Gavin Lux Pens Heartfelt Message to Dodgers, Says Goodbye to LA After Trade to Reds
Gavin Lux couldn’t officially begin the next chapter of his career with the Cincinnati Reds without thanking the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The infielder took to Instagram and penned a heartfelt message to Dodgers and fans.
“Thank you to the entire Dodgers organization for taking a chance on an 18 year old kid from Kenosha, Wisconsin and letting him live out his dream of playing in the big leagues and winning a World Series….
“To the entire front office, the staff, and most importantly my teammates I had a chance to play with the last 9 years, I will cherish our time forever! And thank you to the fans for all the support through the ups and downs, and supporting me throughout my rehab process, it helped me more than you’ll ever know!”
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Lux had a strong finish to the 2024 season after missing 2023 due to torn knee ligaments. In Game 5 of the World Series, he delivered the tying run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly in the Dodgers’ clinching victory over the New York Yankees.
He posted a .304 batting average and an .899 OPS in the second half, which was a significant improvement from his .213 average and .562 OPS in the first half.
“It helped getting further away from surgery and to start trusting it again,” Lux said. “I just tried to do more damage. I think I tried to get on base and control the strike zone so much that I didn’t really take any chances to do damage.
“I kind of just said, ‘Screw it, I’ll trust my eyes and I’m not going to chase the ball. I’m not going to swing at balls. I’m not going to chase outside of the zone.’ Then I just tried to start doing a little more damage, taking more shots.”
Lux was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2016 draft from Indian Trail High School in Kenosha, Wis.
In 2019, he earned Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year honors after posting a .347 batting average, a 1.028 OPS, 26 home runs, and 76 RBIs across 113 games with Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City.
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Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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As a fan, I like to like likeable players. The guys with a smile on their face, at least at times. Mookie, Kike to name a couple. Gavin always looked like he was miserable, usually with a scowl on his face. With a bad first half last year and a good, but not stunning second half, he had an ok year last year.
Now, I’ve never met him, in person he might be a great guy that just lights up the room with his smile and has an all star season next year. Nothing against him, I wish him luck, but I won’t miss him. Good Luck Gavin, in the unlikely even he’s reading this.
Beg to differ on both points. A scowl to one is competitive intensity to another – eye of the beholder. And for that matter, I saw plenty of smiling and camaraderie from Lux. He seemed to like his teammates and they seemed to like him. In any event, he wasn’t a disruptive clubhouse presence and contributed to good (winning) vibes in his own way. Which is fine by me.
As far as his on-field performance, I am going to go out on a limb and say we will regret letting Lux go. Yes, the Dodgers had to extend his some patience but the whole period from 2020-2023 was weird. First the pandemic, then a serious injury and regaining confidence in his leg or whatever it was. And once he regained that confidence, his second half offensively was not just good, it was elite (.899 OPS, c’mon!). I feel like he turned the corner and was starting to deliver on the promise of a former minor league player of the year who hit 26 hr in 113 games in double and triple A, with an OPS over 1.000.
We essentially traded Lux for Kim, who balled out in the KBO and shows a lot of promise on YouTube but let’s be objective: he is unproven. KBO is probably equivalent to triple A ball, so we don’t really know how he’ll do against MLB pitching over a full season. In fact, one would expect his numbers to decline against MLB pitching, the question is how much. Plus, making the cultural adjustment from Korea to the U.S. at age 25 or whatever age he is, is not a slam dunk. Even in L.A., I will be surprised if he *doesn’t* get a little homesick. I really hope he works out but I kinda think an ascendant Lux, who is young and still under team control, was the safer bet at second base.