In my last post, we discussed the infield options the Dodgers have, and there were many. The catching position itself has three players on the active roster.
The starter, and main man as we all know is Will Smith. Smith just signed a 10-year deal, so he is going to be around for a while. Will he spend that entire contract behind the plate? That remains to be seen. Will is considered to be one of the better offensive catchers in baseball. His defense is adequate, but where he really improved last season was throwing out opposing runners. His bat slumped in the second half, but his defense did not.
Austin Barnes is his backup and has been since Will broke into the lineup in 2019. Barnes had one of his better offensive seasons BA wise. He only had one homer, and 11 driven in. But the pitchers love pitching to the guy, and he is solid defensively. Also, one of the better game callers in the game.
The third man on the 40-man roster is Hunter Feduccia. Feduccia turns 28 in June. A little old to be considered a prospect. Feduccia has actually hit better at AAA than he did at the lower levels. In his three seasons at AAA he slashed, .273/.383/.447. He hit 24 homers and drove in 132 runs. He is not a power threat but will occasionally give you a home run ball. His OPS was .830 over those 3 seasons. His K rate is about 22%. His most likely path to the majors would be a trade to a team in need of catching.
Right behind him, but not on the roster is Dalton Rushing. Rushing, who turns 24 this month, will most likely start the season at AAA OKC. He will also likely get the bulk of the catching starts. Feduccia and Okey will be his backups. At this point, Rushing is not polished as a receiver and has been given starts in LF to get his bat into the lineup. He hit 26 homers and drove in 85 in 114 games split between AA and AAA.
The outfield has numerous options. Teo and Conforto are both corner outfielders and will get the bulk of the playing time at those positions. Pages is more suited as a corner outfielder and could be the backup for Conforto since he crushes left-handed pitching. Taylor can play any of the three outfield spots. He has made some spectacular plays while playing left, one in the 2016 playoffs and another when he threw out the tying run at the plate to end a game against the Padres a couple years ago. Kike is in the mix if he is resigned. 
Center Field for now belongs to Tommy Edman, although I think he is better served as a super-sub. But he is the current listed starter. Depending on his spring training performance, James Outman, could be tossed into the mix. Outman is an excellent defender. Kike and Taylor play this position as well.
Offensively the group has a lot of power. Conforto should be good for at least 20 plus homers. Teo close to 30, and Outman, who hit 23 his rookie year could come close to the same if he shows he has improved from last year’s dismal performance.
Edman is in there for his defense and speed. He is a decent hitter, but no power threat. Most he has hit in his career was 11. Many would love to see the Dodgers trade for someone like Luis Robert, but it seems at this point, that ship was never even in port. No discussions I have seen on any outlet even suggesting the Dodgers want to deal for Robert. I also think the Sox want to see if he can have a resurgent start to 25 to make him more valuable on the trade market.
As always, injuries could shake up the whole thing. I would like to see Ryan Ward, a decent power guy, get some looks in spring, if for no other reason than to showcase him for a trade. Zahir Hope, and Kendall George, still a few years from consideration.
Getting out of here this afternoon. I have been here four weeks and 2 days, plus 6 days in the main hospital. Something I never wish to repeat. Had a visit yesterday from two musician friends of mine, Barbara and Max McGuire. They live in Indiana, but are out here visiting her mom, who is 92 years young and lives in San Pedro. They had a band called Sierra back in the day. I used to sit in with them all the time. Great people.
Good for you Bear! Safe travels home!
Coming off the IL Bear, just in time to report to camp for Spring Training!
It’s great to hear you are doing so much better. It looks like you have lost some weight during your ordeal. You’re looking good and it’s so good to hear you’re back.
Lost over 20 pounds. Down to 250. First time in years.
Bear it has been a long ordeal. I am happy for you that it is coming to an end and you can get back home. I am glad that you had friends drop in to see you.
Glad your time on the IL is coming to an end Bear.
Same here.
If Pages or Outman crushes it in ST there could be a spot in CF for them and moving Edman to 2nd base. Can Pages play a decent enough CF? Does Kim make the roster? Does Kiké return? Would Dodgers trade Rojas? Does CT3 bounce back? What about injuries? A lot of what ifs for Dodger bench in 25.
Pages is not a center fielder. He does not read the ball well off of the bat and runs horrible routes. He made 2 of his 3 errors in CF. He was perfect in RF in 40 games, 21 as a starter. He only played 6 games in left and made 1 error. Once spring training opens, we should know if Kike will be back. Kike is actually better in left and right than he is in CF, and no matter what, he is nothing more than a utility guy. Every chance he has had as a starter, he failed to keep the position. Taylor is slightly better as a CF than Kike.
Centerfield, shortstop and second base, up the middle defense by committee. They are all excellent players so it could work out well over the course of a long season.
I agree about Pages. He runs some interesting patterns in center and while he could likely improve, why push it? He’s way better suited for right field and against LHP. We have others who can roam center, more skillfully.
I like Edman there and I like his bat as a contact, speed guy in the line up, surrounded by the boppers.
It should be interesting and I hope Outman makes Kike unnecessary. I also think Feduccia has been a good soldier but has basically had a wasted career behind Barnes and no path next year with Rushing preferred as the next back up. He could have been an everyday guy in many organizations. Impossible lineup to crack in many positions for not-so-youngsters, these days.
That’s what Spring Training is for 😉
Anybody here who says they knows the answers is lying.
I don’t understand not wanting Edman to be the everyday CF. He’s deserving of being in the lineup every day and it’s probably best for the team to have him consistently in one position. We just signed him to a big contract and if we didn’t have three HOFers atop the lineup he’d probably be the leadoff hitter or #2 guy.
He doesn’t hit right-handed pitching all that well, but he murders lefties. He is more suited to play second. Center field is usually a power spot in the line-up and Edman is far from being a power hitter.
Twins are signing Harrison Bader.
Somebody was looking for a complete list of non roster invitees.
https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/roster/nri
Jeff – thanks for the comprehensive Eric Swan analysis. Our system does look stacked.
Gotta say I had little interest in our Prospects until you started writing but I’m a convert now.
Hoping to see Rushing before long.
Interesting pitching article in The Athletic by Eno Sarris called “The Baseball Stat that’s Changing MLB”. It talks about the “Stuff+” stat and how the elements of certain pitch shapes and velocities max out a pitches effectiveness.
And looks to me like another step in turning pitchers into robots.
Stuff+ is a metric I have been trying to understand, but I have not garnered a good enough understanding to write about. I know that it is more of a predictive tool. It is more convoluted than FIP and SIERA. It is interesting to see that 4 of the top 20 Stuff+ pitchers are Dodgers:
The first three are legit top of the rotation pitchers (#1 or #2), while Miller is a surprise to see this high. I can see why the Dodgers are very reluctant to move Miller. He apparently has Ace like “stuff”. It will be fun to watch where Sasaki and Ohtani land on this list during the year.
Read it. Interesting stuff + a lot of links.
I still think that every coach, and player for that matter should read The Physics of Baseball by Dr Robert Adair. It’s all there. Once you understand the physics of a spinning baseball the rest will fall into place.
And here’s another thing, if as a hitter in the upper leagues you don’t have 20/10 vision the odds of picking up spin early enough to ID the pitch drop dramatically.
Bear, you bring up one of my favorite points on Austin Barnes. In your last two sentences, you have accurately described what a backup catcher is. Manage the pitching game. Yes, give the starting catcher a break, but make sure you have a catcher the pitcher can relate to and trust. That is Austin Barnes.
Hunter Feduccia is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. He has never been a poor hitter, but Bear has described his offensive upside well. He is the perfect backup catcher type with excellent defensive tools. For 2024, in 668 total chances, 3 errors, and 4 passed balls. Career wise, in 3811 total chances, he has a .994 fielding percentage and 33 passed balls.
Dalton Rushing is an intriguing option at catcher because of his bat. But he is not going to replace a 2X All Star catcher in Will Smith, who is under contract through 2033 at a more than respectable rate. So Rushing started to play some LF to keep his bat in the lineup. All the reports I have read said he did okay out there, and is athletic enough to improve. The question for me is can he get to the gap quickly enough? Will he have to play deeper in LF to cut down on the XBH over his head thus letting balls fall for singles in front of him? If his bat is potent enough, the Dodgers can look past some of those shortcomings. BTW, another tidbit I learned about Clayton is that he gets pissed at moving the OF back and then having balls drop in for singles. He is not a fan of shifts, and really hates moving OF back. I have no idea how the other pitchers feel about this.
The Dodgers have already said that Rushing is going back to OKC to CATCH. He is athletic enough to block, but he needs to call a game better. He did not get that training at Louisville. He was a backup catcher at Louisville for two years. I hope he joins Austin Barnes at the hip this ST and garners as much knowledge as possible for calling a game and working with pitchers. He is not ready to become an everyday catcher for a contending team, and I would have zero desire to have my top prospect, and consensus top 30 prospect overall, sitting on the bench 5-6 games a week when he could be working on his receiving and game calling tools and hitting every day at AAA.
BTW, Will Smith was a catcher almost exclusively at Louisville, and has been horrible in his limited time at 3B in MiLB. 14 errors in 129 total chances with a range factor of 1.98 per game (not good at all). Smith is an All Star catcher, and that is where he should stay. Maybe more 1B after Freddie departs.
Maybe Rushing could be eased into the MLB by catching one day a week, playing first one day a week, and DHing when Ohtani pitches. That won’t happen as long as Barnes is the Backup, which he will be at least through 2025.
Do players on the 40 accumulate years toward MLB pension benefits?
I thought the book on Miller was great stuff, adequate control/command and some anxiety issues. Maybe he will overcome the latter like Zack Greinke did.
Conforto given # 23, Kim is # 6, Yates gets # 38.