Gavin Lux has returned to the field for the Los Angeles Dodgers this Spring Training, appearing in two Cactus League games thus far, but both have come as the designated hitter.
Lux is scheduled to play shortstop on Monday, which will be his first game playing the field since tearing the ACL and LCL in his right knee during Spring Training last year.
After a long rehab process, Lux has been fully cleared medically and has no restrictions, but there are still some days his knee just doesn’t feel right.
“There’s still some days where it might feel more sore than others, but I would say like 95% of the days, it feels pretty good,” Lux said. “Just talking to Manny (Machado), we talked about he’s had a couple knee surgeries and it kind of takes a full year for it to feel fully normal, where you don’t think about it at all.
“So yeah, I think it’s at about 95% of the days where it feels pretty dang good.”
The 26-year-old recently mentioned he’s overcome a lot of the mental and physical hurdles that followed surgery and lingered during some of the prolonged rehab process.
Lux is slated to be the primary shortstop for the Dodgers in 2024 after spending the 2022 season at second base. His last extended opportunity at the position came in 2021 when Lux was replacing the injured Corey Seager.
The Dodgers’ internal metrics suggest Lux can be a fine defender at shortstop, although it may depend on his knee and controlling throwing issues that he’s dealt with in the past.
In 2022, Lux batted .276/.346/.399 with 33 extra-base hits over 129 games, his first full season of MLB action.
While Lux should see most of the time at shortstop, the Dodgers will likely be cautious with him, especially early in the season, as they have Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor who can fill in at shortstop.
Gavin Lux happy to be back on the field
When Lux made his return to the Dodgers lineup last week, it came at the same stadium where he originally suffered the injury, but he was more excited to be back rather than focusing on the past.
“I don’t think it really mattered which field it was going to be on,” Lux said. “I think more just getting out, running the bases, taking swings and getting out of the box. It was a long year, so just being a baseball player again is the best thing I can ask for.”
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