LOS ANGELES — Why now?
That Dalton Rushing would get to the big leagues sometime this season was expected. That it would cost Austin Barnes playing time was inevitable.
But the timing of the move to promote the top prospect and designate the veteran backup catcher for assignment this week seemed sudden. But the equation had shifted against Barnes, prompting the move.
Rushing had done everything he could do at Triple-A and it was time to find out if he is ready for the big leagues, GM Brandon Gomes said. At the same time, Gomes acknowledged that Barnes was no longer the defensive asset he had been in past seasons (particularly his throwing), making it more difficult to balance his lack of offensive contributions when he did play.
“Obviously, the clubhouse part of it, the fingers (game-calling) – excellent,” Gomes said, before grudgingly assessing Barnes’ overall defensive game. “But, yeah, I think there was some regression there.”
That made it more difficult to absorb off days for Will Smith – and given Smith’s poor second halves the past few seasons, the Dodgers are interested in avoiding overplaying Smith, who started a career-high 117 games last season.
“It was part of the equation,” Gomes said. “Will did a great job this offseason, tackling his routine in a different way. We know some of it is the nature of the position. Some of it is the unfortunate dings that may or may not happen again.
“But it’s a perfect intersection of having Rushing there to plug in when it’s appropriate and be able to give Will days when he needs it, if he’s a little banged up. A lot of it was the combination of all that and helps the overall team flow a little bit better.”
The Dodgers are confident Rushing is ready to hit big-league pitching – even if he only gets to show it in two starts a week, plus pinch-hit appearances.
“Now it’s, ‘Okay, how do we handle a major-league staff and the day to day and getting to that,’” Gomes said. “There’s a little bit of a finishing-school component that you can’t teach in Triple-A. Our PD (player development) staff is excellent at getting to the five- or 10-yard line, maybe. To actually get it into the end zone, you kind of have to get a taste of it here.
“(We were getting) a lot of strong reports on the defensive side of things (from Triple-A). The catch-and-throw game-calling was taking a step forward. So we just felt, okay, this is the time to give him an opportunity, to see what it looks like. Give him some exposure to this side of things. I think it’s helpful to have him be around the guys and see how the performance translates to the big leagues. That’s always the hard thing, no matter how guys are performing at Triple-A.”
KERSHAW TALKS
Veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw has been through this before.
In 2016, the Dodgers traded his close friend and personal catcher, A.J. Ellis. Only Ellis has caught Kershaw more in his Hall of Fame career than Barnes.
“I think everybody was surprised. Yeah. It’s sad,” Kershaw said of the move to DFA Barnes this week. “Barnesy’s one of my best friends on or off the field. You won’t find a guy that competes better than Austin Barnes. He wants to win more than anybody, and he always found a way, and he came up with some big moments for us throughout the years. I think a lot of people forget he was starting a lot of playoff games and winning a lot of games for us, getting big knocks.
“It’s sad to see someone like that go who’s been here that long, and I think we all kind of feel it. It’s no disrespect to Dalton. I know he deserves it, and he’s going to be a great player. It’s just for me, personally, I think for a lot of guys on the team, it was disappointing to see him go.”
COMING SOON
Left-hander Maddux Bruns (the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2021) was brought in to pitch to Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez Thursday afternoon. Edman also ran the curve of the infield to test his injured ankle.
Roberts said he expects Edman to return soon without going on a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment. Hernandez, on the other hand, is expected to go on a rehab assignment of “a couple games” before being activated from the IL.
ALSO
Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was promoted from Triple-A Oklahoma City before Thursday’s game and right-hander J.P. Feyereisen was optioned back to OKC. Wrobleski made one start against the Washington Nationals earlier this season and gave up eight runs in five innings in a loss. At OKC, he was 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in six starts.
UP NEXT
Angels (RHP Jack Kochanowicz, 2-5, 5.23 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Dustin May, 1-3, 4.08 ERA), Friday 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM