Dodgers: Gavin Lux Not Crediting His New Position for Recent Success
Gavin Lux punctuated the best month of his professional career on Memorial Day with a pair of home runs in a 9-4 Dodger win. For the month of May, Lux looked like the slugger many thought he could be.
Lux became the regular shortstop on May 16th after Corey Seager suffered a fractured wrist. However, Lux doesn’t believe playing his old position is the main reason for his offensive resurgence.
“I haven’t gotten the chance to play there too much the last two or three years so it’s been pretty fun getting back over there and just taking ground balls and reading swings and trying to make plays for guys.”
During his 2019 minor league season, Lux played 91 of 110 games at shortstop. He also smashed his way to a 1.028 OPS and Minor League POY honors.
Back to the present, the Lux Bus trailed only Fernando Tatis Jr. (26) and Brandon Crawford (22) for RBI by a shortstop in May.
Despite his success, Lux had this to say when asked if playing shortstop has invigorated his offense.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “Whether it’s short or second, it doesn’t affect how I feel in the box. I don’t think it matters at all. But I think it’s maybe just a little bit more of a coincidence that I feel like I’m in rhythm and seeing the ball well while I’m playing short. I think it’s just more of a coincidence than anything.”
Coincidence or not, Lux picked the perfect time to start hitting for power and average. He slashed .286/.346/.490 in May and hit not one, but two grand-slams.
He doesn’t get all the credit, but Lux was a big reason why the Dodgers finished third in runs scored last month.
If Lux can continue to hit with Seager sidelined, there’s no reason the Dodgers can’t continue to be an elite offensive team.
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We are NOT an elite offensive team. We have a bunch of streaky, boom or bust hitters and our offensive spark at the top has been a 35 million dollar a year bust so far. It’s not by accident that we lose 15 of 20 games.
Lux is humble team player that doesn’t want to stir up distractions. He knows he’s confident in playing that position @ an elite level, but he knows Seager is the man there for now. It’s sad that the NLCS & WS MVP got hurt on no fault of his own but is great that Lux stepped up and not miss a beat when the opportunity arose. He feels comfortable @ short and. beginning to shine as an all-star w/ each game. More he plays there the speed of the major league game, defensively & offensively is becoming natural for him. Competition is good and makes both of them to work harder.
Cashing in consistently when we have RISP would push this team over the top. We’ve had this problem pretty regularly for years. Cody and Zach are not fully game ready offensively and Cory is hurt. I’m guessing’ we’re playing mostly to stay in striking range of first place. On the half full side of the argument, at least we get guys on base pretty consistently. Some adjustments to get them over and get them in would be appreciated until our power guys are back to game ready.
But he thinks wearing skinny baseball pants is making a difference ???
Come on , man!