The Los Angeles Dodgers singed former San Francisco Giants and longtime Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed to a Major League deal on Wednesday, which became necessary due to the injuries to Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor.
It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Ahmed, who agreed to terms with the Dodgers on Tuesday night and was immediately in the starting lineup the next day against his former team.
“Pretty quickly,” Ahmed said of how fast things came together. “Got a call late last night and agreed to terms pretty quickly and decided to come, and pretty obvious choice. Just playing against these guys for a long time and knowing the opportunity to compete and win a championship is something I wanted to sign up for.”
Ahmed admitted that joining a new organization this late into the season does come with its challenges, but it’s more so adapting to a new environment and meeting all the new people rather than the actual playing of the game.
His long-term future with the Dodgers is unknown, but Ahmed is taking a game-by-game mindset.
“Yeah, we didn’t talk too much about that,” Ahmed said. “Obviously things change all the time and I’m just here, going to focus one day at a time and try to help us win games.”
Rojas’ IL stint was backdated to July 22 as he’d been out of the Dodgers lineup the past two games. Rojas was removed early from Sunday’s game because of the forearm injury that he explained stemmed from taking one-handed swings with a heavier bat than normal.
Following his release from the Giants earlier this month, Ahmed spent the last couple of weeks training and staying prepared while at his home in Arizona while he waited for his ideal opportunity to join another organization.
As for what is expected of him, the Dodgers were pretty straightforward and simply told Ahmed to continue what he’s been doing over his 11-year MLB career.
“To go out and play baseball. Nothing more, nothing less,” Ahmed said. “Just getting the signs, getting used to positioning and the new language that they use here. But once the game starts, it’s all baseball. Just go out and compete and have fun. Do what I know I can do.”
Dodgers value Nick Ahmed’s defense and experience
Ahmed has been a glove-first player for his entire career, but it’s that defense that has allowed him to have such a long career and includes two back-to-back Gold Gloves in 2018 and 2019.
Ahmed’s skill as a defender and his familiarity with the National League West division is what made him an ideal option for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who expects to pencil his new player into the lineup at shortstop on most nights.
“Well, Nick brings obviously Gold Glove defense at shortstop,” Roberts said. “There’s a grit, a toughness, a compete. He’s a veteran ball player, familiar with certainly the National League West, the National League, and I just like the grind and the toughness, so I think he’ll meld really well with our ball club.
“Certainly playing against our guys for so long, there’s familiarity and just the consistency. So for me, he’s going to lock down shortstop and there’s certain days that I’ll give him a day here or there, but the plan is while Miggy is down, and we just don’t know how long that’s going to be with that forearm, he’s going to play some short, and then obviously we’ll mix Kiké in there as well.”
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