The Los Angeles Dodgers spent much of the 2018 offseason reshuffling their outfield, trading away Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig while bringing in A.J. Pollock through free agency.
Clearing the logjam meant additional playing time for former top prospect Alex Verdugo, who wound up appearing in a career-high 106 games during the 2019 season.
Cody Bellinger also took on an expanded role in the outfield while the likes of Matt Beaty and Kyle Garlick each saw time there as well upon making their MLB debuts.
One player that did not factor into the picture was Andrew Toles, who spent all of 2019 on the restricted list. He was a surprise absence at the start of camp last year, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts attributed to a personal matter.
Toles ended up missing the entire season and is not expected to rejoin the Dodgers in 2020, either, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
There seems to be no expectation for a return by Andrew Toles, who missed the season with personal issues.
Though he missed all of Spring Training last year, Toles eventually reported to Camelback Ranch by the end of April. The plan was for him to begin working out ahead of eventually joining Triple-A Oklahoma City.
That possibility was scrapped when Toles suddenly left the complex less than a month later to be with his family. No further updates were given by the Dodgers, and he ultimately did not appear in a game at any level during the 2019 season.
Toles received his first MLB opportunity with L.A. in 2016 and thrived to the tune of a .314/.365/.505 batting line across 48 regular-season games.
Toles played an even bigger role during the postseason that year, starting in eight of the Dodgers’ 11 games. He continued producing, hitting .364/.423/.455 with two doubles and two RBI over 26 plate appearances.
A torn ACL stunted Toles’ progression the following year, as he was limited to only 31 games. He recovered in time for the 2018 season but only appeared in 17 games at the Major League level.
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