Roberts likes bullpen ahead of tighter focus on relievers
For all the peculiarities effectively previewed in the Dodgers’ 9-2 exhibition win Sunday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks — from empty seats to piped-in crowd noise — there was one important constant the game couldn’t mimic.
High-leverage relief situations could garner outsized importance during this unforgiving, pandemic shortened season. And though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts remains confident in his bullpen, it won’t be truly tested until the lowstress days of training camp are over.
“To go longer and use leverage relievers and pick up games that you have in hand certainly is more magnified this year,” Roberts said Sunday during a videoconference call. “So yeah, relief pitching is probably a little bit more important than it typically is.”
Before the exhibition, Roberts reiterated his optimism in a bullpen that faltered late last season, highlighting improvements from the two Dodgers relievers most in need of a bounceback campaign — closer Kenley Jansen and offseason signing Blake Treinen.
In Jansen, who last year set career highs in ERA (3.71) and blown saves (eight), Roberts has seen strides in the right-hander’s signature cut fastball.
That offering was at the root of the closer’s struggles last season, inconsistent in its velocity and movement. But now, despite Jansen’s late arrival to camp following a positive COVID-19 test, the 32-year-old is throwing the pitch more like he did during three consecutive All-Star seasons from 2016 to 2018. On Sunday, he pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
“I think there was a little too much concern on velocity [last season] as opposed to throwing the baseball the right way and letting the hitters’ swings dictate what you do,” Roberts said, emphasizing the importance of the pitch’s sharp tailing action.
Jansen credited offseason work with Driveline, a training center that specializes in pitching mechanics, with helping him “understand what type of pitch I have and how can I make it be effective. It’s all about lower body and driving through it and staying behind [the pitch] as much as you can.”
Treinen wants to recapture his own All-Star form. After recording 38 saves and a 0.78 ERA in 2018, he said physical limitations bred poor mechanics last season, specifically on his bread-and-butter sinker ball.
The Dodgers’ coaching staff presented Treinen with “top-to-bottom” solutions during their offseason pitch, he said, suggesting adjustments to his arm slot, wrist position and hip rotation.
“That was part of the reason I signed here,” Treinen said. “They put together some slideshows … and were talking about some things they felt like could put me back in position to just go and compete and not have to think about mechanics.”
Roberts was encouraged by the pitcher’s “trust with us,” he said, “identifying and being able to execute and implement what we feel can make him even better, back to what he was in ’18.”
Short hops
Cody Bellinger drove in five runs, including a grand slam, Sunday. … Austin Barnes left the game after being hit on the left hand by a pitch, but Roberts said Xrays came back negative . ... Dustin May will throw five innings during a voluntary workout Wednesday, possibly in preparation to spell starter Walker Buehler.