The Los Angeles Dodgers made one change for their National League Championship roster, removing Dalton Rushing and adding Ben Casparius.
For the two shortened series they played prior to the NLCS, the Dodgers chose to only carry 11 true pitchers on the roster in exchange for a third catcher.
Now that the team is comfortable with where Will Smith is in the recovery from a hairline fracture in his right hand, there was no longer a need to have both Ben Rortvedt and Rushing on the Dodgers roster.
Meanwhile, Casparius adds right-handed versatility and postseason experience to the bullpen.
“With the Rushing piece, we felt that Will is in a good spot to feel that we don’t need to protect him to have a third catcher,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“With Ben, we just felt that having another right-hander to sort of be able to take down a certain part of their lineup, if needed. And Ben pitched in the World Series last year, so he’s got some experience as well.”
Casparius was one of the Dodgers’s most effective and valuable relievers in the early part of the season. He wore multiple hats as a high-leverage option, bulk-inning pitcher and even unofficial starter.
The Dodgers’ asks appeared to become too taxing for Casparius and his effectiveness waned as the season went on. Casparius was eventually optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sept. 9.
Dodgers chose Ben Casparius over other relievers
The decision was notable because Casparius was chosen over other fellow right-handed options Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein, both of whom were recently with the team, in addition to others.
“Ben obviously was big for us this year,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Had gotten off track a little bit, so we sent him down and challenged him with what to work on. And he did.
“You can go one of two ways when those moments happen, and he chose the path of attacking exactly what we’d kind of laid out for him and put himself in a really good spot.
“So going through this lineup and we felt like were a lot of good choices, but felt like Ben was the right one for us.”
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