Column: For Korea's baseball champions, it's time for spring training. In Irvine
Baseball comes back to life every year on the back fields, during those peaceful mornings between the time pitchers and catchers report and the time exhibition games begin.
The rhythms of these practice fields are comforting and familiar: pitchers cover first base, infielders take ground balls, hitters take swings off an actual pitcher after a winter of working out in the batting cage. No stadiums. No crowds.
Baseball has come back to life in Irvine, where the reigning champions are training for the new season. Not the Dodgers, of course. They'll report to spring training in Arizona on Feb. 11.
These are the Kia Tigers, the champions of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). They opened training camp last week at the Great Park in Irvine — not at the stadium there, where USC plays its home games, but on Field 8 and Field 9 of a baseball and softball complex primarily used by youth teams.
The bright red banner adjacent to the first base dugout on Field 8 displays the team slogan in white letters: 'One Heart, One Team.'
None of the 10 KBO teams trains in South Korea this year: three opened training camp in Arizona, one in Florida, three in Australia, one in Japan, one in Taiwan, and the Tigers in Irvine. In three weeks, the Tigers will join five other KBO teams in Okinawa, Japan to complete spring training and play exhibition games.
The Tigers opened training camp in Tucson two years ago and in Melbourne, Australia, last year.
In selecting a training site this year, spokesman Sangwoo Park said, the Tigers prioritized a safe environment, field availability and a Korean community. Irvine is home to more than 20,000 Korean-Americans — more than any United States city outside Los Angeles and New York, according to census data compiled by the Korean American Grassroots Conference — and Korean food is widely available.
'Everything is expensive here, especially food,' Park said. 'But the weather is good.'
Mornings on the back fields can be the best time to interact with a player, either at Camelback Ranch with the Dodgers or here with the Tigers. Workouts are free, here or there.
Two Tigers fan friends decided to meet here. Hyemm Kim came from Vancouver, hoping for a picture with her favorite pitcher. Seokyeong Yoo came from Korea, hoping for a picture with her favorite catcher. In both cases, mission accomplished.
As Pat and Colleen Wisdom watched practice, they talked about how delighted they were to travel 60 miles instead of 6,000 to see their son Patrick wear his Tigers uniform for the first time. The couple lives in Murrieta, and they had no idea where a Korean team would hold spring training.
'We're in Irvine?' Colleen Wisdom recalled saying. 'I said, 'What?' '
Infielder Patrick Wisdom, 33, is one of the Tigers' three foreign players, the maximum allowed per team under KBO rules. Wisdom, a former first-round draft pick, hit 28 home runs for the Chicago Cubs four years ago, 25 three years ago, and 23 two years ago.
He hopes to leverage a strong season in the KBO into interest from major league teams next winter. His parents, meanwhile, have learned that high-speed rail can cover the roughly 220 miles from Seoul to the Tigers' home city of Gwangju in about two hours.
'We're hoping to go for Opening Day and stay for a few weeks,' Colleen Wisdom said.
The Tigers' other two foreign players, pitchers Adam Oller and James Naile, have spent a combined 18 years in professional baseball without completing a full season in the majors.
The Korean players on the Tigers have asked them for sightseeing suggestions here, even though Oller grew up in Texas and Naile in Missouri. Naile said he was pleased to see one of his Korean teammates text him a picture from the Griffith Observatory on a recent day off.
Oller, 30, is in his first season with the Tigers. Naile, 31, joined the Tigers last season. He left home in January, bound for spring training in Australia, and did not return to family and friends back home until Halloween.
'This year, our spring training is in California, so it's great,' Naile said. 'That's an extra month in the United States.
'Last year, I would just tell stories of how great it was. We won the championship, but it was hard for them to understand what was going on so far away. With this, they're able to come check it out.'
Park, the team spokesman, says he already has a favorite place to eat, a Korean restaurant about a mile from the Tigers' hotel. Its name is BCD Tofu House, and it bills itself as 'The House That Tofu Built.'
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Inside the rise of Tommy Kahnle, the Detroit Tigers reliever with an elite changeup
Sixty-one. That's how many consecutive changeups right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle threw during the New York Yankees' 2024 postseason run — a streak that began in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians and ended in Game 3 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Advertisement "I wasn't really sure what the number was," Kahnle said, reflecting on his 61 changeups in a row, "but in the back of my head, I'm like, 'I have not thrown a fastball in a long time.' It was working." The Detroit Tigers signed Kahnle to a one-year, $7.75 million contract and have wasted no time calling on their new high-leverage reliever in some of the most important moments this season, including save situations in the ninth inning. The 11-year MLB veteran has racked up eight saves in 28 games for the Tigers in the 2025 season, following a total of just eight saves in 390 games in his first 10 seasons. Get a grip on a great Father's Day gift: Our new Tigers book! He is throwing his changeup a career-high 84% of the time. Advertisement "Speaking of unicorns, it's a pitch where everyone in baseball knows how he pitches," manager A.J. Hinch said, "and yet he finds a way to get soft contact and miss bats and continue to pound the zone. Fun player because he can be utilized at any point of the game, and he doesn't change." MILESTONE: Tigers' Tommy Kahnle reflects on 10 years of MLB service time: 'It's an honor' Detroit Tigers pitcher Tommy Kahnle (43) throws against New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Monday, April 7, 2025. Kahnle is a changeup artist. But the 35-year-old wouldn't be who he is without a lesson from pitching coach Carlos Chantres more than 13 years ago. A career-changing adjustment occurred in 2011, when Kahnle pitched for the Charleston RiverDogs, the Low-A affiliate of the Yankees. Advertisement He didn't make his MLB debut until 2014. "It's been a while," Chantres said. "Back then, we didn't have all the technology we have now," Chantres continued. "It was old-school baseball — use your eyes, see what hitters do. He had a two-seam changeup. We weren't seeing the swing and miss." Carlos Chantres, who works as the Latin American pitching coordinator for the Chicago Cubs. One day in 2011, during a pregame bullpen session at a small South Carolina ballpark, Chantres approached Kahnle with a simple question: "Tommy, how do you grip your changeup?" Kahnle didn't say a word. He just held up the two-seam changeup grip. "Most of your fastballs are four-seam, right?" Chantres asked. "Yeah," Kahnle said. Advertisement "Then why don't we try a four-seam changeup grip?" Chantres asked. "It seems like hitters are seeing this one pretty good." Since Kahnle threw a four-seam fastball, switching to a four-seam changeup grip helped him tunnel the two pitches, making the changeup mirror his fastball out of the hand before dropping late and generating swings and misses. To this day, Kahnle still uses that grip. "He liked the feel," Chantres said. JEFF SEIDEL: Tigers have 'madhouse of a bullpen,' and Will Vest leads the vibe In 2011, the Yankees — and every other MLB team — didn't have advanced technology like they do in 2025. There was just a computer system and a camera, so Chantres couldn't fully evaluate the new changeup in the bullpen. Advertisement The real test came in a live game. Once Kahnle threw it, the feedback from hitters was immediate. The four-seam grip gave the changeup more depth. It missed bats. "Oh (expletive), there it is," Chantres said. BULLPEN STRIKES AGAIN: Tigers bring back 'pitching chaos' strategy for win, led by Brant Hurter 'Always had a great changeup' For a long time, Kahnle's changeup complemented his four-seam fastball, which maxed out 100.6 mph in 2017. He also mixed in a sinker, slider, cutter and curveball at various points in his career, but the fastball remained his primary weapon, followed by the changeup as his second-most-used pitch. Advertisement His fastball velocity began to dip in 2019. That's when the changeup took over as his go-to pitch. "I always had a great changeup," Kahnle said. "We just didn't utilize it a lot because I had an elite fastball at the time. Eventually, we made the switch. Every year since then, the usage has just gotten higher and higher." In 2019, Kahnle threw 51.9% changeups, 44.2% four-seam fastballs and 3.9% sliders. From there, his changeup usage surged — all the way to 84% in 2025. Since 2019, only Devin Williams (2,541) and Trevor Richards (2,201) have thrown more changeups than Kahnle's 2,088 among MLB relievers. Advertisement Hitters still haven't solved it: They're batting just .155 off Kahnle's changeup since 2019 — and only .148 in 2025. By 2022, fellow pitchers had picked up on Kahnle's changeup usage, though hitters had been aware of it for a few years. That season, he pitched for the Dodgers. His changeup became a running joke in the clubhouse. "A lot of guys with L.A. were chirping about it: You could throw this pitch 100 times, they know it's coming, and they still can't hit it," Kahnle said. "It gave me a good laugh." [ NEW TIGERS NEWSLETTER! Sign up for The Purr-fect Game, a weekly dose of Tigers news, numbers and analysis for Freep subscribers, here. ] Advertisement Sometimes, Kahnle second-guesses the extreme changeup usage, which has been north of 70% in four straight seasons. He entered 2025 with the Tigers hoping to scale it back, but the data — and the results — keep reinforcing the changeup. So do his teammates. "You know it's coming, and you still really can't hit it," said Texas Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka, who caught Kahnle for years in the Yankees' organization, dating to their time in Low-A Charleston in 2011 — the year Kahnle learned the four-seam changeup grip. "It's definitely something special." The person behind the pitcher Detroit Tigers pitcher Tommy Kahnle works out during spring training at TigerTown in Lakeland, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. Kahnle and Higashioka met for the first time in 2011. Advertisement They had just turned 21. "We were all pretty wild back then," Higashioka said. Every day, Kahnle refused to tie his shoes while running in warmups and shagging fly balls during batting practice, but he eventually laced them up for the game. "Tommy, you're going to twist your ankle," said Chantres, the pitching coach who taught Kahnle the changeup grip. "You got to tie your shoes." "No, Carlos, I've got the strongest ankles in America," Kahnle said. He's goofy like that. "Tommy still is wild," Higashioka said. For example, Kahnle shaves his entire body as a personal punishment when he allows a run — a tradition he started in the minor leagues and still follows today. He is the loudest player in the Tigers' clubhouse, collects Philadelphia Eagles jerseys, wears a Notre Dame football helmet and keeps a video game console with a monitor in his locker. He's also known for his caffeine addiction, having graduated from five Red Bulls a day to two C4 Energy drinks and two large cups of coffee. Advertisement How does Kahnle describe his personality? "High-energy, carefree, just having fun," he said. Detroit Tigers pitcher Tommy Kahnle (43) high-fives teammates after the win over the Baltimore Orioles during Game 2 of a doubleheader at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, April 26, 2025. It's impossible not to love him. "He keeps everyone loose," Higashioka said. Kahnle and Higashioka worked together for a few years in the minors with the Yankees, then again in the big leagues after Kahnle returned to the Yankees in 2017, following stints with the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox. Higashioka had a part in the evolution of Kahnle's changeup usage. "When he came back to us, he was throwing more fastballs," Higashioka said. "Over time, the data was showing that his changeup was unhittable, so the coaches kept pushing us to throw more and more changeups. Apparently, it doesn't matter if people know it's coming. It's that good." 'Big statement for him' The personality, the contract, the changeup — it has all led Kahnle to becoming a key piece of the Tigers' bullpen in the 2025 season. In Detroit, he has stepped into a closer role for the first time in his 11-year MLB career. Advertisement His journey traces back to that grip change in 2011. And Kahnle still credits Chantres. A TEAM PLAYER: Tigers reliever Tommy Kahnle not picky about role with A.J. Hinch, Chris Fetter Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle reacts after the Tigers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. "That's a good feeling as a coach," said Chantres, now 49 and working as the Chicago Cubs' Latin American pitching coordinator. "I've been in this game for many years. A lot of guys that I've taught got to the big leagues, but when people remember stuff like that, it's a good feeling." In 2025, Kahnle owns a career-best 1.24 ERA with eight walks and 26 strikeouts across 29 innings in 28 games, notching eight saves in 11 opportunities. He generates whiffs, limits walks and induces ground-ball contact. Advertisement The Tigers have deployed a two-closer system this season, with Kahnle and fellow right-handed reliever Will Vest combining for 19 saves: 11 from Vest, eight from Kahnle. Kahnle is happy to pitch in any role. But the Tigers want him — and his changeup — in the biggest moments. "Every good team needs a good closer — somebody you can rely on to keep the score where it's at and win games," Higashioka said. "The fact that he's closing, and the Tigers have the best record in the American League, that's a big statement for him." Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@ or follow him @EvanPetzold. Advertisement Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at Order your copy of 'Roar of 125: The Epic History of the Detroit Tigers!' by the Free Press at This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tommy Kahnle and elite changeup fueling Detroit Tigers bullpen
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
How Tigers' fallen star, late-blooming No. 1 picks got Detroit roaring atop AL
How Tigers' fallen star, late-blooming No. 1 picks got Detroit roaring atop AL Show Caption Hide Caption Watch baseball player's emotional reaction to surprise MLB promotion During a minor league baseball game in Tacoma, Washington, Cole Young was pulled aside and informed he'd been called up to play in the big leagues. BALTIMORE – They have been machinelike for nearly 120 games, spanning two seasons, and now sport the best record in the American League. Yet peel back a layer from the Detroit Tigers, and the players responsible for that excellence aren't far removed from the pitfalls of the sport. Perhaps it was the extra baggage No. 1 overall picks carry, a weight Spencer Torkelson admits delayed his eventual rise to feared slugger. Or the isolation one can feel as a flailing superstar with a $140 million contract on a struggling team, like Javy Baez endured for most of three seasons. Not even the greatest Tiger of all, peerless left-hander Tarik Skubal, is immune, undergoing Tommy John surgery at his no-name college, climbing to the big leagues only to suffer a flexor tendon injury that wiped out nearly a full season of his prime. Yet look at them now. The Tigers are 44-25, a start so dominant that the last Detroit club to break so strongly reached the 2006 World Series. They are a curious mix of largely twentysomething talent, versatile and fungible youngsters and the occasional veteran like World Series champion Báez – all willing to play anywhere or bat in whatever position, so long as everything they have is for the team. 'All things that it takes to have a lot of sustained success is definitely shining,' Torkelson, their first baseman possibly headed to his first All-Star Game, tells USA TODAY Sports, 'and having guys that have been at the bottom, been at the top, like Javy, it's such a cool perspective. 'That's baseball. That's sports. It's not going to be amazing every single day, every single year. You're going to battle through it. 'For me, that's what's so rewarding about it. You've seen the worst and when you do have success, it makes it that much sweeter.' The franchise itself can relate. A 114-loss 2019 was the nadir during seven consecutive losing seasons, a stretch of futility that netted it the top overall pick in two drafts. It wasn't until this spring that those two No. 1 overall picks, Torkelson and right-hander Casey Mize, found concurrent success. 'This is definitely a game of failure,' says Riley Greene, the Tigers' All-Star outfielder. 'They worked on the things they needed to work on and they're crushing now. Some people don't get it right away and others do; but that's the ups and downs of baseball. 'They had stuff to work on, and they took it and ran with it. And now look at 'em.' 'I wanted to make everyone happy' For Torkelson, the unkindest cut of all came when he least expected it. After spending all of 2023 in Detroit, the Tigers shipped him to Class AAA Toledo on June 3, 2024. He was toting a .201/.266/.330 slash line, with just four homers and 56 strikeouts in 230 plate appearances. It would have been humbling for any player who fancied himself a big league regular. But carrying that first overall pick designation – a tag no one ever forgets – only added to the weight. So Torkelson, still just 25 even as he's five years removed from the Tigers taking him No. 1 out of Arizona State, learned to leave all that behind. 'A lot of it was eliminating expectations. As a people pleaser, I wanted to make everyone happy,' says Torkelson. 'As a No. 1 pick, you want to live up to what everyone's writing about you rather than take a step back and be like, 'Wait, what got me selected No. 1?' My God-given ability and work ethic got me selected. So why not trust that – which is a lot easier said than done. 'Really going back to the basics and doing it not for anyone else but my own pleasure.' The mindset paid off. Torkelson earned an August recall to Detroit and produced a .781 OPS over the final two months, compared to .597 before his demotion. He's continued the trend this season, his 16 home runs tops among AL first basemen. He also leads the majors with 10 two-strike home runs, possibly a testament to his adjusted mindset. 'Baseball or golf, it's like, staying out of your own way is probably the biggest key to success for guys,' says Torkelson. 'The goal is to stay as present as possible. As a baseball player, your mind is always looking forward. You get a hit, now you're 3 for 4. You get another home run, now you've got 17. Your mind is always trying to look into the future, which it is supposed to do. 'But that's not how you maintain in a sport. It's taking a step back and seeing how you attack this pitch. Sometimes you catch yourself and you get yourself back to present.' Says manager A.J. Hinch: 'The way he bounces back from tough at-bats – he's pretty resilient.' A star embraces versatility Torkelson's recall, combined with a trade-deadline makeover and Hinch unleashing the Tigers' 'pitching chaos' plan awakened a franchise. The Tigers finished 33-16, snagged a wild-card spot and upset the Houston Astros in the wild-card round before losing a wild five-game AL Division Series to Cleveland. And Báez wasn't around for almost all of it. He and the Tigers decided he'd undergo season-ending hip surgery after an August series at Wrigley Field, sight of Báez's greatest triumphs as a member of the 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs. With the Tigers, he'd been more a liability, producing a .221 OBP and 71 adjusted OPS in his first three seasons. Repairing his hip might have been the unkindest cut at the time, but now he and the Tigers are reaping the rewards. Báez returned healthy and with a new identity – the do-anything super utilityman. Báez hadn't played center field since winter ball in 2015 until Hinch tossed him out there as a late-game defensive replacement. He ended up playing 23 consecutive games in center, robbing home runs, chasing balls into the gap and, in that span, slugging six home runs with an .898 OPS. With center fielder Parker Meadows' return, Báez is more often back at his natural shortstop. Either way, he has been remarkably valuable, producing four outs above average and 1.3 WAR, putting him on pace for his finest season as a Tiger. 'A guy like Javy, who's been the center part of a lot of teams he's been on, can just be one of the guys,' Hinch says of Báez, who made two All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger as a Cub. 'He doesn't have to carry us; we have a true team and a lot of guys who can do it. But when he adds something to the mix, we usually win. 'He's a big part of what we're doing and I think he's one of the best, versatile players in the league.' Báez's production fused with the young core was the outcome he envisioned when he signed with the Tigers, the last major transaction of former GM Al Avila's tenure. 'Everything is getting better as a team, as an organization. The only difference for me is being healthy,' says Báez, whose deal runs through 2027. 'I'm playing better for myself and playing better for the team. 'That was one of the reasons I came here: I saw the other prospects coming here and would make a good team in the future. The future is now – we're doing it right now.' Báez might have been envisioned as a franchise hub, but he's probably serving as a better avatar for the young players in his current role – versatile, willing to trot out to any position, starter or reserve, always ready. 'He's unbelievable. He's one of the best athletes, baseball players, that I've got to see live,' says Torkelson. 'You stick him in center field, he'd probably win a Gold Glove out there. He's such a great athlete and special to see every day. 'He's willing to do whatever. And he's so comfortable in whatever situation he's in – he's never sped up. He's always cool, calm and collected, something we aspire to do every game.' 'A complete team' As the season unfolds, the Tigers will have to accept their new lot in life – that of division favorites. They hold a seven-game lead in the AL Central, and with the rampant inconsistency in the AL West, would be a fair bet to earn a first-round bye should they hold onto the division. Promising right-hander Jackson Jobe has been lost to Tommy John surgery, a big blow for his development, yet one the Tigers can weather given their depth with Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Mize out front of the rotation. Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, already weathered that storm undergoing Tommy John and also back surgery, a double whammy that wiped out his 2023 season. 'We have Tarik leading us at the top. He's the best pitcher in the league,' says Mize, who has a 2.95 ERA in 11 starts. 'And we have some depth we really like and bullpen guys we really like. 'A complete team.' One that's on the verge of what could be an unforgettable summer, the promise of greatness tempered by the humility that helped them reach this threshold. 'What got us to this point is taking it day by day, being there for each other and enjoying the ride,' says Torkelson. 'It's not going to be perfect. But it's going to be a lot of fun.'
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Dodgers trade deadline primer: 3 early storylines to watch
Foolish or not, Andrew Friedman set an outlandish goal last December. Sitting in a suite at the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas at baseball's annual Winter Meetings, the Los Angeles Dodgers' president of baseball operations set out a hope for this year's trade deadline. 'My goal is to not buy in July,' Friedman said. 'I am setting that out there right now. My goal is to do everything we can right now to not buy in July. It is terrible. (Knock on) everything. It is a terrible time to acquire talent. We're going to do everything we can to put ourselves in a position to not. Obviously, as we said last year, if we need to, we will. But our goal is to not.' Advertisement That will not happen. The Dodgers' pitching depth is decimated. Their injured list is 14 names long. So yes, the Dodgers will be in the pitching market next month, likely for something Friedman loathes: He hates trading for relievers in July. 'I hate trading for relievers at the deadline,' Friedman said in 2022. 'It's my least favorite thing to do. The acquisition cost is totally out of whack. So I like to avoid it as much as possible.' Still, the Dodgers have found success in doing so. Their three-team trade last year to acquire not just utilityman Tommy Edman but reliever Michael Kopech was a coup. Another impactful trade came last May when they sent cash to the Cleveland Guardians for Anthony Banda, who put up a 3.08 ERA in 48 appearances the rest of the way. They went hard after Tanner Scott last summer, then wound up signing him last winter after he starred post-deadline for the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers will be buyers, as we all expected. It's impossible to rule out the Dodgers if the opportunity presents itself. They'll have the ammunition to get most deals done. Perhaps they are the team that thinks it can get Sandy Alcantara right after struggling in his return from Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers tried to pry Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers last year before swinging a deal with them for Jack Flaherty. Still, the Dodgers are bullish on what they have coming back. They remain optimistic they'll have Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani back in their rotation before long. Roki Sasaki remains a project even when healthy, but he's still in the picture. They've heaped praise on how good Emmet Sheehan has looked while completing his Tommy John rehab. By the numbers, the Dodgers could use starting help. They entered Wednesday having gotten the third-fewest innings out of their starters (317), ahead of just the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins. Not great company. Their 4.32 ERA ranks 23rd, and their 10.6 percent walk rate was the worst in the majors. Their depth options have largely floundered: Bobby Miller, Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski have combined for a 6.29 ERA. Advertisement It's just not priority No. 1. The Dodgers still believe they have enough high-end arms coming back from injury. Likely a right-handed reliever, especially in the wake of Evan Phillips undergoing Tommy John surgery and the uncertain futures of Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol. Though the Dodgers still anticipate Treinen returning — he's been playing catch but still has a ways to go — and Graterol is working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery, the club could still look to add another high-end arm. Alexis Díaz is among the options, with the Dodgers jumping into the market last month to acquire the former All-Star closer. Ben Casparius is another internal October option. The Dodgers are considering stretching the rookie right-hander as a starter, but he has shown an ability to handle leverage spots and filled a valuable role in the bullpen during last year's postseason run. This is a bullpen that has already taken on the biggest workload in the majors (290 innings entering Wednesday) and could use the fresh arms just to get it to the finish line. The team has already had 30 players throw a pitch for it, including Chris Stratton, José Ureña, J.P. Feyereisen, Ryan Loutos and Yoendrys Gómez. Expect the shuffle to continue. The Dodgers chose offense over defense this winter when acquiring Michael Conforto to go with re-signing Teoscar Hernández to align their corner outfield spots. Except Conforto, who signed a one-year deal worth $17 million to juice up his value, hasn't worked out. Even after Wednesday, when he tied the score with a solo home run in the fifth inning, Conforto has a .600 OPS. That's the eighth worst in baseball among qualified hitters. Michael ties it! — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 11, 2025 As patient as the Dodgers have been with Conforto, it's not as if they're overflowing with options should they move off him. James Outman has largely scuffled in the big leagues since finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023. Their other 40-man roster outfield options — Esteury Ruiz and Steward Berroa — had been designated for assignment by other clubs. The team hasn't experimented with Dalton Rushing getting reps in the outfield in the big leagues after the catching prospect saw time there in the minor leagues. Advertisement Andy Pages has had a stellar season and has played left field on days when Conforto sits, but he has also shown himself to be a strong defensive center fielder after some early flubs. One could imagine a scenario with Pages in left, Edman in center and Hernández in right in October. Part of the logic in having Mookie Betts play shortstop is decisions like the one facing the Dodgers next month. It's certainly cheaper to find a corner outfield bat than a shortstop at the deadline. Prospect Alex Freeland is an intriguing infield option, if needed, as an internal replacement or a trade option. The Dodgers' offensive needs aren't dire. They entered Wednesday ranked second in baseball in scoring 5.53 runs per game. But they'll monitor the market, just as they did a year ago in acquiring Edman, Kevin Kiermaier and Amed Rosario at the deadline (Rosario lasted just a week before being cut). (Top photo of Anthony Banda: David Frerker / Imagn Images)
