Dodgers News: Yency Almonte is Ready to Contribute in Any Situation Out of the Bullpen
The Dodgers are entering the 2023 season with a true closer-by-committee plan. Rather than having one set guy play that role in the 9th inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts likes the idea of being able to throw a few guys out there on any given day. He doesn't want to be obligated to save a reliever for the 9th inning, when he knows the highest-leverage situations sometimes come earlier. So, that's the approach he's taking this year.
It sometimes could be difficult to get a bullpen to buy into that sort of approach, but with the Dodgers, that's not the case. Yency Almonte, who enjoyed a breakout year in Los Angeles last year, told Kirsten Watson of SNLA that he's ready to come in and contribute whenever his name is called.
"I look forward to being out there whenever my name gets called, whether it's early in the game, late in the game, just going out there and knowing that I can go get three outs or any outs I got to go get and just being that guy to out of the bullpen the offense could depend on to go and get clutch outs or even shut down some bleeding and just being that person for the team. That's what I want to look forward to."
You have to love that attitude from Almonte. He doesn't care when he gets into a game or if he's able to get that save on his stat sheet. Rather, he just wants to do his job to the best of his ability, and get the outs when his name is called.
Watson then asked Almonte how he feels about the Dodgers bullpen heading into the 2023 season. It's safe to say he's pretty confident.
"I think I can speak for everyone when I say we're all excited to just go out there and prove that we're of one of the best, if not the best bullpen in baseball," Almonte said. "We take pride in going out there and getting outs and just doing our jobs."
Last year, the Dodgers had the best bullpen ERA in the National League, and second-best in all of baseball. They're bringing back a lot of the same faces, so they should be in for another dominant season in 2023.
