2 key Dodgers bullpen arms tabbed as NL Rookie of the Year threats by ESPN

Much of the Dodgers bullpen has made it look like LA is running on absolute fumes just over 50 games into the season, but two rookies are staying steady as the rest of the pitching staff withers. Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer were unlikely additions to the bullpen out of spring training, but they've kind of been holding everything together.

Tanner Scott, Anthony Banda, and Alex Vesia have all been struggling as of late — the Dodgers owe their Wednesday loss to Scott and Vesia, who gave up five runs in the eighth — and five key relievers are on the IL without clear timelines to return.

Casparius has a 2.80 ERA, Dreyer a 3.03 ERA, both having pitched around 30 innings. Casparius has also assumed opening duties once this year and has pitched as many as four innings as a bulk reliever. Dreyer, an undrafted signing who the Dodgers protected from the Rule 5 draft, has a .192 batting average against, and his overall pitching run value is in the 90th percentile.

ESPN named some early awards contenders for both leagues' MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year honors, and shortlisted both Casparius and Dreyer for NL RoY.

Dodgers' Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer named NL Rookie of the Year candidates by ESPN, Yoshinobu Yamamoto snubbed for Cy Young

Casparius came in third behind Brewers starter Chad Patrick, who has a 2.97 ERA in 57 2/3 innings, and Braves catcher Drake Baldwin, who's batting .337 with a .912 OPS in 33 games. Dreyer came in eighth. These kinds of awards are rarely doled out to relievers, but it's nice to see that both are getting some early recognition, given how unexpected their presences on the roster were in the first place.

A couple more Dodgers are featured on ESPN's list — Shohei Ohtani (2), Freddie Freeman (6), and Will Smith (8) as MVP contenders and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4) a Cy Young contender. Outside of the threat of Ohtani losing out on MVP to burgeoning Dodgers killer Pete Crow-Armstrong, the biggest snub there is Yamamoto, who is sitting behind the Phillies' Jesús Luzardo and Zach Wheeler, as well as the Pirates' Paul Skenes.

If anyone on the Dodgers' roster really deserves award recognition based on what we've seen up to this point, it's Yamamoto, who has the best starting ERA in the NL and has pitched almost the same amount of innings as Luzardo.

Yamamoto got painfully close to seven no-hit innings on May 20, which felt like it just foreshadowed a feat that will make him the undisputed Cy Young frontrunner by the end of the season.