Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: Blake Treinen Listed As a Top Ten Closer by MLB Expert

The Dodgers bullpen was an effective unit in 2021. Collectively, the group ranked 2nd in team ERA in in MLB last season. Hard-throwing righty Blake Treinen was a big reason the LA bullpen was elite in 2021.

Baseball experts have taken notice. ESPN’s Buster Olney ranked Treinen as the fourth-best reliever in all of baseball.



“With his hard-veering sinker and nasty slider, Treinen keeps the ball off the barrel of the bat. No relief pitcher generated a higher rate of soft contact last season than the right-hander.”

To Olney’s point, Treinen had the fourth-lowest hard-hit percentage (24.3%) of relievers who pitched at least 70 innings according to FanGraphs. He also ranked eighth in strikeout rate (29.7%) and sixth in ground-ball rate (52.6%).

Those stats built a foundation for a very successful 2021 campaign for Treinen. He finished the year with an impeccable 1.99 ERA and an outstanding 0.98 WHIP in 72 games pitched. His highest total since 2017.

The Dodgers re-signed Treinen last January to a three-year $24M deal that includes a $8M team option for 2023.

Treinen is another reliever that the Dodgers took a flyer on and panned out. The 33-year-old was released by the Oakland A’s after he failed to meet expectations in 2019. He was an All-Star and legitimate Cy Young candidate the year prior.

His 2018 stats were mind-boggling.

Blake Treinen 2018 Stats

  • ERA: 0.78 (1st among RP with min. 70 IP)
  • WHIP: 0.83 (3rd)
  • K%: 31.7% (7th)
  • BB%: 6.7% (7th)
  • SV: 38 (2nd)

2019 was most unkind to Treinen. His ERA ballooned to 4.91 along with his WHIP (1.61). The Kansas native did not record a save after June 17th. He also struggled with his control (5.68 BB/9) before a September back injury ended his season prematurely.

Oakland lost all confidence in their former shutdown closer and cut him loose after his down year.

The Dodgers saw an opportunity to pickup a potential high caliber bullpen an pounced.

Treinen will continue to be a crucial high-leverage arm for the Dodgers this coming season.

He’s one of the best in the business.

Eric Eulau

Born and raised in Ventura, not "Ven-CH-ura", California. Favorite Dodger Stadium food is the old school chocolate malt with the wooden spoon. Host of the Dodgers Nation 3 Up, 3 Down Podcast.

11 Comments

  1. Blake Treinen, Dodger closer confirmed. Good riddance to bad Kenley. Best of luck to good Kenley.

  2. He’s too good to be a set-up man. Can’t afford Kenley with other needs. Plus, don’t know if Kenley will continue to be top tier closer or revert to 2019/2020 form – especially since he wants a 3 year deal, too risky.

  3. Blake is too good to be set-up man, time to move away from Kenley – they need to spend money to fill other holes on roster. Plus Kenley is unpredictable, likely to revert to 2019 form – too risky since word is he wants 3 year deal.

  4. According to some fools here he’s not cut out for it. I’d guarantee he’d have less blown saves in a season than Jansen

  5. trienans going to be an i.l. expert if the dodgers dont give him some rest this year after the load they put on him last season. way too many innings for him and jansen. i like 40 innings maximum on the relievers or less to aim for less i.l. time in planning the roughly 1500 innings of workload to be distributed amongst the pitching staff. the team lost their marbles last year completely. its going to take a herculean effort to get this team up to speed in postseason play. after losing so often in october. hopefully it will begin to register that the team needs to recalibrate their reasoning approach to postseason strategy. obviously theres a disconnect in their thinking processes. i think the dodgers are asleep 24*7, 365 days a year all the way and they refuse to listen because they think theyre too big. it could be an ego problem. its difficult to ascertain whats going on in their heads.but whatever it is it aint kosher.

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