‘Unflappable’ Justin Wrobleski Becoming ‘The Shark’ In Dodgers’ Rotation

LOS ANGELES — Many professional baseball players tout the benefits of journaling for their personal and professional growth, but Justin Wrobleski has always been more of a numbers guy. So, rather than put pen to paper to jot down his thoughts after every start, the Dodgers pitcher updates Excel spreadsheets. Wrobleski, whose college tenure began in Clemson’s engineering school, has created his own model to chart his professional development, giving himself a score after every outing based on a series of factors related to elements of his performance within his control. “It’s nothing crazy,” Wrobleski told me. “Nothing like I’m looking at launch angles; I don’t care about that. It’s just, like, whether I’m getting ahead in counts, getting into leverage, and whether I’m limiting damage when I give up hits.” There’s a mental section of the model as well, which includes five questions pertaining to how he felt that day, graded on a scale of one to five. “I try to relate those to the outings and see if there’s a correlation,” Wrobleski explained. The way he’s performing, maybe more pitchers will want to learn about his process. The Dodgers have been without Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow since early May, yet they still have the lowest starters’ ERA and the best record in Major League Baseball. The emergence of Wrobleski, an 11th-round pick who exemplifies the Dodgers’ ability not only to outspend but also to outdraft and outdevelop most of the competition, has played an important role in the success. When the Dodgers needed someone to fill the final spot in their six-man rotation after Snell started the season on the injured list, Wrobleski fired five innings of one-run ball on April 6 in Toronto and never looked back. Despite possessing one of the lowest strikeout rates in MLB, the 25-year-old lefty is building an All-Star résumé. Wrobleski has the seventh-lowest ERA and the fourth-lowest WHIP among all qualified National League starters, and he has allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of his 13 starts. His ERA (2.71) nearly mirrors that of teammate and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.65). “A lot of young pitchers are trying to find their identity,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “With Justin, the one thing with him is he knows who he is as a pitcher, and that’s important. Then, you take your stuff and layer that in on how to get hitters out, and there’s real confidence, which I think sometimes young players don’t have. With the confidence, with the success, knowing who he is as a player, that’s led to that consistency.” The Dodgers’ rotation includes four starters on nine-figure deals, which means spots are limited for any prospect in the organization trying to carve out a big-league role. Earlier in his career, Wrobleski felt the weight of that reality. He posted a 5.70 ERA over eight appearances in his debut 2024 season, then coughed up eight runs in his first start last season. On other teams, Wrobleski might have been able to take his lumps as he developed at the big-league level. But the Dodgers, who were seeking consecutive championship titles, weren’t most teams. “When you’re a young guy, you don’t have time to go out there and develop,” Wrobleski told me. “It’s like, you need to go out there and develop and perform at the same time, because if you don’t, there’s way too much invested in this roster and this team to go out there and fail like some guys are given the grace to do.” Ultimately, though, Wrobleski believes facing those high expectations with the Dodgers accelerated his development. “It’s one of those things I’m thankful for,” he said, “because I think it’s made me better.” Wrobleski spent most of last season shuffling between Triple-A and the big leagues, primarily serving as a long reliever in the Dodgers’ bullpen. Over time, his mindset began to shift. He stopped worrying about things that were out of his hands, like his role or how many spots were available, and kept his focus on being the best version of himself. “Obviously, we’re going out and getting big free agents, so it’s sometimes hard to be like, ‘Where do I fit into that?’” he told me. “But for me, it was just like, I don’t really care where I fit into that. I just know I’m going to fit into this roster. I know I’m going to find a way to pitch well and continue to go out there and control the things that I can.” In late July last year, the Dodgers kept him up for good. Over Wrobleski’s final 21 appearances, he registered a 3.48 ERA. He did not appear in the NLDS or the NLCS, but the Dodgers’ front office kept assuring him he would eventually throw big innings in the playoffs. He was dubious. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, great, but when Blake and Yama and everyone going out there is going seven, eight innings, it’s like, you’re not going to go to me first unless we’re up by 12,’” Wrobleski thought. “So I’m like, ‘Sure, OK, I got it.’ Then of course, we get to the World Series, and we’re down big in Game 1.” Trailing by seven runs, Wrobleski made his postseason debut, retiring all three batters he faced. Two games later, he added 1.2 more scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 18-inning marathon win. Roberts’ trust was growing. With the season on the line, Wrobleski relieved Yamamoto in a do-or-die Game 6 and threw a scoreless inning. One night later, he was back on the mound again, recording four outs in the deciding Game 7. In his first ever postseason series, Wrobleski’s five scoreless World Series innings played a part in the Dodgers’ repeat championship. “They were right,” Wrobleski said. “I ended up throwing big innings, and it’s huge for your confidence.” He has carried that into the 2026 season. Wrobleski didn’t feel like he had his best stuff early in the year, yet he still produced a 0.56 ERA over his first five starts after claiming the final spot in the rotation. He has struck out only 53 batters in 86.1 innings, but he has consistently found a way to navigate lineups and minimize damage. His manager now describes him as “unflappable.” “There is talent, but there’s also what’s practical, what plays at the big-league level,” Roberts said, “and that is strike-throwing, being able to sequence, miss barrels, put it on the ground, create soft contact, work with efficiency. Those are things that help a championship team win games, and he has a really good grasp of that.” With elite control and exceptional command, Wrobleski is pounding the zone and reaping the rewards. He has the fifth-lowest walk rate and has surrendered the seventh-fewest home runs per nine innings in the National League. On Tuesday night, the way Wrobleski attacked hitters in a seven-inning, two-run outing caught the attention of Pedro Martinez, who gave Wrobleski a new nickname. “He was like a shark out there!” Martinez posted on X. “After tonight, he’s now ‘The Shark.’” Six years ago, Wrobleski was pitching at a junior college. Five years ago, he was the 10th pitcher the Dodgers selected in the 2021 MLB Draft. A year ago, he had still yet to solidify his place as a major-leaguer. Months ago, he was just hoping to earn a shot in the six-man rotation. Now, he’s “The Shark,” garnering praise from a Hall of Fame pitcher. “That’s the fun of the game for me, seeing how close I can move the needle to the best in the game,” Wrobleski told me. “Whether that takes me to one of the best in the game or just makes me the best version of myself, I think that’s a super helpful way to view it and kind of how I’ve always set the bar for myself.” With the assistance of pitching coaches Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness, Wrobleski feels like he has a better idea now of how to game plan to get through a lineup and when to “go for the kill,” seeking swing and miss. His evaluation model seems to be working, too. Wrobleski wanted to create a framework to track his outings and rank them against each other. After years of trial and error, and with the help of data available at the big-league level, he has devised a system that works regardless of whether he’s starting or relieving, one that he can take with him wherever his MLB career goes. In-game, Wrobleski focuses solely on his game plan and the chess match with hitters. Afterward, his system helps him understand where he might be slipping and what he needs to focus on in bullpen sessions between starts. “It’s taken me some time to figure out how to do it in a way that makes sense, in a way that, ‘OK, here’s my score for the outing, how were the results for the outing?’” Wrobleski explained. “Most of the time, if my score’s good, the results are good; if my score’s bad, the results are bad. But that wasn’t always the case. There were some things I had previously where, ‘I sucked today but thought I pitched well,’ so there’s been a lot of adjusting and figuring out what’s important. “What does it boil down to that allows me to have success? I know the things that kind of lead me to pitching well, and that’s what I use for it.” At this rate, he might even get to use it at the All-Star Game.