The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the midst of a rough stretch that’s seen them lose their last three series and has included poor pitching performances, a lack of hitting and defensive mistakes.
The offense has been the most notable issue early in the season, though, and it’s stood out because of the talent the group has and expectations placed on Dodgers.
Thus far, they rank in the middle of the league with a 108 wRC+ and ninth with 74 runs scored while hitting .225/.304/.423.
“I think it’s a collective as I’ve said it this past week,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I just think that offensively, we’re just not taking as many good team at-bats.
“Obviously, the guys at the bottom have struggled getting on base, and so hopefully Kiké and Miggy Ro today can get on base for Shohei, and turn that line up over.
“I think right now, we just haven’t been synced up. But I think it’ll be short-lived.”
The Dodgers do have six starters who have performed well overall this season: Will Smith, Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Michael Conforto. All of them have been at least 25% above league average, and the first four have been at least 40% better.
But the bottom of the Dodgers lineup has failed to produce much production at all. Andy Pages has been the best of the group, and he has still been about 30% below league average.
Kiké Hernández, Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas have all received significant playing time with little results to show for it, and it has created a black hole at the bottom of the order.
“I think for Andy’s situation, I’ve used that 150 plate appearance benchmark,” Roberts said when asked how long the Dodgers can stick with the players at the bottom before changes need to be made.
“I think Kiké figured some things out offensively the last couple days, and it’s worked, that we’re going to start seeing some better at-bats. It was good to see Miggy got a couple hits.
“But these are our guys right now, so I’m going to just continue to run them out there and sort of mix and match. And obviously I got to find a way to include Chris Taylor as well, to get him some at-bats too.”
While it is frustrating for the Dodgers at the moment, the baseball season is filled with both high and low stretches, and they are more than likely to turn their offense around.
But if some of the players at the bottom don’t get back on track, the Dodgers have numerous players in Triple-A worthy of a chance that could help solve some of the issues.
Dodgers hitters not worried about rough patch
After starting the season 8-0, setting an MLB record for best undefeated start by a defending World Series champion, the Dodgers are just 3-6 in their last nine games, but they have not expressed any concern with their current stretch.
“I think it’s just a bumpy two weeks,” Mookie Betts said Sunday. “We got a long time, we got a long season to go and a lot can happen. This isn’t the first time we sucked for two weeks, it just happens that it’s right now. If we panic, things get worse. If we don’t panic, it looks like we don’t care.
“So what are we supposed to do?”
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