Back on May 3rd, I published a short post about my wish that the Tampa Bay Rays would “free” Adam Liberatore (Waynesboro 07-08), meaning call him up to the majors, as he was dominating Triple-A hitters in Durham.
They never did.
But now they’ve traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it looks like Adam may get a long look for the LA bullpen next spring.
Just about a week ago, the Rays sent Liberatore and Joel Peralta to the Dodgers for Jose Dominguez and Greg Harris.
A Baseball America staff report said “He’s (Liberatore, that is) a good bet to be a part of the Dodgers’ pen as the team added him to the 40-man roster upon his acquisition.”
Nick Melotte (on John Sickel’s website) had this to say about the Valley League’s erstwhile lefty: “In 2014 he took another step forward, turning into the ace of the Bulls bullpen despite only saving four games. He pitched to a 1.66 ERA and 1.65 FIP over 65 innings of work; striking out 86 (34.8%) and walking 15 (6.1%) with a 0.89 WHIP and just 43 hits allowed. Opposing hitters only managed a .187/.240/.248 triple slash with one home run and just 11 extra base hits total.”
And this: “He fits into the Dodgers’ plans as they are short on left handed pitchers and he has consistently shown the ability to get out same sided hitters. He’s got a LOOGY floor with the potential to handle more stressful innings later in the game.” (A LOOGY is a lefty specialist who would face almost exclusively lefty batters.)
ATVL is excited to see if Adam can break camp with the Dodgers in April!
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