The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the off day after a tough stretch over the last 10 games, winning just three in that span.
Multiple areas of the Dodgers offense are going through an early-season identity crisis, immersing themselves in a slow start that has limited the team’s complete potential. Freddie Freeman hasn’t been stellar, but started to get back to his expected form of late.
Meanwhile, the bigger issue lies in the lower part of the Dodgers lineup, where Chris Taylor, James Outman, Gavin Lux and Kiké Hernández have collectively been a lackluster group.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged the lower third of the batting order is mired in some trouble but is not overly concerned with the relatively small sample size, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“They’re grinding. They’re in it,” Roberts said. “It’s certainly not for a lack of preparation or effort. Right now it’s just not happening for these guys. … I hate to make too much out of 40 at bats. Obviously, they’re going to get better and we’re going to keep running them out there.”
The Dodgers still rank high in offensive categories because of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández. But after them, the lineup dpeth largely hasn’t done their job.
Ranking ahead of just the Miami Marlins in wRC+, the Dodgers haven’t been able to field a group in the lower third of the order that has consistently turned it over to Betts, Ohtani and Freeman.
Still, the early portion of the regular season provides them with a huge range of improvement, and ideally where Roberts has faith in their collective rebound.
Dodgers lineup options
The seven through spots in the Dodgers lineup have batted .170/.227/.239 as a group. Their 35 wRC+ ranks second-worst in Major League Baseball, and their -19.5 weighted runs above average is the worst in the league through their 22 games.
If Andy Pages is able to find some consistency that would give the Dodgers a needed boost, and so too would Gavin Lux finding some semblance of a rhythm after missing all of 2023.
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