Brusdar Graterol's pitches are nasty, a breakdown
What Happened
Brusdar Graterol, a hard-throwing relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, takes the mound in a close game against the Houston Astros. With the game on the line, Graterol displays his electric arsenal of pitches, overpowering the Astros' batters. In the first at-bat, Graterol comes out firing, his fastball reaching 100 mph. However, the pitch is running a bit too much, causing the catcher to have to corral it. On a 2-0 count, Graterol challenges Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker with another high-velocity fastball, but the slight arm-side movement causes Tucker to miss just barely. Graterol then drops in a nasty off-speed pitch at 88 mph, catching Tucker off balance and leading to a swinging strike. Next up is catcher Martín Maldonado and Graterol continues to overwhelm, blowing a 101 mph fastball past him for a strike. Unfazed, Graterol then unleashes an 88 mph slider that sharply breaks away, freezing Maldonado for the strikeout. George Springer steps in and Graterol puts on a pitching clinic. He starts Springer off with a 100 mph fastball on the inside corner, then follows it up with a devastating 87 mph slider that dives away from the right-handed hitter. "Look at these two pitches overlaid," the announcer exclaims. "A fraction of a second later, they go two different ways." Springer is completely fooled, swinging through the off-speed pitch. Graterol then goes back to the well with another 100 mph heater and Springer can only manage a weak groundout to end the inning. "This was a great performance," the announcer states, praising Graterol's dominance over the three Astros batters. "A lot of pitchers are doing a lot of fun stuff in the league now, but I had audible reactions to every single one of those pitches." Though Graterol may not be a household name yet, his electric stuff and ability to overpower hitters has certainly caught the attention of this observer. With his blazing fastball and sharp off-speed offerings, the young Dodgers reliever has the potential to become a dominant force in the league.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentbefore the joe kelly stuff yesterday i
was watching the dodgers game i was
watching brewster crowder all new
pitcher out of the pen for the dodgers
and i was audibly reacting
to every pitch because the dude's
throwing 100 miles per hour
with ease he actually came in too hot
you could see it running away from him
too much you can see his catcher looking
like just throw it to me bud
calm down a little bit 2-0 fastball
tucker's geared up he misses
just that slight bit of arm side run
then he's going to come back same thing
and tucker's thinking
well [ __ ] i'm really behind on that i
should start swinging
much earlier and what does bruce star do
he goes
to the off speed pitch drops it to 88
yeah
you swung a little too early now because
that was way slower then he goes back to
the fastball
100 catcher goes yep you're there oh
yeah
love that 2-2 pitch fastball way out of
the zone
kind of lost control but you had a ball
to work with gets the strike
this dude's throwing 100 miles per hour
with ease
next up maldonado look at that pitch
that's like a gun
it's a slingshot just 100 with ease
straight down the middle
try and hit it then he goes 88 slider
just to let him know he's got two now
he's o2 count
i think the catcher calls for an off
speed he says no no no no
no no no no no i want to throw the
fastball i want to throw it with
authority right down the middle
101 fastest pitch of the outing dude
just wants to blow it by people
o2 again he's gonna go to the fastball
again but he loses a zone overthrows it
so he's like all right
fine i'll throw that nasty slider i have
too and just strikes maldonado look at
this just that tiny sharp break 90 miles
per hour 10 miles per hour different you
can see them all like all right [ __ ] it
i'm out of here
that ain't fun springer comes up and
here's where it gets fun
he's throwing in oh my god
look at that that's so sharp at 87 you
match that with 100 miles per hour
fastball so he comes inside
with the fastball he's got that arm side
run
and then he comes back with the slider
at 88. look at these two pitches
overlaid
look at this at this point if you're the
batter
they're the same exact pitch and a
fraction of a second later
they go two different ways so springer
thinks he's coming with that 100 inside
again so he gears up to hit it
and then this one just falls the other
way he swings through his shoes at the
off speed pitch the breaking ball
and then he goes back to 100 easy and
then he's going to ground out
get him to ground out i mean this was
it's three batters there's a lot of
pitchers doing a lot of fun stuff in the
league now
but i had audible reactions to every
single one of those pitches as i watch
this on my couch
and i just needed to share it with
people that maybe didn't see it
it was it was a great performance
a couple innings he hasn't really
established himself yet
i get that enjoy what we did see though