Before Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night, Miguel Rojas provided a power swing at Dodger Stadium for his second long ball of the season.
Rojas had already driven a run in for the Dodgers by grounding into a force out with the bases loaded. Rojas’ home run in the fourth inning extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1 and was a byproduct of recent work with hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc.
“RVS has been working with me extremely hard since Spring Training, and I’ve been kind of hard on myself trying to find it, trying to get it right because I didn’t feel great in spring,” Rojas said after the win.
“But RVS helped me with a move that he saw a couple of couple days ago, that I was doing. I changed it a little bit with my elbow, and a mechanical move sometimes can get you to where you want. So I mean, all the credit to him, to find something that is going to work for me, and it’s been working out.”
That Rojas is third on the Dodgers in home runs hit this season is somewhat of a surprise, but he’s also basking in potentially getting overlooked in a talented lineup.
“I hope so. That’s what you want. When you have a team of this caliber with a lot of talent like this, you’re going to stand out at the bottom of the lineup and they’re going to think you’re an easy out,” Rojas said.
“And that’s my job to not be like that, to be a contributor on this team. And even on a night like this, Freddie (Freeman) didn’t get a hit today, Mookie (Betts) didn’t hit a homer, and we still won. So that talks a lot about how deep this team is.
“And I mean it doesn’t matter regardless if it’s a lefty or righty, or whoever is on the mound, we’re going to have a good team that is going to give us a chance to win that night.”
Rojas also anticipates being surpassed by Ohtani in home runs very quickly.
“I hope the next day we play, he’ll have more homers than me,” the veteran infielder said. “And I know for sure he’s going to have more homers than me pretty soon.”
What is Miguel Rojas’ Dodgers role?
Although Mookie Betts has taken over as the Dodgers’ everyday shortstop, manager Dave Roberts is remaining cognizant of still getting Rojas starts at the position.
One way that’s unfolded is Betts sliding over to second base, pushing Gavin Lux to the bench, when the Dodgers face a left-handed starter. It’s not going to be an automatic occurrence, however, as Roberts has maintained the Dodgers don’t consider Lux being part of a strict platoon at second base.
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