The San Francisco Giants have claimed outfielder Justin Dean off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Dean was outrighted by the Dodgers to make room for outfielder Ryan Ward on the 40-man roster. Now, he’s heading to San Francisco days after winning the World Series with LA.
More news: Dodgers DFA Tony Gonsolin Amid Major Roster Move
Dean was a surprise contributor to the Dodgers in 2025, getting called up in August to make his MLB debut. Dean appeared in 18 regular season games as a pinch runner and defensive replacement in center field. He got two plate appearances, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout. He also had a stolen base.
Dean was then on the team’s postseason roster in all four rounds, again as a pinch runner and defensive replacement in center field. He didn’t get a single plate appearance, but played critical defense in center field while also getting a stolen base and a run scored. He appeared in 13 of the 17 postseason games for LA.
Dean’s most famous defensive play came in Game 6 of the World Series, when a double got lodged into the center field wall. Dean immediately put his hands up to signal the ball was unplayable, and the Blue Jays’ base runners were forced to only take two bases, setting up second and third with nobody out. The Dodgers ended up stranding both runners on a double play started by left fielder Kiké Hernandez to secure Game 6 and force a Game 7.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
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8 Responses
Finally, we got rid of him!
That’s not nice.
He was awful.
Best wishes as long as he’s not playing LAD. He contributed to their WS win, especially with that critical smart defensive play in the bottom of the 9th of game 6. Not played correctly, Toronto would have tied the game at 3 and there may not have been a game 7. Of course, other things had to happen, but it started there.
Kiki called, not Justin Dean – Dean looked at Kiki and saw his hands up and the raised his hands. Watch video…
Uh, I watched the game and know what happened. Unhelpful. So, a less experienced player double checking with a veteran player deserves negativity? As he was closest to the ball and simply giving him credit instead of dumping on him is not a bad thing. And what I wrote is not inaccurate. Thanks, comment monitor.
Dean was released so we could keep Ryan Ward on the 40 man foster.
What do we know about Ryan Ward ?
I really don’t like it when sports writers tag an article that is misleading just to get people to click on articles. This is a good example. The Dodgers didn’t “lose” an outfielder to the Giants, they let him go. That is a big difference. As far as him leaving, I can’t see it will make any difference for the Dodger outfield.