Surprise spring training breakout is already solidifying his place in Dodgers bullpen

When the time came for the Dodgers to add eligible prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, they declined to protect No. 24 prospect Austin Gauthier — their only ranked prospect vulnerable to draft — and instead retained pitcher Jack Dreyer, who was signed to a minor-league deal in 2021 after going undrafted that year and was unranked in the Dodgers' pipeline at the time.

It was unclear if anything would come of Dreyer's status on the 40-man, but a roster spot with the Dodgers is pretty precious real estate this year (and, realistically, years to come). Why add him, if not to use him?

Sure enough, Dreyer broke the Opening Day roster after a nice spring training (both iterations, Tokyo Series and stateside) and joined relief powerhouses Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Alex Vesia, and Blake Treinen as the lone rookie.

Dreyer hasn't disappointed. Through 13 2/3 innings out of the Dodgers' pen, he has an 0.66 ERA — and the single run he gave up came in his Tokyo debut. He's only allowed three hits, two in his debut, and has struck out 17 batters. His pitching run value sits in Baseball Savant's 98th percentile, and he has yet to give up a single hit on his fastball or curveball.

Undrafted Dodgers signing Jack Dreyer has been making a stunning impression in his rookie season

Dreyer made a great impression in the minors from 2022 through 2024, when he rocketed from Rookie ball to Triple-A in the blink of an eye, with a 2.18 ERA over 124 innings pitched. He's still unranked by MLB Pipeline despite not graduating out of rookie status yet, and that might mark a massive oversight from prospect evaluators.

What might make him even more of a novelty is that he's far from a fireballer. His fastball averages around 93 MPH, but he leans more on his slider and has a lesser-used curveball to complement the other two pitches. He's struck out 12 batters on the slider, five on the fastball. He's earned a couple of Pitching Ninja features already this season, which make it pretty obvious why only three batters have been able to hit the slider.

The Dodgers have been using him as an all-purpose arm — his debut came in the fifth inning of the second Tokyo Series game, he's pitched from the fourth to the sixth in another, has finished two games, and was credited with his first win on April 15 — which is already making him look like a pretty invaluable part of the bullpen.