Vesia’s Velocity: Dodgers Reliever Brings the Heat in 2024

Write-ups like this one are a joy to write, but they present a unique challenge.

Alex Vesia had the best season of his professional career in 2024. He led the Dodgers in appearances and was second among relievers in innings pitched behind departed longman Ryan Yarbrough. Vesia was a force, posting career-bests in saves, ERA, strikeouts, and innings pitched.

He used his two-pitch* mix of fastball and slider to hold hitters to a .148/.260/.292 slash line all year, comparable to 2024-James Outman (.147/.256/.265). Yes, he threw 57 change-ups during the regular season. If he further refines the pitch as a permanent fixture, so be it. Vesia was not Gagne-level or Jansen-when-Michael-was-around-level.

There were blemishes in his 2024, but they were largely confined to April or games against NL Playoff teams, where he was either stung by the Manfred Man or shoddy defense behind him. Throughout the year, Vesia displayed his trademark intensity while on the mound, regardless of the opponent.

He was not the person you typically want at the end of the game (Evan Phillips or Blake Treinen immediately come to mind). Still, Vesia is the person you would want in that high-leverage spot in the middle innings to late innings to set the Dodgers on the path to a win. From short outings to outings of more than an inning, whatever Dave Roberts needed, Alex Vesia generally provided in 2024.

He was generally reliable, efficient, and effective, which is difficult to expand on.

Vesia made a notable improvement in his career postseason statistics. Before this year, in twelve appearances, while he had an ERA of 2.00, his FIP was a ghastly 5.17, which led to a rather infamous implosion in 2022.

Vesia was a lead-pipe lock during the Dodgers’ 2024 postseason run.

He did not give up a run in 5⅔ innings of work over seven games. He struck out six and held batters to a .105/.227/.105 slash line. He gave up two hits the entire postseason, singles to David Peralta in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres and Anthony Volpe in Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees.

Truthfully, Vesia’s presence in the Dodgers’ bullpen was most felt in his absence in the NLCS against the Mets. Vesia suffered a cramp in NLDS Game 5, which turned out to be a right intercostal injury (an injury between the ribs where they become overstretched or torn) that kept him off the NLCS roster.

Thus, it was with great relief that Vesia returned for the Fall Classic. During the World Series, Vesia set a record that will unlikely ever be matched: he earned a one-pitch save to close Game 2. He had three perfect outings and one shaky outing but ultimately scoreless in Game 5 to help secure the title.

Although not widely known before the World Series, Vesia’s father is a huge Yankees fan who wanted to wear a hybrid of Yankees and Dodgers gear, an idea that Vesia rightfully and playfully mocked.

In my travels, I have nicknamed Vesia “the Jekyll and Hyde of the Dodgers bullpen.” Not for performance reasons, mind you, as he’s generally been on an upward trajectory since his breakout year of 2021. As you can see from the following interview, where he discusses his home life, his preparation, the fact the Dodgers originally wanted him to only throw a fastball, his success in 2024, and his family, Vesia is the most relaxed, laid-back fellow you would ever hope to see.

Contrast the Vesia at “home” you see above with the Vesia you see at “work.” Yes, the trademark intensity referenced above is there, but it’s more than that trait. The anecdote that jumps to mind from this year is from June 26, 2024 — the night of Gavin Stone’s complete game shut out.

Sitting by the Dodgers’ bullpen is usually quite the show because Alex Vesia is seemingly incapable of sitting still. From the antics of watching and anticipating Shohei Ohtani to hit a home run to keeping loose to warming up with intensity even though the plan is to stay with the starting pitcher as long as possible to hollering in support of his teammates, Vesia is worth paying attention to in the bullpen.

While bullpen pitchers are notoriously volatile, Vesia built upon his success in 2023 to have the best campaign of his young career in 2024. If Vesia can repeat himself in 2025, the Dodgers will happily take that result as he enters his penultimate year of arbitration.

2024 particulars

Age: 28

Stats: 67 G, 66⅓ IP, 5-4, 5 Sv, 87 K, 33 BB, 1.76 ERA, 2.78 xERA, 1.1 fWAR, 1.6 rWAR

Salary: $1 million

Game of the year

The problem with being uniformly good is that nothing really stands out short of herculean results, which isn’t Vesia.

Therefore, we will select the record-setting nature of Vesia’s appearance in Game 2 of the World Series, which will easily be the shortest Game of the Year in True Blue LA history and the shortest save in World Series history.

Roster status

Vesia has four years, 78 days of service time, with a single option remaining. He’s eligible for his second year of salary arbitration in 2025. Estimated projections have Vesia earning between $1.75 million (Cot’s Baseball Contracts) and $1.9 million (MLB Trade Rumors) next season.