Dodgers Dugout: Dodgers make a surprising move

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. There are only 10 players still on the team who were on the 2020 World Series title team. Can you name them? Answer below.

The Dodgers did something Wednesday that I didn’t think they would do, certainly not this early in the season: They designated catcher Austin Barnes for assignment and brought catcher Dalton Rushing up from the minors. Designated for assignment means the Dodgers have seven days to place Barnes on waivers, trade him or release him.

Barnes had been with the Dodgers since 2015, with only Clayton Kershaw having a longer current tenure with the club. Barnes, who went to Riverside Poly High and Arizona State, was drafted in the ninth round of the 2011 draft by the Florida (now Miami) Marlins. After the 2014 season, he was traded to the Dodgers by the Marlins along with Chris Hatcher, Andrew Heaney and Kiké Hernández for Dee Strange-Gordon, Dan Haren and Miguel Rojas, which makes me realize that Barnes’ first season with the team was also the first year of this newsletter. I hope that’s not an ominous sign.

Barnes’ first full season with the Dodgers was 2017, and it was also his best season offensively, as he hit .289/.408/.486 with 15 doubles, eight homers and 38 RBIs in 262 plate appearances as the backup for Yasmani Grandal. Barnes was mainly a backup in his career, appearing in 100 or more games only twice, 2017 and 2018.

He hit so well in 2017 that he moved into a platoon role with Grandal near the end of the season and was the main starter during the postseason, going 10 for 46 with a homer and five RBIs.

His defense was his true calling card, as he was one of the best at pitch calling, pitch framing and blocking pitches in the dirt. Pitchers loved him, and he was considered almost an extra coach on the bench the last couple of seasons.

His hitting has fallen off dramatically the last few seasons. Since 2021 he had hit .215, .212, .180, .264 (with few walks and little power) and .214 this season. The final blow was deteriorating defense, as his arm had grown weak. With the Dodgers struggling offensively at the bottom of the lineup, it was getting hard to justify giving Will Smith more than one day off a week, and it’s best to give your stating catcher a couple of games off a week so he can stay fresh in September and the postseason.

It was a still a surprise though. But if you take a moment to consider that the Dodgers traded A.J. Ellis despite him being a favorite of Kershaw, perhaps it really isn’t a surprise. And you have to wonder if Chris Taylor is feeling nervous considering how well Hyeseong Kim is playing right now. When Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman come back, there will be some key roster decisions to be made. James Outman will be sent down, but who else goes?

Barnes should always be remembered for one thing more than any other. In Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, Blake Snell, then pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays, was cruising, shutting out the Dodgers on two hits while striking out nine through 5.1 innings. He looked unhittable. Barnes came to the plate and singled to center. Rays manager Kevin Cash came out and removed Snell. Against reliever Nick Anderson, Mookie Betts doubled Barnes to third. Anderson threw a wild pitch, letting Barnes score, and Betts scored on a ground out by Corey Seager, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. The Dodgers went on to win the game and the Series. Does Cash replace Snell if Barnes doesn’t get that hit? We’ll never know, but it seems doubtful.

If Barnes lands with another team, he deserves a nice ovation when he returns to Dodger Stadium.

Talking about Barnes, Dave Roberts said: “This was certainly a tough conversation. Austin is a Dodger for life. He helped us win the championship. Caught the last pitch in 2020, in the World Series, and he’s done a lot of great things in the community, for the Dodgers, for myself, personally. I just think that for us right now, with what Dalton Rushing is doing on the performance side, it’s an opportunity to challenge him, expand his growth, give him an opportunity to log some major league games and essentially give him some runway.”

So, let’s talk about Rushing. He went to Louisville and was taken in the second round of the 2022 draft. He has moved consistently through the minors, hitting good to great everywhere and was hitting .308/.424/.514 at triple-A Oklahoma City this season. His bat has been major-league ready for a while. With Will Smith solidly behind the plate in L.A., the Dodgers tried Rushing out at first base and left field. Reports from scouts who have seen him play left field are that he’s a work in progress, and the Dodgers say they want him to be a catcher. So it appears he is coming up to spell Smith a couple of times a week.

It’s tough for a young player, used to playing every day, to come to a team and sit on the bench most of the time. So it will be interesting to see what exactly the Dodgers do with him. Two of the positions he could play, first base and DH, are currently taken by two future Hall of Famers. And will the Dodgers want to risk the defense by putting him in left? If he plays for a couple of weeks as the backup catcher and is hitting line drives everywhere, will they be tempted to put him in left?

Roberts on Rushing: “In one sense, to not take at-bats every day, you could see some downside. But I think that us talking internally, having him here in this environment, around our pitchers, around our coaches, understanding how we game plan, understanding major league hitters, and then to most importantly log major league at-bats — I think just net sum, it was more positive.”

It will be fun to watch.

Kershaw is back

Clayton Kershaw will make his long-awaited return to the rotation Saturday against the Angels. How will he do? Who knows. It’s just nice to have him back out there.

Kershaw is one of the two greatest pitchers in Dodgers history, along with Sandy Koufax. The last time we did voting for the greatest Dodgers of all time, Koufax finished first, Kershaw fourth (Jackie Robinson and Vin Scully were in between).

The last few seasons have been injury-filled, but Kershaw has still been a good pitcher. He only looks bad if you compare him to the numbers he put up in his prime. Last season, when he started seven games and had a 4.50 ERA, was the first season since 2008 (his first year) when he had an ERA+ below 100. In 2022 it was 177, meaning he was 77% better than the league average pitcher. In 2023, it was 175.

And you can count on one thing even now: Every time Kershaw goes out on the mound, he’s going to empty the tank. He’s going to give you everything he’s got. He pitched on short rest during the postseason. He did everything the Dodgers asked him. This may be his last season. Enjoy it while you can.

Most seasons with the Dodgers:

18 seasons
Clayton Kershaw
Bill Russell
Zack Wheat

16 seasons
Gil Hodges
Pee Wee Reese
Duke Snider
Don Sutton

15 seasons
Carl Furillo

14 seasons
Willie Davis
Don Drysdale
Steve Garvey
Jim Gilliam
Steve Yeager

Sasaki is out

Kershaw’s return was at a good time, because the Dodgers put Roki Sasaki on the IL on Tuesday because of “right shoulder impingement.” Apparently, Sasaki had pain in his shoulder for a few weeks and didn’t tell anyone. He only mentioned it after his last start. Meanwhile, his fastball velocity had been dipping each start. Now we know why.

There’s almost always an adjustment period when pitcher come from Japan to the U.S. A different baseball (the ball in Japan is slightly smaller (8.875–9.125 inches compared to 9–9.25 inches), the pitch clock, and, the ball in Japan has better grip, making it easier to manipulate and spin. Plus, even without those factors, just adapting to a new country is difficult enough.

When Sasaki will return is unknown. He was 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA this season.

Dodger pitchers on the IL and when they are expected to return:

Tyler Glasnow, shoulder (unknown)
Brusdar Graterol, shoulder surgery (September)
Michael Grove, shoulder surgery (2026)
Edgardo Henriquez, broken foot (unknown)
Kyle Hurt, Tommy John surgery (2026)
Evan Phillips, elbow (June)
River Ryan, Tommy John surgery (2026)
Roki Sasaki, shoulder (unknown)
Emmet Sheehan, Tommy John surgery (after the All-Star break)
Blake Snell, shoulder (unknown)
Gavin Stone, shoulder surgery (2026)
Blake Treinen, forearm (July)

Interesting numbers

There are very few players in baseball history who seem to rise to every occasion. One of them is Shohei Ohtani. He hit two home runs on his bobblehead night Thursday, and these are his numbers on all the bobblehead nights the Dodgers have had for him:

7 for 16, four home runs, eight RBIs, three stolen bases.

Just think, the Angels had him for five years and did not really do much with him, as far as marketing goes. What were they thinking?

Also, since wearing glasses, Max Muncy is hitting .261/.364/.543 with two doubles, one triple, three homers and 12 RBIs in 55 plate appearances.

All-time leaders

Dodgers leaders in strikeouts per nine innings, minimum 750 innings:

1. Clayton Kershaw, 9.7
2. Sandy Koufax, 9.3
3. Hideo Nomo, 8.9
4. Chan Ho Park, 8.3
4. Darren Dreifort, 8.3
6. Kevin Brown, 8.1
7. Chad Billingsley, 7.9
8. Jim Brewer, 7.4
9. Tim Belcher, 7.1
10. Bill Singer, 7.0

As you can see, there are no Brooklyn pitchers in the top 10. So, here’s the top 10 Brooklyn Dodgers in strikeouts per nine innings, minimum 750 innings:

1. Dazzy Vance, 6.3
2. Van Lingle Mungo, 5.3
3. Ralph Branca, 5.1
3. Carl Erskine, 5.1
5. Don Newcombe, 5.0
6. Kirby Higbe, 4.7
7. Nap Rucker, 4.6
8. Adonis Terry, 4.5
8. Whit Wyatt, 4.5
8. Preacher Roe, 4.5

Pete Rose reinstated

We are going to take the Joker off the board (fans of the TV game show “The Joker’s Wild” will understand that reference) and talk about a rare non-Dodgers topic.

MLB reinstated Pete Rose, Joe Jackson and others on the permanently ineligible list, basically saying that a lifetime ban ends when you die. We can talk all day about the cowardice of reinstating Rose just a few months after he died. Or the fact that a person’s death does nothing to change what they did or did not do.

Rose, Jackson and the other members of the 1919 White Sox are now eligible for the Hall of Fame. My question to you is, should they be elected to the Hall of Fame?

Click here to vote in our survey. We’ll discuss the results next time.

The answer

The 10 members of the 2020 title team still with the team:

Mookie Betts
Tony Gonsolin
Brusdar Graterol
Kiké Hernández
Clayton Kershaw
Dustin May
Max Muncy
Will Smith
Chris Taylor
Blake Treinen

Up next

Friday: Angels (Jack Kochanowicz, 2-5, 5.23 ERA) at Dodgers (Dustin May, 1-3, 4.08 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Angels (*Tyler Anderson, 2-1, 2.58 ERA) at Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, first start), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Angels (*Yusei Kikichi, 0-4, 3.72 ERA) at Dodgers (Tony Gonsolin, 2-0, 2.81 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Who is the next Dodger to go? | Dodgers Debate

Dodgers call up catcher Dalton Rushing, designate Austin Barnes for assignment

Mookie Betts’ toddler son runs away with first-pitch baseball. It’s as adorable as it sounds

Hernández: Roki Sasaki’s shoulder issue leaves Dodgers in a familiar and problematic position

Dodgers place Roki Sasaki on injured list, further depleting the team’s pitching

Roki Sasaki’s declining fastball velocity is a problem. Can the Dodgers find a solution?

Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson reinstated by Major League Baseball, making Hall of Fame election possible

Shaikin: Pete Rose is a sure thing for the Baseball Hall of Fame now, right? Not so fast

And finally

Austin Barnes bunts in a run and homers in Game 3 of the 2020 World Series. Watch and listen here.

Until next time...

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.