The Dodgers have called up a slew of players as rosters expand today. Every team in MLB has the option to expand their rosters up to 40 players. The Dodgers are calling up five players and activating Clayton Kershaw for tonight’s game in San Diego. They’ll also activate long time Dodger stalwart Andre Ethier from the disabled list. Ethier hasn’t played all season due to a herniated disc in his back.
The biggest call-up is top outfield prospect Alex Verdugo. The 21-year old left handed hitter was batting .314 in 495 plate appearances at Oklahoma City this season. He drove in 62 runs and hit 6n home runs while posting an .825 OPS in 117 games. Verdugo is playing center field and batting eighth for the Dodgers tonight in their series opener against the Padres.
Dodgers have also selected the contracts of Alex Verdugo and O’Koyea Dickson from OKC and reinstated Andre Ethier from the 60-day DL.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 1, 2017
Today, the Dodgers reinstated Clayton Kershaw from the 10-day DL and recalled Rob Segedin from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 1, 2017
The Dodgers will also call up first baseman/outfielder O’Koyea Dickson. The 27-year old right handed hitting slugger will be making his first MLB appearance. Dickson was batting .246 in 116 games at Oklahoma City, but also smashed 24 home runs with 76 runs batted in. Dickson has hit 117 home runs in 7 minor league seasons.
The club is also calling up minor league hurler Fabio Castillo. We’ve seen Castillo in spring training, but he’s never appeared in the majors as well. Castillo is 28-years old and posted a 4.27 ERA in 84.1 innings pitched at Oklahoma City. The Dominican native has been in the minors for 11 seasons.
Also joining the big club will be Rob Segedin and pitcher Wilmer Font. Segedin we are well familiar with, but Font is a newcomer. Font is a 27-year old Venezuelan right hander who signed as a free agent with the Dodgers back in December. Font won the PCL pitcher of the year award. He posted a 3.42 ERA in 134.1 innings pitched in Oklahoma City. He struck out 178 and walked only 35 while posting an 11.9 K/9 rate.
To clear roster space Grant Dayton has been transferred from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Outfielder Brett Eibner and pitcher Luis Ysla were both designated for assignment. Dayton is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Welcome to September Baseball everyone!
Well Kershaw did not miss a beat. 6 shutout innings and only 70 pitches. Clutch single by Utley, ( I never play Forsythe again), and so far Morrow mowing them down. Captain Clutch grounds out in his first at bat of the year. Granderson looks terrible at the plate. 2 more K’s tonight, same with Grandal.
Grandal cannot hit that high inside pitch. They really need to revise the WAR to heavily penalize failure to score a run off third with less than 2 outs.
Nor can he hit the low inside pitch. They were pounding him inside. Cody had the same problem his first two at bats. The third time up he just took the pitch where it was thrown. Verdugo not impressive in his debut, and Taylor getting picked off, AGAIN, he has had that happen quite a few times lately. Nice seeing Turner get 3 hits. But stranding him after a leadoff double, that sucks.
Michael
To be fair with Verdugo he didn’t have many chances to do much, although I don’t know why he let those two fastball strikes go by, but I would give him a little more time.
He left 4 runners stranded on base. Yeah, he is a rookie, but the opportunity to make a contribution was there.