Dodgers: Dylan Floro’s Role Needs to be Downgraded

The Dodgers found a gem in Dylan Floro who had gone from unknown to an underrated reliever. Lately, Floro has been knocked around and needs less asked of him.

The Dodgers and Andrew Friedman made an under the radar move last year trading for Dylan Floro from the Cincinnati Reds.  With the Dodgers, Floro emerged as one of the most underrated relievers last year pitching to a 1.63 ERA in 27 plus innings along with a .183 average against.  His mid 90’s fastball with sink helped him develop into one of the Dodgers’ setup relievers.

This season, Floro seemed to carry over his success from 2018 as he did not allow an earned run until May 11th against the Washington Nationals.  That was when notorious Dodger killer Gerardo Parra took Floro deep ending his scoreless inning streak.  After posting a perfect 0.00 ERA in April, Floro has had an ERA over 7.50 in May and June.

One of the main issues that Floro has run into this season is that left-handed batters are doing a ton of damage against him.  Left-handed hitters are hitting .406 against Floro while right-handed batters are hitting just .173 against him.  When looking at his pitch data, it appears that Dylan is using his four-seam fastball more and his sinker less often.

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Outside of Floro’s pitch usage changing and his ground ball percentage dropping 7%, everything else looks similar to 2018 in regards to hard hit and soft contact percentages.  One move the Dodgers could do to get Dylan Floro back on track is to downgrade his role in the bullpen.  While Floro has been one of the main setup relievers, the Dodgers should limit Floro to being a right-handed specialist.

Given the amount of damage done by lefties, the Dodgers could look to get Floro back on track by asking him to only get right-handed batters out.  Once he gets back into his 2018 form, or early 2019 form, they could then let him be more than a right-handed specialist and try to solve his lefty woes.  The Dodgers are going to need Floro just as they will need Joe Kelly, so they have to let him get right.

With the trade deadline almost exactly one month away, the Dodgers need to use the next few weeks to get some of their relievers right or else they may need to acquire more than one reliever at the deadline.  Dylan Floro has turned into one of those relievers that need to get right, and he only has a few weeks to do so or he may find himself as an odd man out in the bullpen.