To call the Los Angeles Dodgers spoiled in the pitching department would be a major understatement.
This was a Dodgers team that could afford to put righties Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki in the bullpen down the stretch, because the starting rotation was so stacked. And the depth chart extends much farther, as young pitchers like Bobby Miller, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski, and Landon Knaack have all flirted with rotation spots in recent seasons.
With all that depth to speak of, it was still something of a surprise to see Nick Frasso, who MLB Pipeline ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the organization less than two years ago, get non-tendered in November. But it appears Frasso’s absence from the depth chart will be a short one.
On Saturday, Aram Leighton of Just Baseball reported that Frasso was re-signing with the Dodgers on a minor-league deal. The 27-year-old will have a hill to climb, but he still has a chance now to make his major league debut with the organization that has developed him for the past 3 1/2 years.
Frasso was fairly dominant for the Dodgers’ Double-A and Triple-A teams in 2023 before he tore his labrum late in the season and underwent a surgery that cost him all of last year. He was ready to pitch by opening day of this season, and made 43 appearances, 36 of which came out of the bullpen, for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
After he compiled a 5.49 ERA and 1.58 WHIP this year, it was understandable that the Dodgers didn’t want to keep using a 40-man roster spot on Frasso, and the fact that he wasn’t signed by another organization in the three-plus weeks of his free agency could be interpreted a number of ways.
Did Frasso simply not find any better opportunities than the one the Dodgers were offering him to come to spring training and compete? Or did he have good reason to be there, with the organization telling him he had a decent shot to win a bullpen role at some point during the season?
