Los Angeles Dodgers closer Tanner Scott has a 4.44 ERA this season.
In just his third game back after elbow inflammation landed him on the injured list for over a month, Scott entered the game up 4-1 on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth inning. With two outs logged, Scott allowed back-to-back singles and a three-run Corbin Carroll home run to tie things up.
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The 31-year-old southpaw spoke on his eighth blown save in a Dodgers uniform on Sunday.
“It’s super frustrating,” Scott said. “You never want to see the ball leave the park. Especially in that situation. It’s super frustrating. Just got to go out there and fix it.”
Both Scott and the entire Dodgers organization know that there is certainly more to be desired not only because of the four-year, $72 million deal inked this past offseason, but because of his 1.75 ERA across 72 outings last season.
Last year, Scott was the best in baseball (with at least 250 batters faced) in terms of average exit velocity from his offerings. Batters were only hitting the ball 84.3 mph on average against him, but that number has now grown to 91 mph, putting him in just the 11th percentile across MLB.
Scott’s swing-and-miss rate was highly revered last season, getting batters to whiff 32.7 percent of the time, good for the 92nd percentile across MLB. However, he is now getting his empty swings just 27.3 percent of the time, which grades out to the 66th percentile in baseball.
His barrel percentage has nearly doubled from last year, his ground ball generation has gone down almost 10 percent, and even his average fastball velocity went from being placed in the 91st percentile to the 83rd this season.
Scott’s four seamer had an opposing batting average of .134 last season, but that number has balooned to .239 at this point in 2025.
There are plenty question marks surrounding Scott’s production, and with the postseason just 25 games away, the closer must address his issues on the mound before it’s too late.
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Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
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3 Responses
Friedman is a baseball genius But we all have bad streaks. Obviously 2025 was a horrible year for Friedman. He did sign Sasaski and Kim both should be great long term signings. The rest. Conforto, Yates, Scott and Snell have proven to be bad signings. Snell might fix his Dodger legacy but Yates and Conforto cannot and looks like Scott is past his prime and we are stuck with him for the next 3 years. He wasted 17 million on Conforto, 13 million on Yates and 72 million on Scott. Nice…. Oh well the Dodgers are made of money I guess
This quote says it all: ” It’s super frustrating. Just got to go out there and fix it.”
The first sentence is how every single Dodgers fan feels. The second sentence is what Roberts says for every single problem with the team. In other words, Roberts’s penchant for meaningless cliches and word salads have now transitioned to the players. Wishing problems away doesn’t actually make them work. Hey Tanner, try to figure out your mechanics issues, because right now, we feel like we did when Craig Kimbrel came into the game in 2022. So, yea, we’re frustrated and beyond disappointed.
Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t (how brilliant). Last season, the moves that Andrew Friedman made in trading for Jack Flaherty, signing Teo and other important but less significant transactions led to winning a world series. The year before he signed J.D Martinez. My point is, even though I’m frustrated, not every move is going to be a gem. I guess that I’m trying to be more understanding of the signings that AF has made. To coin a phrase, “Hindsight is 20-20”. However, not making a move can be just as devasting. That is my problem. Not obtaining a closer at the trade deadline and not addressing the lineup for an entire season like Conforto among other positioning problems are situations that I just don’t understand.