Nick Robertson – A Look Back (Updated)

The Dodgers 2019 draft was perhaps an unusual one in that they targeted college relief pitchers. I don’t think the plan is to transform them into starters but more so to continue their present path. Relief pitching is the fastest way to MLB unless one is a budding superstar and relief pitchers most certainly are in demand. Why not develop your own and in due course have a stable of young relievers under team control?

I am really anxious for minor league rosters to be released and especially eager to watch the Loons relief corps this year. A number of 2019 draftees have had a good start to their professional careers. I have profiled several of them and today Nick Robertson who already is a three-year veteran coming out of the bullpen gets the call.

Robertson was selected by the Dodgers in the seventh round of 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of James Madison University In Harrisonburg, Virginia.

He was born in Callaway, Virginia and attended Franklin County High School in Rocky Mount which has a population of roughly 5,000. He was a three-sport standout in high school – golf, basketball, and baseball – and was a mainstay on the Eagles’ 2015 squad that finished 17-4.

Following high school, he decided to stay relatively close to home signing on with James Madison which is a drive of a bit over two hours away.

After missing the 2017 season with the commonplace TJ surgery, Robertson pitched strictly in relief making 38 appearances over the next two years with a 5-2 record and posting an ERA of 1.38. He racked up 87 strikeouts with 24 walks over his 58.2 innings pitched. He has also held opposing batters to a .153 batting average against in his entire collegiate campaign.

As a redshirt junior in 2019,  the 21-year-old Robertson was the first Duke drafted when the Dodgers took him in the seventh round at 221st overall. During that junior year, he had a 1.01 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP in 23 appearances striking out 54 and walking 11.

The 6’6/ 265 lb. Robertson has an imposing presence on the mound. His downhill power and size contribute to his high strikeout ability which sits at 13.34 batters per nine innings since the onset of the 2018 campaign.

Robertson, who is noted for his fastball and a slider, was named to the 2019 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association  Stopper of the Year watch list along with fellow Dodger draftees Braidyn Fink, Jack Little and Aaron Ochsenbein. Fink lost the 2019 season rehabbing from TJ surgery.

This from his college head coach, Marlin Ikenberry:

“Robertson probably has elevated his game more than anyone else on the roster this year and it’s for a few reasons. During the spring he compiled a 5-1 mark to go along with eight saves and a 1.01 ERA while striking out 54 batters over 35.2 innings.”

“I think a lot of it has to do with the analytic world as well. When you look at spin rate, off-speed stuff, opponent’s batting average and the fact he just kept going out and having really good outings, that’s what started the snowball effect of scouts wanting to see him more and more. Early in the year, he had five or six outings and one really wasn’t very good, but his numbers started getting better and better and that’s what you want to see in a junior. You want to see him getting stronger and stronger as the year goes on and that’s what Nick did.”

Robertson said scouts from the Dodgers viewed him several times during the 2019 campaign, including relief performances against the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. He was not surprised that the Dodgers chose him and that it became apparent to him that Los Angeles would take him late on the second day after a consultation with one of his advisers. There was also some speculation that the Nationals and Pirates were interested in selecting him.

The whole draft process was a bit nerve-wracking for him.

“But I don’t know, it’s kind of nerve-wracking. They give you a range where you might be picked and that whole time throughout the range you are just waiting on a phone call. Your nerves don’t really settle until you get a phone call and actually see it come across the screen and then you’re like okay, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

He was thought to have the best fastball in the 2019 Dodger draft class sitting at  94-96 mph while his fastball gets on hitters quickly with his plus deception. Robertson hides the ball well behind his imposing frame preventing hitters from picking the ball up until it’s too late. One source describes him as an in-control relief arm that knows how to get outs using his size on the mound and solid pitch mix.

Billy Gasparino’s take on Robertson’s fastball:

“If maybe there was one trend line in this draft, it’s we tried to pick good fastballs. He had one of the better ones, we thought. It’s strikes, it’s velocity, it’s command, it’s up to 95 and just enough secondary to keep hitters honest. We liked his combination of two pitches and think there’s a chance for a third pitch in there. Probably a reliever, but a good one.”

Nick Robertson made his professional debut with the Arizona League Dodgers (Lasorda) on July 1st against the Athletics Gold and moved on to the Ogden Raptors after five scoreless appearances in the AZL.

With the Raptors over 11 innings in 11 appearances, he posted a 2.45 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP while holding opponents to a .179 batting average. He struck out 16 and walked one. On the year he struck out 23 and walked one.

It was expected he would begin the 2020 season with the Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League. “The Loons bullpen is going to be fun to watch”, I thought to myself out loud.  The 2020 season was not to be.

However, during the 2019 season, Nick Robertson worked on a pitching change  (no pun intended) as he worked on developing a changeup. His changeup guru was Jim Hickey who was working with the Dodgers at the time and is now the Washington Nationals pitching coach. The now 22-year-old right-hander was pitching with the Ogden Raptors when he met Jim Hickey.

“I was trying to work to find a changeup grip to make mine better,” Robertson told Federal Baseball  from the 2020 Instructional League in Arizona.

“I talked to him the whole time he was there [Ogden]. He helped me with the grip and it is still the one I use now. He gave me some confidence and it definitely helped a lot going into the off-season,” Robertson added.

I certainly like Hickey’s take on the changeup. A good one along with a plus fastball is somewhat akin to  a lethal weapon.

“I don’t force anybody to throw changeups, but if I see something — a lot of guys don’t like the changeup because it’s not a sexy pitch — it’s not a huge swing and a miss pitch for a lot of guys, but there’s a lot of outs in there and there’s a lot of efficiency in there and at the end of the year, there’s a lot more innings in there as well if you can do that.”

On his part Robertson was very pleased that he was picked by the Dodgers to participate in the Instructional League. I don’t know if that was a surprise for him or an expectation.  In any event he had a plan for his time in the Instructional league. At that time he didn’t require work on his fastball.

“I am mostly working on my off-speed pitches,” Robertson said. “Just being out here and playing some games makes it a lot better since we missed out on the season. I was really excited; I didn’t know what to expect.”

What will the 2021 season bring for Nick Robertson and so many other minor league players? He has and continues to have a strong support group including his high school coach and his parents.

“My parents tell me the first word I said was ball, so I guess from then on they kinda knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Robertson said. 

Hopefully the words he will hear in the not too distant future will be, “Play ball!”, and with the Great Lakes Loons now a High-A team.