After profitable their second straight World Collection, the Dodgers are displaying no indicators of slowing down.
Los Angeles has continued reinforcing its membership this offseason, with the Dodgers agreeing to a three-year, $69 million cope with Edwin Díaz on Tuesday, a supply instructed MLB.com. The standout nearer has lengthy been certainly one of baseball’s prime relievers, and Díaz figures to spice up a Dodgers bullpen that had a 4.27 ERA final season, tied for the Tenth-worst mark within the Majors.
Díaz’s signing is much more intriguing contemplating the Dodgers handed out a four-year, $72 million deal to left-hander Tanner Scott final offseason. Scott skilled a tricky first season in Los Angeles, posting a 4.74 ERA with the bottom strikeout charge (25.2%) of his profession, resulting in the lefty shedding the nearer’s job and culminating with him not pitching within the postseason (doubtlessly on account of a mix of harm and efficiency).
Even past Scott, the Dodgers noticed different high-priced relievers battle for them in 2025, together with Kirby Yates (5.23 ERA in 50 appearances) and Blake Treinen (5.40 ERA in 32 appearances). Contemplating how a lot the Dodgers relied on their beginning pitchers in October due to their bullpen points, Díaz, in principle, provides Los Angeles a reliable and elite reliever.
All of this context prompts the query: Is Díaz a safer choice than Scott and different relievers the Dodgers have signed just lately? Listed below are the explanation why the Dodgers ought to have faith with Díaz persevering with to carry out at a excessive degree throughout this contract.
Relating to producing strikeouts, Díaz is without doubt one of the greatest in MLB historical past … significantly.
Amongst all the pitchers which have thrown not less than 500 innings of their profession, Díaz’s 39.9% strikeout charge is second-best all time, solely trailing the 41.1% mark from present Astros nearer Josh Hader. In actual fact, Díaz is just one of 4 pitchers with a profession strikeout charge of not less than 35 p.c, together with Hader, Aroldis Chapman (39.8%) and Craig Kimbrel (38.8%).
Díaz is displaying no indicators of slowing down in that class, both. Whereas Díaz isn’t putting out half of the batters like he did in his historic 2022 marketing campaign (50.2 p.c strikeout charge), the right-hander was at 38% final season and 38.9% in 2024, basically according to his profession norms.
Even when it comes to pure whiff charge, Díaz is chugging proper alongside. Within the pitch-tracking period, which dates again to 2008, Díaz’s 39.8% whiff charge is second amongst all pitchers with not less than 1,000 swings towards them, solely trailing the 40.6% clip from Devin Williams, who will substitute Díaz with the Mets. Final season, Díaz posted a 41.5% whiff charge, comfortably above his profession common.
Compared to Scott, who was an elite bat-misser in his personal proper earlier than his robust 2025 season, the left-hander “solely” owns a profession 29.8% strikeout charge and a 34.4% whiff charge. In his platform 12 months in 2024, Scott had a 28.6% strikeout charge and 32.7% whiff charge, effectively beneath the marks offered by Díaz this previous season.
Díaz and Scott each come at hitters with two-pitch arsenals: a four-seam fastball and a slider. The primary distinction, although, is Díaz has significantly better variations of these pitches and fewer year-to-year variability.
Díaz’s profession outcomes (2016-25)
Scott’s profession outcomes (2017-25)
That discrepancy is much more pronounced once you have a look at every participant’s closing season earlier than becoming a member of the Dodgers. In 2025, Díaz had a 44% whiff charge on his slider and 39.4% whiff charge on his four-seamer. Scott, in the meantime, had a 38.8 p.c whiff charge on his slider in 2024 and a 28.9 p.c whiff charge on his four-seamer.
And as our personal David Adler just lately wrote about, Díaz used to do most of his harm on the slider however that has shifted in recent times, with the righty producing significantly better outcomes on his four-seamer.
Past anything, that’s proof that Díaz has matured as a pitcher, using his two elite pitches to generate extra whiffs and higher all-around outcomes.
Different notable comparisons
Whether or not it’s run prevention or swing-and-miss stuff, Díaz has considerably outproduced Scott in his profession and final season. If there are any similarities, nonetheless, you’ll be able to have a look at the standard of contact towards every pitcher all through their profession.
Díaz’s profession batted-ball numbers
5.7% barrel rate87.6 mph avg. exit velocity35.5% hard-hit charge
Scott’s profession batted ball numbers
5.6% barrel rate87.6 mph avg. exit velocity34% hard-hit charge
There may be the caveat, nonetheless, that Scott is coming off of his worst season when it comes to high quality of contact, permitting a career-worst barrel charge (9%) and hard-hit charge (42.3%). There’s additionally the truth that Díaz merely permits much less contact than Scott, which makes this comparability a lot much less related contemplating how typically every pitcher permits balls in play.
Nonetheless, each pitchers have skilled bouts of homer-itis of their careers, with Scott permitting 11 homers final season and Díaz permitting double-digit house runs on two events, together with 15 in his first 12 months with the Mets in 2019. When each are at their greatest, although, they restrict high quality contact at an elite degree, like final season when Díaz solely allowed 4 house runs in 66 1/3 innings.
There’s additionally the truth that Scott’s first 12 months with the Dodgers was his age-30 season, whereas Díaz will probably be pitching in his age-32 season subsequent 12 months. Contemplating that Scott’s stuff was nonetheless intact final 12 months regardless of the down season and that Díaz has skilled a downtick in velocity in recent times — his fastball averaged 99.1 mph in 2022 and declined to 97.2 mph final season — there’s an age and stuff facet that will probably be value monitoring with Díaz.
However the actuality is that Díaz goes to go down as one of the vital dominant relievers not simply of his technology however of all time. And whereas Díaz won’t ever return to the loftiest of heights of his 2022 season, he was nonetheless one of many prime relievers within the sport final season and continues to be producing at an elite degree even with diminished velocity.
Reliever volatility apart, Díaz is about pretty much as good as they arrive and will proceed his dominance with the Dodgers as Los Angeles shoots for a three-peat in 2026.
