Andrew Toles came out of nowhere for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, going from being out of baseball completely the year before to starting in left field and batting leadoff in the postseason.
He followed that up with a strong start to the 2017 season, although his year was cut short when Toles tore his ACL and underwent season-ending surgery. Going into 2018, there was a ton of question marks surrounding Toles coming off the knee injury.
He put those question marks to bed with a very strong spring, but he was ultimately sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City to begin the season. The thought process was Toles would benefit more from playing on a regular basis in the Minors than off the bench for the Dodgers.
Toles was still expected to make an impact at the Major League level at some point in 2018, and while he did, it wasn’t as large as originally expected due to a hamstring injury he suffered while playing with OKC in the first half of the season.
Toles finally got the call back up to the big leagues in July, but only stuck around for a couple of weeks before being optioned back to Triple-A. Toles returned for good in September, albeit with limited opportunities.
He wound up appearing in 32 games for the Dodgers this year, batting .233/.281/.300 with two doubles, four RBI and five runs scored.
The 26-year-old had a solid year with Oklahoma City despite the hamstring injury. In 71 total games, Toles hit .306/.345/.461 with seven home runs, 17 doubles, 39 RBI and 43 runs scored.
2018 Highlight:
Toles did not spend much time with the Dodgers, but when he was first called up he made his presence known immediately.
In Toles’ first game of the season on July 9 against the San Diego Padres, he went 2-for-3 with a walk. He scored two runs and one of the hits was a double to drive in two in the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory.
2019 Outlook:
Toles is in a peculiar position going into 2019 as he has proven everything there is to at the Minor League level, but given the organization’s outfield depth, there is no clear path for him to receive playing time.
Because of that, Toles is a prime candidate to get traded this winter. He is good enough to be a starting outfielder for many teams in the league, so hopefully, he gets that opportunity.
