With an unprecedented regular season on the horizon, Major League Baseball is not only permitting teams to play with expanded rosters, but also to designate a 60-man player pool. Only those included will be eligible to play this season, with an initial list due by 1 p.m. PT on Sunday.
Players on the 40-man roster will automatically be included in that group, and the remaining spots can be filled by those simply under contract with an organization. This figures to benefit a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have heavily relied on organizational depth.
“Our thought process in putting together the 60-man is trying to balance whether or not this might be the only reps some of our prospects get this year,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
“There’s just a lot that’s up in the air. I guess first and foremost, as deep as we are and as excited as we are about our 26-man, 40-man and prospects behind it, we don’t have 60 guys that we feel like could step in and help us win a Major League game this year.
“So we’re going to try to make sure we balance depth and figuring out which of our prospects either need reps or pitchers that could really use some increase in workload, and just try to balance to make sure we’re protected and covered where we need to be but also a really good experience for some of our prospects.”
Friedman added the Dodgers are unlikely to announce a full player pool on Sunday. “We may stagger it a little bit to buy some time, learn more and figure out which way we want to go with different things,” he said.
Last season the Dodgers had nine rookies make contributions, including eight who made their MLB debut. That didn’t figure to be the case this year even without challenges and changes brought about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ultimately, the Dodgers figure to assemble a player pool that is a blend of veterans who are capable of playing in spurts at the Major League level, top prospects who were likely to be September call-ups under normal circumstances in 2020, and pitchers who would benefit from still building an innings base.
Names that have already surfaced for the player pool are right-handed pitching prospect Marshall Kasowski, and 2020 MLB Draft picks Bobby Miller and Landon Knack.
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