Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
Again Shohei Ohtani took batting practice and impressed everyone. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a thirty-pitch bullpen session to Will Smith using all his pitches. Gavin Lux was cleared for all baseball activities.
Ohtani, recovering from both an oblique injury and Tommy John surgery, has displayed power at both batting practices this spring. Wednesday, Ohtani took 29 swings and homered 10 times. Since he can’t pitch this upcoming season, many people think Ohtani will have a great offensive performance in the 2024 season, but he will be doing rehabilitation for his elbow.
Yamamoto has shown why the Los Angeles Dodgers gave him a 12-year $325 million deal without throwing a pitch in the major leagues. His four pitches are nasty. He needs to adjust to a five-man starting rotation, but he has done some things to prepare for this season.
Immediately after he tore two important knee ligaments early in 2023 spring training, Lux said, “Every player’s dream is to play shortstop for the Dodgers.” He missed all of the 2023 season. Since the offseason began, Lux has been working at Dodger Stadium.
Many Dodger fans want their favorite team to trade for a shortstop, but general manager Brandon Gomes insisted Lux would be the Dodger shortstop.
Since his major league debut in September 2019, Lux has big expectations. He performed well in 2019 so he was on the playoff roster. In 2020, having COVID, Lux struggled. He wasn’t on any playoff roster.
While Corey Seager had a broken wrist during the 2021 season, Lux played below-average shortstop while he batted .246 with 7 home runs and 46 RBI.
In 2022, Lux had his breakout season while playing second base. In 128 games, he hit .276 with six home runs and 42 RBI. He led the National League in triples with seven, but a neck injury ended Lux’s season.
Since Max Muncy is a weak defensive third baseman, Lux needs to use his natural athleticism to cover the shortstop area. The Dodgers need Lux to produce their offense from the ninth position.
