Dodgers make series of moves involving notable players….
James Outman is now out of the major league roster.
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Friday that they have optioned their second-year outfielder Outman to Triple-A. They are recalling fellow outfielder Miguel Vargas in a corresponding move.
Outman, 27, looked like a rising star for the Dodgers as a rookie last season. Over 151 total games, he hit .248 with 23 home runs, 70 RBI and 16 stolen bases. Outman also finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting (behind only Corbin Carroll and Kodai Senga).
But Outman had been struggling mightily this season. In 36 games, he was well below the Mendoza Line with his .147 batting average and dismal .516 OPS. Once the everyday center fielder for the Dodgers, Outman had been steadily losing playing time lately to rookie Andy Pages, 23.
As for Vargas, 24, he is now set for another chance in the bigs after falling pretty flat last season but bouncing back this season with a .295 batting average at Triple-A.
With the new bat speed metrics unveiled this week at MLB.com, a lot of smart folks have dissected them thoughtfully in hopes of figuring out what is useful and what might not be. In his The Advance Scout newsletter, Noah Woodward noted the skill of Freddie Freeman with his approach at the plate, and how the Dodgers first baseman is able to be more direct to the ball.
“He’s able to meld strong decision making with an adaptable swing in ways that no other hitter can,” Woodward wrote. “You can see this ability in his wide bat speed distribution.”
Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz is off to an incredible start this season. He’s hitting .270/.370/.503 with nine home runs, a 145 wRC+, and we already saw his impact on the bases in the series opener. On Thursday, De La Cruz had four hits and four stolen bases, just the second such game ever at Dodger Stadium (Houston outfielder Gerald Young was the first, in 1987).
De La Cruz was the first person with four steals in a game against the Dodgers since old friend Jayson Werth in 2009.
With 30 stolen bases through Friday — 13 more than anyone else in the majors — De La Cruz on pace to steal an eye-popping 108 this season, a number unreached in the majors since 1987, when Vince Coleman’s 109 steals marked his third triple-digit-steal season in a row.
Sam Miller at his Pebble Hunting newsletter this week was enamored with De La Cruz’s daring on the basepaths, harkening back to the style of the 1980s. “Watching somebody steal 100 bases (or even 80 bases) with intention is a tremendously exciting pursuit,” Miller wrote.
The last year anyone stole even 80 bases was 1988, when both Rickey Henderson (93 steals) and Coleman (81) did so.
Noted grifter Frank McCourt, who dragged the Dodgers into bankruptcy before selling for over a billion dollars in profit more than a decade ago, now has a plan to buy TikTok. I don’t really care about what his plan is, nor has he earned any reason for anyone to trust him, but my favorite part about this story was Ben Smith at Semafor describing McCourt as a “tech critic.”
