As is generally the case when a team wins 19-2 as the Dodgers did against athletics Thursday evening, many strikers in the star programming of the team were aligned to have monster evenings.
Shohei Ohtani dominated twice in a performance of six produced points, equaling the advance of major leagues with 15 long balls this season. Max Muncy, Andy Pages and James Outman also went deep, helping the club establish a top of the season for races. Hyeseong Kim reached the base for five times. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts also combined to get on board five times before being withdrawn after the third round, the advance at that time already 11 points.
All these achievements, however, have made personal importance to the fact that the Dodgers’ departure recipient has done.
Make your debut in the major league after being called in a major movement of alignment the day before, the best hope Dalton Rushing walked in its first at-chauve, in simple in the next one and went two for the four while sailing on a predetermined children’s game behind long-term marble, Austin Barnes, Austine Barnes, made the alignment observation.
“It is very comfortable, I think, in the right direction,” said manager Dave Roberts about Rushing, a second round choice in 2022 which has changed in one of the most praised perspectives in baseball. “I think he thought he was ready (for the majors) when he signed.”
The rise of rushing was not so fast, which requires that the product of the University of Louisville climbs through the agricultural system for four seasons of a minor league. But after having struck .277 with 54 circuits, 185 products produced and a .931 OPS as farm hand, the Dodgers decided that their player in the minor league last year was finally ready.
Regarding first impressions, Thursday was a good start.
“He just didn’t look like a player who made his debut,” said Roberts.
During the second round, Rushing started a three -point rally by shooting a step in advance. In the third, he worked a complete count before exploding a lead-high of the belt through the inner field at 110 mph from the start, the first domino of what has become an explosion of seven points. In the eighth, he nailed to another stroke when a ball on the ground was diverted.
“This is something that I obviously wanted to do at a very young age,” said Rushing. “Never in a million years, I have imagined that it would come with a team like this. So, it makes it even more special … and when you arrive and being able to scratch a couple like that, to keep them away, now it takes a little pressure on your shoulders.”
The Dodgers have considered when to bring the damage to the majors for some time, a long time ago, convinced that his bat was ready to manage the pitch of the leagues.
This is part of the reason why, during the second half of last season, they experienced it in the left field; A position where, at the time, it had a clearer path to a regular playing time.
This off -season, however, the club has decided to redirect its objective of its functions behind marble, “challenge it”, as the president of the baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, to improve his defensive fundamentals, the call for pitch during matches and the ability to establish relations with the staff of pitching.
Dalton Rushing is congratulated by the coach of the first base, Chris Woodward, after his first safe hit of the major league.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“He continued to improve and improve,” said Friedman. “When we drafted him, he was new in capture. So there were a lot of areas to improve. But his work ethics are outside the graphics. And he really cares about being tall. Each challenge we gave him, he took up this challenge. And the success it has had, there is also an important element to have our finger on the pulse of this with guys, in terms of climb. ”
And in the past two weeks, the ways whose precipitation could potentially have an impact on the club’s MLB list has become clearer.
Two weeks ago, the Dodgers cruelly missed a left -handed bat like his bench in a defeat of May 4 in Atlanta, a match that ended with Barnes and his sweet veteran colleague Miguel Rojas recording in difficult clashes on the right against the Braves Raisel Iglesias.
In the last Barnes Dodgers, the Dodgers start last Saturday in Arizona, its weakened launch arm was also exposed, the Diamondbacks flying three bases in a match at Barnes a launch to a second goal and made another on the outside field.
Perhaps if the Dodgers did not face the prospect of a tight division race in the talent of the national league of this year, such problems would have been more tolerable. But, with the best 29-15 record of the team team which gives them an advance of a division of a match so far this year, it has already become clear that fine margins could have an importance this season.
Thus, once the dodgers returned home after their 10 -game trip this week, the front office has decided to pull the trigger.
“Rush is obviously on our radar for a long time in terms of moment and how to present it to the team of major leagues,” said Friedman. “I think that with the improvements that we have seen from year to year, associated with a tight division race … I think that corresponds to our coherent message to do everything we can to win.”
This did not mean cutting Barnes, which was in its 11th season with the Dodgers and won two World Series with the club, was not difficult.
“Obviously, Austin has been an integral part of this organization for a long time, it is in the midst of many really great moments for us,” said Friedman. “Its impact was significant. It was therefore one of the most difficult decisions.”
The departure of Barnes also sent undulations to the rest of the clubhouse.
“I think everyone was surprised,” said Clayton Kershaw when he was asked Barnes, including 68 games behind the future Hall of Famer only drags Ellis in Kershaw’s career.
Max Muncy is greeted with marble by Freddie Freeman after his two -point circuit.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s sad. Barnesy is one of my best friends on or off the field. You will not find a guy who contributes better than Austin Barnes. He wants to win more than anyone, and he has always found a way, and he has found great moments for us throughout the years. In a way.
“It is not a lack of respect for Dalton,” added Kershaw. “I know he deserves it, and he will be a great player. It’s just for me, personally, I think that for many guys from the team, it was disappointing to (barnes) go.”
However, as the door of the career of barnes dodgers ends, a new one opens to rush.
And one night, the first results were promising.
“The last kilometer of its development helps direct a major league staff,” said Friedman. “We had the impression that the moment was the right time to give him this opportunity, and for us to learn certain things about him that you cannot know until they are at the level of the major leagues, and for him to live the speed of the game here, which will be insightful for all of us in terms of the next series of things.”
