With rosters expanding from 25 to 40 on Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers made their first wave of September callups by recalling Kyle Farmer, Tim Locastro, Andrew Toles and Alex Verdugo from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
All of those players have spent time at the big league level this season and were on the 40-man roster already, so no corresponding moves were required.
Farmer has appeared in 32 games for the Dodgers this season, hitting .238/.310/.302 with eight RBI. In 79 games with OKC, the catcher and infielder has hit .288/.333/.451 with seven home runs and 36 RBI.
Locastro is being called up mainly for his speed, as was the case in 2017, and should serve as a valuable pinch-runner in the last month of the season. In eight games with the Dodgers, Locastro went 2-for-11 with two walks and a stolen base.
He has swung the bat well with OKC, hitting .279/.389/.409 with four home runs, 65 runs scored and 18 stolen bases in 20 attempts.
Toles and Verdugo are two players that are very familiar with playing at the Major league level and could be battling for playing time in the outfield given the recent struggles of Matt Kemp and Chris Taylor.
Toles has only played seven games with the Dodgers this season, hitting .261/.292/.348 with four RBI. In his first season coming off major knee surgery, Toles was batting .306/.345/.461 with seven home runs and 37 RBI in 71 games with OKC.
Verdugo is the top prospect in the Dodgers organization and has already demonstrated why by hitting .280/.345/.440 with a home run and five doubles in 14 games across two previous big league stints this season. He was recently named to the All-Pacific Coast League Team after slashing .329/.391/.472 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI in his 91 games at the Triple-A level.
This was just the first wave of callups for the Dodgers and more may follow, although Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said they will be more selective with who they call up this season.
Also on Saturday, the Dodgers reinstated Zac Rosscup and Chase Utley from the 10-day disabled list, and officially activated David Freese and Ryan Madson. Their active roster stands at 33 players.
