Outman’s 2024 was as forgetable as the Dodgers season was memorable, fueling the youngster to fight for his place yet again in 2025.
Even in the best team seasons, no matter how empathetic one is, the individual frustrations of those who struggle the most is bound to linger. That is the case when it comes to James Outman and what was, for him specifically, a 2024 campaign to forget.
The man with the best head of hair on the Dodgers entire 40-man roster came into the season with the buzz of one of this team’s most exciting youngsters. Outman had just put up a 3.3-rWAR freshman campaign and finished third in the National Leaague Rookie of the Year voting. LA expected Outman to continue that success in his sophomore season, treated as the opening day starting center fielder in a World Series contender, and that quickly crumbled.
Outman had already shown a significant weakness against fastballs in the top of the zone in 2023, and while he was able to overcome that for one year, those issues eventually caught up with him.
You don’t need to make above-average contact to succeed in the bigs, but the less contact you make, the more power is needed to make up for it. Outman has good pop, but his ability, or in this case, inability to put the bat on the ball in strikes was just too much.
Outman’s 2024 campaign saw him put up a 62.9-percent contact rate, well below the MLB average of 75.1 percent. The already-high strikeout rate of 31.9 percent in 2023, went to 35.3 percent this past season, coupled with a significant dip in his isoldated power, .188 to .118.
That being said, it is not like Outman’s contact skills took a downturn, he just paid the price as his barrel rate went from well-above-average 10.1 percent, to well below average at 5 percent. The high number of those ideal batted balls that helped him overcome all of these issues in 2023 simply weren’t there in 2024.
Perhaps on a team without the expectations of the Dodgers, a player coming off the season Outman had just had, would’ve gotten more leeway to figure things out. Los Angeles didn’t have that luxury, and so by the middle of May, Outman had already lost an everyday role and was subsequently sent to the minors. The young outfielder came back up for a filler stint in July, but with little to no success. From the beginning of August through the end of the playoffs, Outman appeared in just three games, all coming off the bench.
Partially as an encouraging signing and also highlighting Triple-A pitching’s inability to expose the same holes that the big league arms will, Outman flourished in the minors this year (.933 OPS in 69 games).
Looking ahead to 2025, Outman won’t get the same opportunity to secure a big role with this team. However, the odds are in Outman’s favor that he’ll get some chances to prove himself during the year, regardless of the moves between now and Opening Day.
2024 particulars
Age: 27
Stats: .147/.256/.265, 156 PA, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 2 SB, 4 doubles, 54 wRC+
Salary: $770,000
Game of the year
Even a player with such a small sample of playing time and struggles of this magnitude can still make a very big impact on the outcome of a single game. That happened on April 9, as Outman hit a three-run home run to start the scoring in a 6-3 Dodgers win over the Twins.
Stay hot, James! pic.twitter.com/ft3whgCEDo
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 10, 2024
It was Outman’s second straight day with a home run.
Roster status
Outman has one year, 95 days of service time. He still has an option year remaining, something likely to come in handy next season.