Dodgers Pitcher Admits He Was ‘Shocked’ to Be Traded at Deadline

The Los Angeles Dodgers brought back an old friend at the trade deadline, acquiring right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart from the Minnesota Twins.

Stewart was drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 2014 MLB Draft. He debuted with LA in 2016 and spent parts of four seasons with the Dodgers, accruing a 5.50 ERA over 86.2 innings of work.

Stewart ended up bouncing around the league and even underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 before signing a two-year minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins in July 2022. There, he re-established himself as a hard-throwing right-hander, putting himself back on the Dodgers radar.

After a 2025 first half in which Stewart had a 2.38 ERA across 34 innings, the Dodgers brought him back, sending outfielder James Outman to the Twins.

Stewart, who was the first of what turned out to be many Twins traded in an all out fire sale, admitted he was surprised to be dealt.

“I was a little shocked,” Stewart said to the Orange County Register of the trade. “If it was later on in the day, after the other nine other guys went, I wouldn’t have been that shocked.”

Stewart isn’t a free agent until 2028, so even if Minnesota wasn’t planning on winning this year, the right-hander could have been a key piece of their bullpen moving forward.

Instead, he was shipped out to LA, where he was thrust into a pennant race on his former team.

Stewart has struggled in his first three outings, allowing six hits and two earned runs across 2.2 innings of work. However, the Dodgers aren’t worried about Stewart, as he’s in LA to take down right-handed hitting, which he’s done at an elite clip this season.