On July 31, 2025, the National League West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers acquired soon-to-be (on September 27) 31-year-old outfielder Alex Call from the NL East last-place Washington Nationals in exchange for minor leaguers Sean Paul Linan and Eriq Swan.
At the time, the Burnsville, MN native and third-round draft pick in 2016 by the Chicago White Sox out of Ball State was slashing .274/.371/.386/.756, with 30 runs scored on 54 hits that included nine doubles, two triples, three home runs, and 26 RBIs. But it also included 36 strikeouts with 26 walks.
In his 14 games since joining the Dodgers, Call is 8-for-28, with two doubles, no triples, two RBIs, and (now) one home. He is also (now) slashing .286/.375/.464/.839; this following his four-hit night in Tuesday’s 11-4 pounding of the NL West last-place Colorado Rockies at mile-high Coors Field in Denver.
Call’s four hits on Tuesday included a monster (Coors Field-ish) 453-foot solo home run to left-center field off of Rockies left-handed starter Austin Gomber in the top of the second inning to give his new team an early 3-0 lead, a single to left in the top of the third, a double to right in the top of the fifth, and an infield single to short in the top of the seventh. It was the second four-hit game of Call’s five-year MLB career.
(SportsNet LA)
“Yeah, pretty amazing, yeah, crazy,” Call told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson post game. “I just, you know, been working and trying to get, you know, just calibrated here. You know, a lot of new things going on, but just trusting that, you know, that I’m a great player and I’m here for a reason, and I’m gonna help this team win,” he added.
“I think so, I just think also there’s a little bit more comfort,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts answered postgame when Watson asked him if it seemed as though something has clicked with Call. “It was good to see him, you know, fire on the first-pitch fastball, hit a homer, get his day started off in the right way. But he just takes good at-bats and found a way to drive in some runs and get on base, and almost hit for the cycle, so that was exciting. Just a gritty ball player, plays good defense,” added the Dodgers skipper.
(SportsNet LA)
But Call wasn’t the only Dodger who had a day on Tuesday. Dodgers international superstar (and stadium seat-filler wherever he goes) Shohei Ohtani slugged his National League-leading 44th home run of the season, a 413-foot solo blast to right-center field with two outs (and two batters after Call’s second-inning jack) to make it 4-0 good guys.
(SportsNet LA)
The only (slight) downside to the Dodgers 11-4 pounding of the Rockies on Tuesday is that the NL West second-place San Diego Padres pick this day to snap their four-game losing streak with their 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants to remain 2.0 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. Oh well. It’s better than the Friars being 1.5 games back, right?
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