Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
If the Los Angeles Dodgers bounce all the way back from their tepid start and become a team to fear again, it won’t be because of that big free agent they landed over the winter or because Mookie Betts reinvented himself as a Gold Glove shortstop.
That big free agent doesn’t exist. And the only reason Betts is at short these days is because Trea Turner was hired away by the Philadelphia Phillies for $300 million and everybody else who plays the position for the Dodgers is hurt.
If that bounce-back comes, it’s more likely to be the result of a secret to success more historically familiar to the Dodgers than any other franchise in Major League Baseball: another Rookie of the Year candidate.
In this case, it’s slugging left-hander James Outman — who wasn’t even assured a big-league job when spring training opened. But since making the club, he has provided the kind of boost to a defection- and injury-hampered lineup that arguably has been the difference in the Dodgers treading water at .500 as they opened a homestand Friday night against the even more struggling St. Louis Cardinals.
“I don’t think you can overstate [his contribution] up to this point,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he was the last add to our roster to break camp. So to see his performance and to see him earn playing time and go out there and play well with big hits — he looks like a veteran out there as far as how he carries himself.”
Outman, a former college linebacker and tight end recruit who looks the part at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, dominated Triple-A last year and had a 6-for-13 big-league debut that included three extra-base hits in that four-game cameo.
What he’s done so far this season has not only outpaced the Cardinals’ more touted rookie outfielder, Jordan Walker, but has Outman looking like he’ll probably be named National League Rookie of the Month next week: .287 with seven home runs, 10 walks, a 1.011 OPS and a 1.1 bWAR that ranks second on the team.
That’s no small thing for a team that won 111 games a year ago and then took a losing record into April 22 — the first time in five years they had a losing record after April 10.
No small thing to a team facing depth concerns like it hasn’t had since long before that 2018 season, thanks in part to a quiet offseason caused in large part by the Dodgers’ desire to get back under the luxury-tax threshold for a year.
“Yeah, it’s a big add, given what we lost last year,” Roberts said. “And sometimes you’ve got to do that to give young players a runway and we’ve done that and James to his credit has taken advantage of it.”
Talk about timing, both for the 25-year-old outfielder and the team that has had enough superstars and high expectations over the past decade that it has sometimes been a challenge to allow prospects extended opportunities.
“Every minor leaguer is kind of just waiting for that opportunity to come up,” Outman said. “They’re kind of few and far between. I would say it’s good timing.”
If he can keep up even a semblance of his early production, he not only might be a key part of the Dodgers returning to the playoffs but might even add to the the franchise’s storied legacy of Rookie of the Year awards. No team has won more since the award named after its first recipient — Dodgers infielder Jackie Robinson — was first bestowed in 1947.
In fact, no other franchise has half as many as the Dodgers’ 18. The Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees and Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves each have nine.
The Dodgers’ list is impressive, including Hall of Famers Robinson and Mike Piazza:
Outman downplays his big opening month — which started with the Dodgers’ first home run of the season on Opening Day and last weekend included the first four-homer series at Wrigley Field by a rookie since the Atlanta Braves’ Bob Horner in 1978.
He’s been told of a few similar nuggets along the way during this torrid first month but tries to keep it in perspective, he said.
“People have been telling me stuff, like, hey did you know blah blah blah [this achievement or that],” Outman said. “And it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. But I’m just trying to have a good game every day.’ And it’s all the same to me.”
Besides, the kid drafted in the seventh round in 2018 had had stretches like this before during his professional career — including a pair of cycles in a four-game span at Triple A last year.
“I think I’ve progressively gotten better over the course of my professional baseball career. Just learning a lot and becoming a better overall player,” he said.
And if he can be the Dodgers’ big addition this year after all that subtraction since last year?
“I think we’re all just trying to help the team win any way we can,” he said. “I think you brig more value when you help the team win. It’s the same as any other team I’ve been on. I just want to win.”
Gordon Wittenmyer covers Major League Baseball for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @GDubCub.