Some of the plans for the Dodgers’ bullpen went out the window in an unceremonious fashion quite early on, but the unit continues to function at a high level. Among other things, that’s down to the emergence of Kyle Hurt as one of the top setup men in the National League—a big statement for a young pitcher whose not only role, but mere presence on the big league roster this season, was undefined heading into spring training.
After striking out 12 hitters in 7.1 innings in spring training, Hurt impressed but ultimately couldn’t land a spot on the Opening Day roster. It wasn’t until Ben Casparius hit the shelf that Hurt joined the club, and firstly, amidst Edwin Díaz’ injury, and also partially just through his own merit, Hurt began climbing up the leverage ladder in the bullpen.
Yet another success story of the Dodgers utilizing their vast resources to work the trade market in their favor, a former Marlins farmhand, Hurt relies on a four-seam fastball that hurts hitters. He throws it over 60% of the time with a 22.0% SwSt%, one that puts him in the 97th percentile. As it is the case with pitchers that generate a lot of swing-and-miss action on their four-seamers, Hurt throws it upstairs quite often, relying on batters swinging underneath it, and so far in 2026, they’re 6 for 32 on the pitch with 12 strikeouts and just one extra-base hit. To complement that heavy four-seamer, Hurt has a changeup. While generally it’d be reasonable to express some concern about how the splits would translate against same-handed batters having the changeup as your primary off-speed pitch, Hurt is able to find success against righties and lefties.
Something that’s appealing about what Hurt is doing now, but more importantly, when it comes to the sustainability of his success, is that the tall right-hander is attacking the zone with everything he throws. He’s not nibbling around the edges too much. Hurt throws his changeup in the zone (43.6%) more than the MLB average (33.9%), and it’s not as if he is thriving because hitters have been passive and will eventually adjust. On the contrary, the swing rate against Hurt’s changeup (60.0%) is well above Hurt’s (45.6%).
Attacking the zone is so important because if you can accomplish that while still being able to generate the constant swing-and-misses that Hurt has been able to, you find yourself as one of only four relievers in baseball with a strikeout rate of over 30% and a walk rate below 5%.
The recent series against the Padres, particularly the matchups against Mason Miller, showed how oftentimes when dealing with the elite relievers, you’re at the mercy of a momentary loss of command from them. All of the threat and action that the talented Dodgers offense generated against Miller basically came from him pitching against himself more so than anything else. Obviously, Hurt still has a long way to go. We’re evaluating a sample size of 14 innings, but out of that, the sky is the limit with his tools. It’s no surprise that before the start of the year, when we asked you here who was the reliever you were most excited about seeing called up to join the Dodgers bullpen in 2026, Hurt won it quite easily. And to think that a key chunk of this bullpen consists of a couple of players acquired for the services of Dylan Floro some years ago. You could not ask for anything more.