Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol has been excellent in his career when healthy, but that has unfortunately never been a guarantee for him. The righty went on the injured list five times from 2022-24, most often for shoulder inflammation. That culminated in shoulder surgery in November 2024, and Graterol missed the entire 2025 season as a result. He may finally be making progress toward his return. According to the transactions log at MLB.com, Graterol has begun a rehab assignment at Triple-A.
Manager Dave Roberts confirmed back in February that Graterol would not be ready for the start of the season. The Dodgers aimed to “slow play” him as he worked back from his surgery and placed him on the 15-day injured list on March 23rd to give him more time. The move was somewhat discouraging given that Graterol had previously aimed to return for the second half of 2025 and did not achieve that. When viewed from that lens, his starting a rehab assignment is especially welcome news for both Graterol and the team.
The 27-year-old’s last healthy season came in 2023, and it was easily his most productive. Graterol had a shiny 1.20 ERA in 67 1/3 innings across 68 appearances that year and walked just 4.7% of opposing hitters. His 18.7% strikeout rate was lower than usual for such a hard-throwing pitcher, but Graterol nonetheless dominated by racking up groundballs an astonishing 64.4% of the time. Injuries limited him in 2024, although Graterol returned for 7 1/3 innings at the end of the year and made appeared in three games in that year’s World Series, including two scoreless appearances. Time will tell if Graterol can retain his high velocity and groundball tendencies after such a long layoff.
As was the case when they placed him on the IL, the Dodgers can afford to take it slow with Graterol’s rehab. After having a shaky bullpen for much of 2025, this year’s group is performing better. Dodgers relievers rank 13th in the league with a 3.94 ERA, and their 16.7% K-BB rate ranks second behind only the Blue Jays’ bullpen. Tanner Scott is rebounding nicely with a 2.03 ERA in 13 1/3 innings. Jack Dreyer, Will Klein, and Alex Vesia are also doing well, helping to lengthen a bullpen that is missing Edwin Diaz until the second half. The eventual return of Graterol will add a groundball specialist to the mix for the middle to late innings. Graterol is in his final year of club control and will be a free agent in 2027.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images
