The deep roster assembled by Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi has provided manager Dave Roberts with a slew of options at multiple positions.
Last season, the Dodgers heavily relied on their versatility, with Charlie Culberson, Kiké Hernandez, Yasiel Puig and Trayce Thompson among those to play more than one position. Andre Ethier figures to be in that boat this year.
While Ethier is vying for time in left field, he presumably is an option to also log innings in right field. Although there hasn’t been a public discussion identifying as much, Ethier conceivably could fill in at first base this season.
The veteran was among the players to field grounders at the position during Saturday’s workout at Camelback Ranch, via J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group:
#Dodgers Andre Ethier is getting reps at first base. pic.twitter.com/Hw5YFHqOwn
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) March 11, 2017
Ethier played one inning at first base in 2010, and his only other action at the position was three innings during a game in 2014. In March 2014, Ethier said he was open to playing first base as a late-inning replacement.
Adrian Gonzalez reporting to Spring Training with a sore right elbow, and now being with Team Mexico for the 2017 World Baseball Classic, it’s created an opportunity for the Dodgers to shuffle through their options at first base.
Thus far, the position has been manned in Cactus League play by Cody Bellinger, Rob Segedin, Scott Van Slyke, and others. Roberts indicated Chase Utley would also receive repetitions at first base during the spring.
