Dylan Floro and Scott Alexander are the key pieces to the bullpen

As they enter a three-game series with the Cubs, the Dodgers’ bullpen has an ERA of just under five. Nearly half of their losses (4 of 9) have come at the hands of the bullpen. Though it is early in the season, a lot of fans have panicked over LA’s lack of bullpen depth.

Now, that is for good reason. Joe Kelly has gotten off to a rough start. Pedro Baez has struggled to find his groove. Kenley Jansen looks as if he hasn’t pitched to his highest ability quite yet. On top of that, you have the disastrous outings from Brock Stewart, Yimi Garcia and Dennis Santana.

Overall, it’s been a little bit of a mess.

However, lost in the fold of the bad, has been some good. And it seems to be taken for granted. With essentially every bullpen arm having struggled so far, two have stood out, and have shown to be the two most reliable arms coming out of the bullpen. Scott Alexander and Dylan Floro.

Before I get started, I’d like to give an honorable mention to Caleb Ferguson. He had been fantastic, but a three-run outing on Saturday more than tripled what his ERA was. I still think he’s been a great piece so far.

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Only two relief pitchers in all of baseball have thrown at least 10 ²⁄₃ innings and have yet to allow a run. One of them is Floro. In 39 games since joining LA, Floro has an ERA of 1.17. Mainly being used as a righty-specialist, right-handed hitters have almost no answer so far this season. They’re hitting .111 (3-for-28) against him with five strikeouts and no walks.

It’s not like Floro is pitching with the bases empty. He’s faced 14 batters when there are runners on base, and nine batters with runners in scoring position. In those nine at-bats with runners in scoring position, he’s allowed only one hit, with no earned runs.

Not too far behind him is Alexander, who owns a 0.96 ERA so far this year. He’s appeared in 13 games, and has thrown 9 ¹⁄₃ innings. Unlike Floro, Alexander is used for both righties and lefties. Though he’s thrown nearly the same amount versus both types, he’s been clearly better against right-handed bats. They’re hitting only .143 off of Alexander.

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I can get into all the advanced metrics on both of these guys, but like I said, it’s early. It’s a very small sample size for both, and things can change.

Still, these two guys have been reliable, and have helped balance out the struggles of the bullpen.