The Dodgers made a much-needed yet surprising move in the first week of May when they optioned LHP Alex Vesia to Triple-A. Vesia was struggling mightily through the first month-plus of the year, and the Dodgers knew they needed to find a way to get him back on track.
Through 13 appearances in 2023, Vesia had an abysmal 7.84 ERA, allowing nine earned runs, 23 hits and six walks in just 10.1 innings of work.
The Dodgers decided to send him back down — similar to what they did in 2021 — in the hopes that he could reset and turn back into the dominant lefty reliever he was for the majority of his Dodger career.
Unfortunately, Vesia got off to a bad start. In his first minor league outing, he got absolutely rocked, allowing five earned runs in 0.1 innings of work.
It seemed that Vesia had some much larger issues to deal with, however, since that bad opening appearance, he’s been dominant in Triple-A.
After his 1.1 shutout innings on Sunday, Vesia has now had seven straight scoreless outings with 16 strikeouts and just four walks in that time. He seems to be much more comfortable with the pitch clock, and is getting some velocity back on his fastball.
Vesia is likely to get a few more outings in Triple-A, but clearly, he’s starting to figure things out. The Dodgers bullpen is extremely taxed right now, and left-hander Justin Bruihl is among those starting to struggle.
If the Dodgers feel like Vesia is ready to come back up soon, he could be a prime candidate to help the tired bullpen as another lefty arm.
We’ll continue to monitor Vesia’s minor league outings, but it seems like things are finally going in the right direction for the 27-year-old.
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