The Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen will continue to be without Brusdar Graterol for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, ahead of the team’s second game of the series against the Washington Nationals, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Graterol was shut down from his throwing progression again.
Graterol, who has not pitched this season, hasn’t been bouncing back well, and is going to remain out without a timetable for return.
Brusdar Graterol has been shut down from his throwing progression again, Dave Roberts said today. Just hasn’t been bouncing back well. Going to be a longer process, it seems.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) April 24, 2024
Graterol was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation before the season began, but the team was hoping it would be a relatively quick stint. Unfortunately, that just hasn’t been the case.
Graterol hasn’t been able to recover from the shoulder issue, one that came up because of hip tightness in spring training in which he was overcompensating for.
Unfortunately, the minor shoulder issue hasn’t gone away, and the Dodgers will remain without one of their better relievers.
Graterol had a dominant 2023 campaign, sporting a 1.20 ERA in 68 appearances. He was expected to be a key piece of this year’s bullpen, one that has struggled to open the 2024 season.
Entering Wednesday, the Dodgers have a 4.18 bullpen ERA, which is good for 19th in Major League Baseball. They did have a great performance on Tuesday in the series opener against the Nationals, pitching 4.1 scoreless innings.
The Dodgers will need more of that from their bullpen for the foreseeable future, as Graterol likely won’t be back for a while. Once he’s able to start throwing again, he’ll have to progress to bullpen sessions and facing live hitters before going out on a rehab assignment. He’ll then likely have multiple rehab outings before being able to return to the big-league club.