Dodgers Outfield Seems Set With Teoscar Hernández Signing; Here’s What it Looks Like
The Dodgers committed over $1 billion this offseason bringing in a crop of new faces. With upgrades needed across the roster, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the front office spared no expense in acquiring the best fits for the team.
To put the finishing touches on the outfield, the Dodgers brought in right-handed hitting Teoscar Hernández on a one-year, $23.5 million deal. This signing seems to complete the roster from a position player perspective. Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said he feels good about where the team is at heading into spring training — but of course, they’re always looking to improve.
This signing also confirmed what manager Dave Roberts said during the Winter Meetings regarding Mookie Betts’ defensive position.
“This is certainly an addition where it feels like Mookie will be playing the vast majority of second base.”
That leaves Hernández, Jason Heyward, James Outman, Manuel Margot, and Chris Taylor as possible outfielders on any given day. In talking about each player’s role, Gomes hints at Hernández possibly playing both left and right field.
“These are the things that we want to continue to talk through as everybody gets settled. But it could be that Teo goes into right on the days that Jason’s not playing, and we have some combination of Margot, CT elsewhere. So we have different options there, which is really helpful.”
So, against right-handed pitching, the Dodgers’ outfield would likely line up like this:
- Left Field: Teoscar Hernández
- Center Field: James Outman
- Right Field: Jason Heyward
Against left-handed pitching, things get a bit trickier.
Outman could – and probably should – get an opportunity as the everyday center fielder no matter the pitcher’s handedness. If so, Hernández would play right and Margot/Taylor would platoon in left against southpaws. If they do decide to platoon Outman, then Taylor could play center and Margot could play left.
Either way, these are certainly luxurious problems to have as a team. Roberts will have an opportunity to put out a formidable lineup against both righties and lefties, something the Dodgers couldn’t comfortably say before the signing of Hernández.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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The only way Outman learns to het left-handed pitching is to hit against left-handed pitching. Before “Woke Baseball”, every prospect that came up had to learn to hit both sides. There was none of this platoon BS…….
Excellent point on hitting. Same thing on pitching. If you don’t let starters go 7 innings, they won’t be able to go 7 innings. If you don’t let them go through the order 3 times, they won’t be able to go through the order 3 times. The key is don’t throw as hard as you can every pitch trying to strike out every hitter. Induce ground balls and pop ups. The best always had gas at the end because they saved the hardest pitches for when they needed them most. Ask Koufax, Gibson, Smoltz, Jack Morris, Catfish, etc. Throwing as hard as you can every pitch gets you arm surgery and not endurance.