Rushing will take the roster spot of backup catcher Austin Barnes.
The Dodgers called up Dalton Rushing, their best position-player prospect, to the majors, and designated backup catcher Austin Barnes for assignment, the team announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic was first to report the roster move. Barnes, in his 11th season, is the team’s longest-tenured position player.
Rushing this season is hitting .308/.424/.514 with a 145 wRC+, five home runs and five doubles in 31 games for Oklahoma City. He also had a 146 wRC+ between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A last season, and a 147 wRC+ in High-A Great Lakes in 2023.
The Dodgers’ top draft pick in 2022 out of Louisville was ranked this week as the 15th-best prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline, up from his preseason rank of 30th in the sport.
Rushing homered on Tuesday night for the Comets.
Dalton was in a Rush to tie the game pic.twitter.com/wF2sUyCpJA
— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) May 14, 2025
It will be interesting to see if Rushing plays multiple positions with the Dodgers, who have Will Smith behind the plate, Shohei Ohtani at designated hitter, and Freddie Freeman at first base. Their open spots for playing time are elsewhere at the moment, with Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández still working their way back from ankle and groin injuries, respectively.
Of Rushing’s 10 starts in May with Oklahoma City, five were at first base, three as catcher, one in left field, and once at designated hitter. That was Rushing’s only start in left field this season, but he did start 31 times in left in 2024 between Double-A and Triple-A.