Left-handed pitching is one of the most coveted items in all of baseball and with the loss of Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney, Dodgers fans might be asking if there is enough in the organization for 2023. Of course, we all know Julio Urias, and we are left to assume that Clayton Kershaw is coming back, and we’ve seen a lot of them, so those two won’t be covered, so who is left? 

That’s what today’s article will cover.

Alex Vesia was simply one of the best pitchers in the MLB last year. He posted a 2.15 ERA in the regular season, then didn’t give up a run in his 2.2 innings of work in the playoffs. His WHIP was just 1.12, his average against was just .187, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was above 3 to 1.

Vesia features a 4-seam fastball that sits 94, a slider that sits 85, and a changeup that is 85 as well. So, he has the perfect differential between his fastball and off-speed, he has the right turn with his slider, and the left turn with his changeup. So, he has every shape and a great speed differential which is a large reason why he was great against both righties and lefties. 

Against lefties, his average against was just .130 and his WHIP was a minuscule 0.84, so he was dominant in left-left matchups. But, he’s more than just a lefty specialist. His average against righties was just .217 so, although that’s not quite as dominant as his numbers against lefties, it’s still very good. 

You can count on the organization leaning heavily on Vesia again in 2023.

Justin Bruihl is a 25-year-old left-handed relief pitcher out of Petaluma, California that logged 23.2 innings with LA and posted a 3.80 ERA. He actually posted a better ERA with L.A. than he did with AAA OKC, which goes to show how challenging the PCL can be, and that the Dodgers did a good job finding the right matchups for him with L.A.

Bruihl features a cutter that he throws the most at 65% of the time which sits 86, a sinker that sits 89, and a sweeping slider that is in the high 70’s to low 80’s. As you can imagine, with a slider, cutter, and sinker that all move away from lefties, he has more success against them than he does righties. His average against lefties was just .234 which is 41 points lower than against righties, and his WHIP against lefties was just 1.00 which is very good.

Bruihl performed well in his time with L.A. last year and showed the ability to get left-handed hitters out at a very good rate. I think we should assume that he will get more MLB innings in 2023, and play a much bigger role in the bullpen for the Dodgers.

Caleb Ferguson is a 26-year-old lefty out of Jefferson Ohio that was drafted in the 38th Round of the 2014 Draft. Ferguson logged just 34.2 innings with L.A. in 2022 partly due to injury but made the most of his chances. 

In 34.2 innings his ERA was just 1.82, his WHIP was just 1.15 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio was above 2 to 1. He’s another one, just like Bruihl, that actually had better numbers with L.A. than he did with OKC, which, again, just shows how well Dave Roberts, Mark Prior, and the organization overall did in finding good matchups for the Ohio native. 

Ferguson has shown 6 pitches in his career, a 4-Seam, curveball, cutter, changeup, slider, and sinker, but only threw his 4-seam and curveball in his appearances with L.A. in 2022. He sits 95 with his 4-seam but was hitting 97 with it at times in 2022. He pairs his 4-seam with a curveball that he flips at 78, so he presents hitters with a big difference in velocity. 94 is good velo, but, after seeing a 78 mph curveball, it looks a lot faster than that to hitters.

Ferguson is very talented and knows how to ride momentum and adrenaline to reach for a little extra in the big moments. If he is able to stay healthy, he has the ability to be a very high-level MLB reliever, so I anticipate 2023 to be a very big year for him.

Victor Gonzalez is a 27-year-old out of Mexico that made his MLB in 2020 and has been anywhere from good to outstanding when healthy. In 2020 he posted an ERA of just 1.33, then in 2021 his ERA was 3.57, but he spent all of 2022 fighting injury. In fact, he did not make an appearance with L.A. this past year and only logged 12.2 innings total in the Minor Leagues.

Gonzalez is a 2-pitch pitcher that has a good speed differential. His sinker sits at 94 while his slider averages 85, so that differential is close to 10 mph apart which is the target. He threw 8 times in September, so it should be assumed that he is entering the off-season healthy and will be ready to go for 2023.

There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Gonzalez heading into 2023, but he is talented and has shown, when healthy, that he can be very effective at the MLB level. Let’s hope that 2023 is a bounce-back for the Tuxpan, Nayarit, Mexico native.

Finishing Up

Logan Salow is the only lefty on the OKC roster at the moment, and he fought the injury bug in all of 2022 and posted just 3 total innings. The next crop of lefties is still in AA in Tulsa, which suggests that the lefties currently on the 40-man are the only ones in the organization that will contribute at the MLB level in 2023. 

Alec Gamboa, Lael Lockhart Jr., and John Rooney are 3 left-handed starters on the Tulsa roster, and Jeff Belge, Jake Cantleberry, and Jose Hernandez are the relievers. Of all of the pitchers on that list, only Rooney and Gamboa were with Tulsa the entire year, so jumping from High A to LA in 1 year for the rest would be a mighty fast track. 

Ben Harris is a left-handed reliever that had large stretches in 2022 where he was simply the best relief pitcher in all of the Minor Leagues. In May his ERA was 1.86, in July it was 0.75 and in August it was 0.00.  His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 21 to 2 in July, so when he gets hot he misses a lot of barrels. But, he ended up in High A Great Lakes, so, although anything is possible, his ETA, almost assuredly isn’t until 2024 at the earliest.

Final Thoughts

So, now that we’ve gone through all of the Left-Handed options that are ready to contribute in 2022, the question remains, is it enough? The obvious answer is that you never really have enough pitching, but, other than that, I don’t think that question can be answered just yet.

That’s because it’s going to come down to health.

Kershaw and Urias are enough from the starter’s position, but, only if Kershaw stays healthy enough to give something close to a full amount of innings. As far as the bullpen goes, Caleb Fergusson and Victor Gonzalez are both very good when healthy, but, the question surrounding them is whether or not they be fully healthy for 2023. If they are I think there is enough “in-house” left-handed relief pitching. But, if not, the Club would need to make a decision as to whether they would stay internal or go the trade route.

Those are all questions that will have to be answered over the off-season, so stay tuned to the Hot Stove, because you never know when it’s about to heat back up.