KANSAS CITY -- Justin Wrobleski is starting to figure it out in the Major Leagues.
In his third stint already with Los Angeles this season, the 24-year-old has excelled as a bulk reliever, and it was no different Sunday in the Dodgers’ 5-1 series-clinching victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Wrobleski tossed a career-high-tying six innings, delivering his first scoreless outing longer than 4 1/3 frames after allowing just three hits and striking out six -- one shy of his career high.
The left-hander has now pitched at least four innings in each of his relief outings this season, including the past four when he’s been used following an opener. After Wrobleski allowed four runs across six innings to the Cardinals on June 6, he’s tossed 20 1/3 frames as a bulk starter, giving up only four earned runs.
That’s dropped his ERA over three points from 7.20 to 4.08 in a little over three weeks.
Simply put, it’s transformed how the Dodgers view Wrobleski.
"He’s changed a lot. We’ve always valued him and thought a lot of him as far as talent, but right now, he’s getting Major League hitters out,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he’s understanding command matters, conviction of pitches, sequencing and all that stuff. He’s showing consistently he’s getting good Major League hitters out.”
Take 2024 AL MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. for example, who struck out twice -- whiffing twice on Wrobleski’s fastball before the slider set him down each time.
"Bobby Witt [Jr.] is one of the best hitters in the game, and for him to beat him with that fastball, he [Wrobleski] wasn’t doing that last year,” Roberts said. “Now when you can get guys thinking about the fastball, cheating with the fastball, it opens up some other things.”
That fastball has been one of the main reasons for Wrobleski’s turnaround. Last season, he averaged 95.1 mph on his four-seamer. It was a tick up to start the season, but since coming back in June? It’s been a different pitch.
The 18 fastest pitches of his career have all come this June -- all at 98.3 mph or faster. He topped out with a 98.6 mph heater Sunday, a called third strike to Freddy Fermin in the second inning.
“I think that, and he’ll be the first to say it, that he cleaned up the delivery with the guys in the PD [pitching department],” Roberts said. “And there’s not the 92s and 93s and 94s, it’s the [94] to [97s] with some eights in there.”
In his first outing of the season on April 8, Wrobleski gave up a career-high eight runs on eight hits to the Nationals. He was optioned the next day, getting recalled once more in May for a relief outing before being sent back to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
It was there that Wrobleski worked with the pitching coaches to make necessary changes, in addition to a mental reset.
"Unfortunately, having that bad one in Washington, honestly, I think sent me back in a good way,” Wrobleski said. “I had to go down … since then I’ve made those adjustments, everything’s kind of synced up a little bit better as far as timing and just going back to being myself.”
Getting back to himself for Wrobleski consists of attacking the zone, no matter the hitter. Wrobleski threw first-pitch strikes to 10 of his final 13 batters and walked just one, working around leadoff runners in three frames to keep the Royals off the board.
"I think that just goes back to me being me. It’s kind of how I got here, it was doing that,” Wrobleski said. “I got away from it a little bit, tried to quote-unquote ‘throw strikes’ and when you try to do that, it leads to results that are not desirable, obviously. But at the end of the day it’s just like, throw my best stuff, the whole time, as long as I can until they take the ball away from me. I think that’s been a major key.”
Behind Kiké Hernández’s two run homer and Will Smith’s solo blast, Wrobleski’s outing was more than enough. And with a rotation that has been dealt injury after injury (i.e. Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Gavin Stone), the Dodgers are relying on Wrobleski to provide innings -- and now want to see more.
"[Justin] has been fantastic,” Roberts said. “To have some veteran guys … certainly on the pitching side, a lot of guys on the IL, to have some other young guys have runway and take advantage of it and entrench themselves on a Major League roster is good for everyone. But yeah, Justin’s confidence is at an all-time high and he’s a confident man already.”