The Los Angeles Dodgers recalled Eliezer Alfonzo on Sunday as the corresponding move to Dalton Rushing landing on the 15-day injured list.
Alfonzo joining the club gives the Dodgers three catchers on their roster, something they didn’t even have with Rushing due to his right elbow injury, which limited him to a full-time pinch-hitter role.
Rather than adding another infielder or giving one of their top prospect outfielders an opportunity, the Dodgers opted to call up Alfonzo to allow Will Smith and Hunter Feduccia to be used off the bench more.
“Yeah, it’s just more of having the ability to use Feddy when he’s not starting, to be a left-handed bat,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained. “To be able to use Will off the bench as a bat, and while he’s building up to potentially not have to catch him on days that he doesn’t start.
“So it’s kind of just frees up the catchers and Feddy more.”
Feduccia has been one of the club’s better hitters over the last few weeks, and freeing him up to pinch-hit gives the Dodgers a left-handed bat off the bench, rather than saving him in case of a catching emergency.
The Dodgers have also been protective of Smith since he returned from his neck injury. They have limited his playing time thus far, so he has often been on the bench. Now, the Dodgers can use Smith as a pinch-hitter more easily on those days.
It also means the Dodgers could use Smith as their designated hitter on days Shohei Ohtani possibly is out of the lineup without potentially losing that spot in case of injury. But for now, the Dodgers are more focused on keeping Smith healthy than maximizing him.
“If it makes sense,” Roberts said. “But I think right now, just trying to be mindful of his build-up and not put too much workload on him.”
Dodgers 40-man roster
In addition to the benefits of having Alfonzo on the team, the Dodgers were also likely swayed by their 40-man roster management. Alfonzo was already on the 40-man and did not need a corresponding move to be made.
The Dodgers previously opted for Alex Freeland to join them for the same reason, as they face a roster crunch coming up for both the remainder of the month and into the offseason.
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