to have him fly from Chicago to LA to Pittsburgh for maybe one game, then back to LA. He can be on the paternity list for up to three days.

Other Dodgers Notes

• Max Muncy was, without a question, the Dodgers’ player of the week. He hit .389 (7-18) with 5 home runs and 7 runs batted in while posting a 1.815 OPS in 7 games. The hope is that he is also named the player of the week for the entire National League, which would be more than deserved for the two-time All-Star.

• Clayton Kershaw won the 201st game of his career on Sunday, moving him closer to Hall of Famer Don Drysdale for second most on the Dodgers’ all-time wins leaderboard. The list is currently Don Sutton at 233, Drysdale at 209, and Kershaw at 201.

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