Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol announced today (Spanish-language X post) that he underwent shoulder surgery yesterday, though without a return timeline. The club later announced that Graterol underwent right shoulder labrum surgery and isn’t expected back on the mound until the second half of the 2025 season.
The news doesn’t come as a shock, as Graterol trudged through an injury-marred 2024 season, primarily due to that shoulder. He went on the injured list at the beginning of the season with a combination of hip tightness and right shoulder inflammation. The shoulder issue was significant enough that he wasn’t able to return until August. In his very first game of the season, he suffered a right hamstring strain that sent him back to the IL. He was activated in September but then went back on the IL yet again with more shoulder inflammation. He missed most of the postseason but was activated for the World Series.
The righty finished the year with less than 10 innings pitched. He tossed 7 1/3 frames in the regular season and then added another 2 1/3 in the World Series. Though he fought through the issue enough to get on the mound a few times, he was never able to stay healthy for long and it’s now clear the issue required surgical attention.
Prior to 2024, Graterol had established himself as a key piece of the Dodger bullpen. He posted a 2.69 earned run average over 171 appearances from 2020 to 2023. His 18.9% strikeout rate in that time was below average but his 5.5% walk rate was quite low and he got grounders at an elite rate of 62.5%. Among pitchers with at least 170 innings pitched in that time, only Clay Holmes, Andre Pallante and Framber Valdez has better grounder rates.
Though he was able to contribute to the World Series victory and get himself a ring, 2024 was mostly a lost season for Graterol and he will now miss at least half of 2025 as well. He still has two arbitration seasons left but the injuries will prevent him from significantly raising his salary. He made $2.7MM this year and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for the same figure in 2025. His ability to push that farther north in 2026 will depend on how much time he ultimately misses in the coming season and how he performs when healthy.
For the Dodgers, it’s possible that this surgery increases their desire to add to their pitching staff. They are already expected to start 2025 with Kyle Hurt, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone on the injured list due to surgeries performed earlier in 2024 and now Graterol’s name can be added to that list. They just lost Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Joe Kelly, Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson to free agency. Kershaw will almost certainly re-sign but also just underwent surgery, while Hudson certainly won’t re-sign since he’s now retired.
This guy is even more overrated than Joe Kelly; throws full throttle every time without learning to use his body, and inevitably suffers the consequences.
Give another rookie the chance to soak up Graterol’s 40 IPs every year.
I’ll agree with you on Kelly but Graterol has been excellent when he pitches.
Strange. He’s overrated because of a shoulder injury? Your theory about why he is injured is just silly.
It’s a trap! He said that to kill our brain cells.
Doh!
Get a life, loser
Got one already, but thanks for the thought!
What discourse is there over Graterol’s rating exactly? He is a solid pitcher when healthy but people don’t really claim he is a top guy. He has been a solid contributor to the Dodgers and very worth taking him on and giving Boston Jeter Downs instead
No one is more overrated than Joe Kelly.
No one is more overrated than Joe Kelly
No rave reviews for Mariachi Joe, it would appear
Graterol pitches almost effortlessly
Graterol was injured all 2024. In 2023 though he pitched in 63(?) games to a 1.20 ERA. “oVeRrAtEd LiKe JoE kElLy” lol
That post he made in Spanish, it may be shoulder surgery, which is always tricky to come back from, but the dude has some moxie in him. If his words were anything to go by, he’s coming back strong from this next season.
there was a time when i thought brusdar was gonna be LAD superstar closer of the future. but this guy just cant stay healthy ! he missed all of 2024, will miss most of 2025, and is a FA after 2026
I’m sure you weren’t the only one in that boat. I myself was in that same boat about two years ago sadly.
“Can’t stay healthy”. He missed 2024 because of the same shoulder injury he’s going to have surgery on, it’s not like it’s new injury after new injury. In 2023 he pitched all season and had a 1.20 era
A Dodger pitcher having health issues. What a surprise.
Doesn’t matter. The Dodgers can afford to pay a full complement of pitchers on the IL and on the main roster.
Dodgers had an entire rotation worth of pitchers on the IL, and still got a championship. Money compensates all the injuries!
This is why the Red Sox didn’t want him…… still would’ve been their biggest piece of the Betts trade.
Dodgers aren’t in on Soto because they need to spend more money on pitching?
Would you rather the Padres get Soto back at say $650/12-14 years or spend the money on more starting and relief pitching, plus another bat or two?
The Dodgers literally had to rely on the tremendous pitching depth they built in minors to get through last season and even then had to depend on Trade Deadline deals for Flaherty and Kopech plus Buehler coming back good enough to make a difference. We actually let Paxton and Yarbrough go hoping Kershaw and Grove would be back but that practically didn’t go as planned.
Dodgers philosophy is to have as much pitching as they can get for depth because injuries happen as they have the past 3 years. They have sufficient offensive pop to keep going for another 4-5 years.
As a Dodgers fan, if the Pad spent 650 million on Soto, that would make me happy. 40-60 million/yr for one hitter that sucks everywhere else on the field would be awesome.
D’oh! Yet another injury-plagued season.
Say what you will but Graterol has pitched in every postseason for the Dodgers from 2020-2024, and helped win the World Series in 2020 and 2024, has two rings for those efforts.
While his availability for regular season has been limited, he’s a fairly cost controlled reliever with good upside left plus love his enthusiasm and energy. Only downside is he pitches mostly to contact although his ground ball ratio at >60% is very good.
Hoping he’s able to get relief and improvement post surgery and gets healthy enough to come back and contribute down the stretch. Go Dodgers!
I wonder if he becomes a DFA, then re-sign on a 2-year contract (or even just a straight up DFA if there’s little confidence in his future). I know the Dodgers have more money than God, but paying someone like him $2.7M is a bigger hit when considering all the luxury taxes. Small potatoes, but still things the team has to consider.
The Dodgers will offer him his first year of arb. If he doesn’t make it back, he will be cheap again in ’26.
My understanding is the DFA does not come into play for arbitration-eligible players. The team just non-tenders them.
Seems like a fairly easy non-tender.
LAD can bring him back on a minor league offer if they want.
Not a chance in the world
Why would you non-tender him when he’s so good when healthy? Just put him on the 60-day DL, and he won’t take up a roster spot.
@Van Lingle
You’d non-tender him if you don’t want to pay double or more of $2.7 million to a pitcher coming back from surgery. I’d imagine even the high-spending Dodgers would think twice about it.
You wouldn’t non-tender a pitcher who ONE season ago while healthy pitched to a 1.20 ERA. There’s way too much chance someone else would scoop him up before they even got back on the phone to him
The Red Sox dodged a bullet. I saw Graterol pitch here in Minnesota. Impressive when he’s healthy. He just can’t stay healthy.
Graterol is great, Dodgers saving him for playoffs again.
Thinking of changing my screen name to Can’t Stay Healthy. As a human being made of flesh and blood and all those other parts this has always been a problem for me.
You’re right Verdugo, Connor Wong, and Jeter Downs are way better than a 2-time World Champion.
One of the only pitchers I’ve ever seen celebrating as he leaves the mound after giving up multiple runs. Total clown.
Perhaps celebrating has become a habit after playing for two championship teams.
He’s only played for one — 2024.
Imagining the tears running down your face as you typed that….
huh?
Dang, I should have picked the Dodgers to sign 9 FA pitchers instead of just 8.
Here’s to a healthy recovery. I like him. Throws hard, shatters bats, rarely gets tagged hard. Relax, recover, and enjoy the ring ceremony.
Crazy how many of these comments are clearly from other fanbases and have never actually seen Graterol pitch
Oh no! Another superstar down who wasn’t drafted by the Dodgers, time to go out and buy five more players you don’t need and let your dumba** fans tell us that our favorite owners could do it too!
Graterol is the Charlie Kerfeld of the millenium