Dodgers Dugout: Mike Scioscia will answer your questions

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and just to reinforce why Spring Training stats are relatively meaningless, look at Andy Pages. He hit .400 with four extra-base hits and eight RBIs in 15 at-bats and was sent to a minor-league camp Sunday.

A couple of times a year we do a feature where readers of this newsletter send in questions to Dodgers of the past. We’ve done “Ask Orel Hershiser”, “Ask Jerry Reuss”, “Ask Tom Niedenfuer”, “Ask Peter O’Malley”, “Ask Fred Claire” and “Ask Maury Wills” among others.

Mike Scioscia, who was with the Dodgers from 1980-91 and played more games at catcher than any player in Dodgers history, is the next name to join the list. Scioscia was a brick wall at home plate back when catchers could block it, hit a crucial home run in Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS (see video at end of this newsletter) off Dwight Gooden to tie it up in the ninth inning and also managed the Angels to their only World Series title.

Scioscia has agreed to answer selected questions from Dodgers Dugout readers. So, start thinking and send them to me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. The best and most-frequently asked questions will be chosen for him to answer in a future newsletter. You have until 11 p.m. Saturday to send a question. Please put “Ask Mike Scioscia” in the subject line of your email.

Sent to minor league camp

The Dodgers sent right-handed pitchers Landon Knack, Ricky Vanasco, Nick Frasso, Jesse Hahn, Michael Petersen, River Ryan and Eduardo Salazar; left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves; catchers Hunter Feduccia and Diego Cartaya; and outfielders Andy Pages and Travis Swaggerty to minor-league camp Sunday. Some of those players will get a few innings or at-bats during the season, but the Dodgers’ 26-man season roster is pretty set, especially for non-pitchers (barring injury). So, no matter how well any of these people played, they weren’t going to make the team.

Speaking of which...

The roster

Let’s take a look at the probable 26-man roster for the Dodgers to start the season.

Catchers (2)
Austin Barnes
Will Smith

Infielders (5)
Mookie Betts
Freddie Freeman
Gavin Lux
Max Muncy
Miguel Rojas

Outfielders (3)
Teoscar Hernández
Jason Heyward
James Outman

Infielders/Outfielders (2)
Kiké Hernández
Chris Taylor

Designated hitter (1)
Shohei Ohtani

Starting pitchers (5)
Tyler Glasnow
Bobby Miller
*James Paxton
Gavin Stone
Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Last time we did this, Emmet Sheehan was the No. 5 starter, but he hasn’t pitched yet because of “general soreness,” so it seems unlikely he will be ready for Opening Day. The nod goes to Stone for now, but that’s not set in, uh, stone yet.

Relievers (8)
Ryan Brasier
Brusdar Graterol
Daniel Hudson
Joe Kelly
Evan Phillips
Blake Treinen
*Alex Vesia
*Ryan Yarbrough
*-left-handed

The final spot in the bullpen will probably come down to Hudson, J.P. Feyereisen or Ricky Vanasco. Kyle Hurt has an outside chance. Hudson gets the nod for now, but that could change.

Dave Roberts speaks

Bill Plaschke caught up with Dave Roberts in spring training for this column. Some key quotes:

Is there more pressure to win this year with Ohtani on the team? “This will be the toughest because anything short of winning a championship will be an underachievement. But if you love what you do, you don’t feel any pressure, and I have too much joy for baseball!”

Are the loud minority of Dodgers fans who want him dismissed unfair? “I think, a little bit. I still believe it’s not the majority, the majority of people look at what we’ve done and are very proud of this organization that we have put ourselves in a position to win every single year, but there’s always a group of people that are very cynical and angry for whatever reason, and sometimes they’re the loudest voice.”

Andrew Friedman on Roberts: “Doc does an incredible job of balancing the many duties of the modern-day manager,” Friedman wrote. “There’s a relentless nature to the job and his ability to cultivate a great clubhouse culture, maintaining high energy and keeping the clubhouse loose, all while staying locked in on game strategy is truly impressive.”

In defense of Max Muncy

Several readers have emailed and are concerned about Max Muncy‘s defense at third. Muncy came into camp 15 pounds lighter and thinks his defense will improve.

“It’s just making sure my feet move a little bit more and getting the knees healthy,” Muncy said. “Last year I had a little trouble with not staying down on the ball. I was coming up out of my fielding stance. When you’re doing that, it’s hard to read the hops and I kept putting myself in bad positions last year with bad hops.”

Speaking of his poor defense in 2023: “I know that’s not the defender that I am,” Muncy said. “I made a couple of bad plays at the beginning of the year, and that kind of sticks with you. Then it gets in your head that when the ball gets hit, you’re expecting something bad to happen, when in reality, I was the one creating the bad things.”

You can read the whole story by Mike DiGiovanna here.

In case you missed it

Dodgers pleased with ‘really sharp’ Blake Treinen, but team continues to stress caution

Plaschke: Be like Tommy? Dave Roberts faces must-win season to ensure Dodgers legacy

Manager Dave Roberts says Dodgers infielders Gavin Lux, Max Muncy passing the eye test

Can James Paxton deliver again? The Dodgers are counting on it

Hernández: How Japanese culture shaped Shohei Ohtani’s marriage announcement

Kiké Hernández bemoans ‘shameful’ free-agent market, but is grateful for return to Dodgers

And finally

Mike Scioscia hits a tying home run in Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS. Watch and listen here.