With eight more days left in Spring Training, all thirteen (13) of the position players are set (barring injury). There is nothing left to decide. Here’s the list: Will Smith Max Muncy Gavin Lux Corey Seager Justin Turner AJ Pollock Cody Bellinger Mookie Betts Chris Taylor Austin Barnes Edwin Rios Zach McKinstry Matt Beaty Noisy and Peters may be back in the heat of summer when a fan (I mean…
CT3 has earned the 2B starting job… so has Gavin Lux. It may be a platoon in the beginning, but we shall see how it plays out. McKinstry and Taylor will get a lot of playing time.
If this is who Gavin Lux is (from what he has shown this Spring), then the Dodgers are going to have an incredible offense. If he keeps hitting (and I can’t see why he won’t) he is going to be very difficult to keep at the bottom of the lineup. With his speed and baserunning ability, he is a perfect #2 hitter behind Mookie Betts. Speed Kills! That moves Seager to #3 and the trickle-down starts. I doubt that Gavin begins the season as the #2 hitter, but if he earns that spot, look out! This 2021 Dodger Offense is once again going to be the Big Blue Wrecking Crew!
That leaves the final spot up for grabs between Edwin Rios, Matt Davidson, and Sheldon Noisy. Davidson is not on the 40-man roster, so that would seem to preclude him. Rios could win the job by getting hot at the right time, but there is something I like about having a hitter like Noisy on the bench when there are two out and runners on base… and you need a run or two.
LA DODGER TALK is not your normal Dodger blog site. Even Ray Charles can see that no other Dodger site has a Dodger historian like Michael Norris. Michael or “Bear” as we know him, is a National Dodger Treasure! What he lays down is not available anywhere else! Then we have 2Demeter2, who has committed to trying to write one blog a week wherein he will give his “opinion from…
don’t think it makes much sense to have Matt Beaty on the roster, as the Dodgers have plenty of LH hitters. I would think that Noisy makes it as he can play all over the infield and LF as well. He has logged significant innings at SS, as well as 1B, 2B, and 3B. If the Dodgers carry 14 position players, Sheldon makes it. In not, both Noisy and Beaty are not on the team.
Some games have highlight nd some have lowlights. It seems to me that last night’s game was of the lowlight variety. Nothing worth remembering… well, maybe a couple of things: The Pitchers Julio Urias has filthy stuff, but he still has not figured out the first inning. This needs to change. There is something about the first inning… Bring him in the second, fifth, ninth inning and he is fine….
The Spring is three games in, and to draw any conclusions would be foolhardy. But I still have some observations from what I have seen thus far. For the first three games, the pitching has been outstanding. Albeit, without Matt Chapman and Matt Olson, Oakland’s offense is just north of woeful, as is Colorado without Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon. The Giants did not play but a couple of regulars….
Disclaimer: What we are seeing is through the microcosm of Spring Training. Current performance is not evidence of future prospects. It is a small sampling. Some of it is skill and some of it is luck. Take it all with a grain of salt. The Position Players It was great to see Gavin Lux get two hits in three at-bats. If anything, all he needs is confidence and he should…
NOTE: Jeff knew what I was going to lead off with today! 😉 Yes, I know it is early, but the best thing I saw all game yesterday… and I saw a lot of good things, was Michael Grove’s pitching! I wish there was a radar gun, but his stuff looked great. He has an arsenal of pitches and showed an excellent feel. I have always thought he would be…