Burning Dodge Set Man Brusdar Graterol Was underwent a shoulder surgery back in November and was hoping to be able to pitch in the second half of the season, but manager Dave Roberts told Dodger’s defeat yesterday that the right-hander had a slim chance of returning it to the major league mound in 2025 (linked via LA Times’ Mike Digiovanna). Graterol joins the team’s staff at the Spring Complex in Arizona, but has not resumed throwing the ball, with only six weeks remaining.
It’s been a frustrating few years for Graterol, 26, Kenta Maeda To twins. Graterol was one of Minnesota’s best young arms at the time, but the twins felt comfortable with him due to the remaining four years of signing Maeda’s contract, which may be partly due to concerns about trouble with Graterol’s shoulders.
In the early days, this was a win-win situation for both sides. Maeda is the runner-up for Al Cy Young in the shortened season in 2020. Graterol immediately played a major role in the bullpen of manager Dave Roberts. However, the damage from both pitchers will greatly reduce the workload of their new club.
Graterol has put 173 2/3 innings into the Dodgers’ 2.69 ERA balls starting in 2020-23. He never missed the bat like a man expects with a 99mph pendant and regularly lifted it to triple-digit territory, but the Big Right is also one of the sport’s main ground ball pitchers. During the 2020-23 peak, he emitted only 18.9% of his opponent, but had a walking rate of 5.5% and an elite rate of 62.5%.
The results were strong at the time, and Graterol also listed five troubles on the injured list for the shoulders on the elbow or shoulder before eventually having surgery to repair the lipstick on the right shoulder. He only scored 7 1/3 of the innings last year and does not seem to have returned to the mound in 2025.
Graterol will receive a 2.8mm salary this season and will be controlled by the club for one year through arbitration. Assuming they bid for a contract, then ARB-eligible players who missed the entire season due to injury usually agree to sign the same amount. Given Graterol’s low health costs and high cost for veteran Dodgers, they may keep him and hope to get a healthy year in 2026 (assuming there are no obvious setbacks in his recovery).
But that’s not all bad news for the Dodge Bullpen. Roberts told reporters last night that Michael Copci A minor league rehabilitation mission will begin today (via Fabian Ardaya link for track and field). Kopech opened the 2025 season on the injury roster as a shoulder impact eventually sent him to the 60-day IL. He returned in June, roaring from the door with seven closed door frames, but his last appearance was clearly something as he walked on three of the four batsmen he faced and was lifted and placed on the injured list to get inflamed in his knees.
Kopech initially downplayed the severity, but once the inflammation subsided, imaging revealed a skewed plate tear. He underwent surgery and quickly moved back to Illinois for 60 days. He has been on the injury list since July 1, so Kopech is not eligible to be activated until the end of this month. Encouragingly, he has begun rehabilitation work as he will have a runway built for more than two weeks before he is eligible to return.
