Rojas had his best season at the plate, helped tutor Mookie Betts on the finer points of everyday shortstop, and was voted by Dodgers uniformed personnel as the Roy Campanella Award winner.
For the second year in a row, Miguel Rojas played his way into a more regular role. This year, the veteran not only provided stellar defense and leadership, but also had the most productive of his 11 major league seasons.
The uptick in offense actually began in 2023, when Rojas did not homer until August 2, his his 270th plate appearance of the season. But he finished with five home runs with a 101 wRC+ over the final two months. He kept that up at the plate into 2024, with an above-average wRC+ in five of his six months.
Tasked with more of a utility role, Rojas started 30 of the Dodgers’ first 73 games, with only 12 starts at shortstop and the other 18 split between second and third base. But he also added another notch to his mentorship tool belt, helping Mookie Betts get a crash course in playing everyday shortstop after a late-spring switch to the position. It was similar to 2023, when Rojas tutored rookie Miguel Vargas on playing second base regularly in the ramp up to the season.
“Nobody when I came to this organization asked me, ‘Hey we want you to be a leader’ or ‘We want you to be a mentor.’ It’s just who I want to be and who I want to be for the future,” Rojas said in April. “After my career is over, I’m trying to stay on the field, to stay coaching, and I want to be a part of an organization that wants to win.”
His career as a player still has some production left in it, which showed this season. After Betts was hit by a pitch on his left hand on June 16 and missed eight weeks, Rojas shifted back to regular duties at shortstop, starting 23 of the next 27 games at the position.
Right forearm inflammation landed Rojas on the injured list for two weeks, which helped make July his least productive month at the plate, hitting .182/.217/.273 with a 37 wRC+ in 47 plate appearances. His lowest wRC+ in any other month of 2024 was 109.
July did mark a milestone for Rojas, as he reached 10 years of major league service time, one of six Dodgers to do so during the 2024 season, along with James Paxton, Betts, Blake Treinen, Kiké Hernández, and Nick Ahmed.
Outside of playing 40 games in the truncated 2020 season, Rojas this year marked career highs in slugging percentage (.410), OPS (.748), OPS+ (113), wRC+ (111), isolated power (.127). He also posted the lowest strikeout rate (10.1 percent) of his career, and set personal bests in Wins Above Replacement at both Baseball Reference (3.4) and FanGraphs (2.8).
When Betts returned from the injured list in August, he moved back to right field, with Rojas splitting time at shortstop with newly-acquired utility man Tommy Edman. After the forearm inflammation cleared up, Rojas dealt with nagging leg injuries after the All-Star break, and would miss time intermittently though was never placed on the injured list.
It didn’t hamper his production at the plate, as Rojas hit .304/.372/.417 after returning from the IL on August 7.
The leg injury came to a head in the final week of the regular season. Rojas left a September 25 game in the fifth inning with what proved to be a torn left adductor muscle, which knocked him out for the remainder of the regular season.
He started the first three games of the NLDS, but left Game 3 in the third inning after aggravating his adductor injury, his physical limitations evident with a fielding miscue that exacerbated a fateful six-run second inning in San Diego.
The Dodgers played it cautious with Rojas after that, keeping him off the NLCS roster, but added him back to the active group for the World Series.
“In September my leg was really bothering me. I played through it, and I push everything that I can,” Rojas said on October 26. “I did everything that I can to push through September because I knew the team was really close to make it to the playoffs. And I feel better right now.”
Rojas started Game 2 against the Yankees but otherwise did not play in the series. He had sports hernia surgery the week after the World Series, and is expected to be ready to go by spring training.
Respect of his peers
On September 25, Rojas was presented with the 2024 Roy Campanella Award, voted on annually by Dodgers players and coaches for the player who best embodies the spirit and leadership of the late Hall of Fame catcher.
“I really care about this organization, because they gave me the first opportunity to play in the big leagues,” Rojas said in the season’s final week. “Now I became more of a leader in the franchise, around the community and all that. I’m just happy that my teammates and my coaches opened their arms for me to be that kind of player and that kind of person.”
2024 particulars
Age: 35
Stats: 337 PA, .283/.337/.410, 21 doubles, 6 HR, 111 wRC+, 3.4 rWAR, 2.8 fWAR
Salary: $5 million
Game of the year
On June 29 against the Giants in San Francisco, Rojas came up four times with a runner on third base, and drove them all in. The first three scored on singles by Rojas, and the fourth was a sacrifice fly. His third single was in the 10th inning, which gave the Dodgers the lead. His sacrifice fly in the 11th capped a seven-run inning that proved decisive.
Go ahead, Miggy! pic.twitter.com/71j3UTn8tU
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 30, 2024
Rojas’ four RBI was his season high, and his most in a game since 2020. He has six games with exactly four RBI, and a career-best six RBI in 2019 with Miami.
This win over the Giants continued one of the quirkier streaks of the season, as the Dodgers won the first 13 games in which Rojas drove in at least one run.
On the season, the Dodgers were 21-7 (.750) in games with a Rojas RBI.
Roster status
The Dodgers exercised the club option on Rojas for 2025, and he’ll earn $5 million in 2025.