When we last left off with Young Master Wrobleski in 2024, he had the opportunity to succeed in the 2025 season due to a combination of makeup and stuff. No one doubted Wrobleski’s temperament when it came
to going after batters. Where Wrobleski had significant room to improve was in throwing quality pitches at the Major League level.
While Wrobleski made only two starts at the Major League level, he improved in 2025 by effectively filling a swingman role, taking down innings in a beleaguered year for the bullpen core. Wrobleski used a six-pitch mix. In order, a four-seam baseball, slider, sinker, cutter, curveball, and changeup. Baseball Savant compared his stuff in 2025 to 2024-Yusei Kikuchi, 2024-Carlos Rodón, and 2025-Garrett Crochet. As to the quality of contact, Wrobleski was comparable to 2025-Will Vest and 2025-Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Wrobleski pitched well enough in the abbreviated spring to make the Tokyo Series roster. He did not pitch in either of the two regular-season games, but he did open against the Yomiuri Giants and threw two shutout innings with three strikeouts.
Wrobleski started the domestic portion of the regular season with Triple-A Oklahoma City. He was summoned for a spot start in Washington, D.C. on April 8th. It went badly, as the Nationals roughed up Wrobleski for eight earned runs in five dreary innings of work.
Wrobleski was optioned back to Oklahoma City until May 15 to provide coverage in the bullpen against the Sacramento A’s. He delivered four shutout innings of bulk work, striking out four, and earned his first win of 2025.
Wrobleski was optioned back to Oklahoma City the following day, returning to Los Angeles about two weeks later to make his second and final spot start of the year on June 6, against the St. Louis Cardinals in Missouri. Wrobleski and the Dodgers lost, but it is hard to fault a starter when the offense is shut out.
The young left-hander spent the next month in the bullpen providing bulk coverage. For the rest of June and the first week of July, Wrobleski appeared in five games, throwing 25 IP. He earned a 3-1 record with a 2.88 ERA and 2.49 FIP. He struck out 27 while only walking four batters.
He pitched well against the Giants, Padres, Rockies (in Denver), and Royals (in Kansas City). His sole blemish was against the Astros at Dodger Stadium on July 5th, where he was merely pedestrian, allowing five runs (four earned) in 4 2/3 IP of work with six strikeouts.
It is worth noting that the July series against the Astros was the start of the Dodgers’ summer skid. Wrobleski was optioned back to Oklahoma City when Tyler Glasnow came off the injured list.
Wrobleski returned to Los Angeles for the rest of the season on July 27. While Wrobleski was still in the bullpen, his role shifted from a pure bulk role to more of a two-inning role. Over the last two months of the regular season, he appeared in 16 games with 26 2/3 IP of work. Wrobleski had a 1-2 record, and earned seven holds, two saves with a 4.05 ERA and an eye-popping 2.05 FIP. Wrobleski struck out 36 and only walked 7. Wrobleski generally performed well with one exception: on September 16th at home, the Philadelphia Phillies tagged him for five runs while only facing six batters.
Wrobleski’s most leverage appearance was on September 24th against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, in an extra-inning victory that all but put the NL West crown out of reach.
Considering the patchwork nature of the Dodgers’ bullpen in October, Wrobleski was always going to feature in the postseason bullpen. However, given the matchups and the effectiveness of the Dodgers’ starting rotation, it was unsurprising that Wrobleski was on the Wild Card and NLCS rosters but not used. Moreover, the Dodgers left Wrobleski off the NLDS roster against the Phillies.
In the World Series, Wrobleski made his postseason debut by pitching in Games 1, 3, 6, and 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays. During the 2025 playoffs, the Blue Jays seemingly could score at will against everyone except Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Another pitcher who was successful against the Blue Jays was Wrobleski, who posted five innings of scoreless work, striking out six and not walking anyone.
Wrobleski did have one hit by pitch in Game 7, which will likely be played in Dodgers highlights for years to come. Max Muncy later said that he saved Wrobleski from being ejected due to the instigator rules.
For the overall year with the Dodgers, opposing hitters had a slash line of .255/.306/.380 against Wrobleski. Considering the quality of his arsenal and his overall makeup, it would not be surprising to see Wrobleski in a similar bulk/swingman role in 2026.
While Wrobleski is still not embracing a tailor-made, 1980s nickname of Wrobocop, with accompanying soundtrack, it is hard to describe his 2025 campaign as anything other than a success. In just under double the major league workload, Wrobleski struck out an extra 50 batters with one extra walk. His peripheral stats went from questionable to downright scintillating.
It seems likely that Wrobleski’s traveling days back to Oklahoma City likely will be few and far between in the 2026 campaign. Considering the available arms in the Dodgers’ rotation, it seems unlikely that Wrobleski will start the year anywhere but the Dodgers’ bullpen. Considering the evolution from 2024 to the present, if he continues to grow, the Dodgers will gladly accept that outcome.
2025 particulars
Age: 24
Stats: 5-5, 2 Sv, 66 2/3 IP, 76 K, 17 BB, 4.32 ERA, 2.92 FIP, 3.41 xERA, 1.230 WHIP
Salary: $460,845 (pro-rated share of $760,000 minimum salary)
Game of the year
The only avenue where Wrobleski did not excel in 2025 was starting for the Dodgers. With that proviso in mind, declaring a Game of the Year for a middle reliever is usually tricky. However, there is one candidate that stands out. In early August, the Dodgers had to play the Tampa Bay Rays in the New York Yankees’ outdoor spring training home, George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Early August in Florida was about as pleasant as one might think. On August 1, Wrobleski earned a three-inning save while striking out five in the sweltering Florida heat.
Roster status
Wrobleski has 150 days of service and one option year remaining.
