Newly acquired Cardinals pitcher could make huge behind-the-scenes impact for Dodgers

On Thursday, the Dodgers traded for Cardinals pitcher Ryan Loutos as Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen moved to the 60-day IL. Loutos, who's only pitched 2 1/3 major league innings and has a 4.82 minor league ERA, seemed like a pickup that Dodgers fans won't think about at all until they call him up, but he's bringing a weird wealth of knowledge over from St. Louis that could help them in the long run.

A Washington University computer science grad, Loutos was undrafted by signed to a minor league deal in 2021 after originally being hired to build a pitcher development app for the Cardinals. He "helped to build the framework for 'Chirp,' the app that allows Cardinals pitchers to view video of their performances, deep-dive data from outings and pitch-by-pitch breakdowns."

Although he transitioned fully to pitching after he was signed, the app is still in use, and Loutos used it to develop his own fastball, sweeper, and curveball arsenal, as well as increase the velocity on his fastball.

The Dodgers already have a lot going for them in the way of tech aids to their players, but with Loutos on board, they could steal a few secrets from the Cardinals and elevate their offering.

New Dodgers pitcher Ryan Loutos helped Cardinals write their pitcher development app

Despite Loutos' unorthodox path to the majors, he does have a history in the game; he pitched for Wash U's D-III team and helped them to the D-III World Series. Although he initially accepted a job offer from a Chicago-based tech company out of college, he pitched for a collegiate summer league and accepted an offer from the Cardinals instead.

He has a decent track record in Triple-A as of 2024, despite some early struggles after his promotion in 2022 and continued woes in 2023. Last year, he pitched 53 innings for a 3.40 ERA and earned a call up to the majors, pitching 2 1/3 total innings in two promotions and only yielding two hits and a walk. Before the trade, he pitched eight innings in Triple-A for a 3.38 ERA and hasn't given up a run in his last seven innings.

We may see Loutos in the majors sometime soon, if the Dodgers bullpen gets hit with another injury (which, at this point, seems more likely than not). In the meantime, the Dodgers could keep him extra busy in the minors if they need fresh eyes on their pitching tech.