Dodgers’ Playing Time Battles: Hitters

Two weeks ago, we inaugurated what will likely still be a few more weeks of depth chart discussions in the form of playing time battles. RotoGraphs staff will discuss and assess noteworthy battles for playing time and/or starting gigs for position players and, separately, pitchers. Here, specifically, this author will investigate the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ position player situations.

Around the horn.

Catcher

No surprises here: Yasmani Grandal will assume the primary backstop role while A.J. Ellis sticks around for his defensive acumen. Grandal is the only name you care about here; he has pretty easy 20-homer power if he can make it through an entire season unscathed. The BABIP (batting average on balls in play) is ugly, no thanks to his lack of speed and his non-ideal tendency to pop balls up, but the league’s 7th-best on-base percentage (OBP) helps mitigate those losses, especially in OBP leagues (obviously).

Grandal and Ellis’ backup actually warrant your attention, however, despite the high likelihood that he will accrue very little playing time. Austin Barnes was never a very special prospect — none of his tools grade out better than average, according to Kiley McDaniel — and, at 26, he doesn’t figure to ever really be an impact player. But for a dude whose current/future hit tool allegedly grades out at 30/50+, the fact that he walked more than he struck out for more than 2,000 plate appearances is quite a feat.

It’s that kind of plate discipline that makes him pretty interesting. He also hits for double-digit power and actually runs — a peculiar development for a catcher these days. Should Grandal and/or Ellis go down, he could provide a high batting average with full-season double-digit power and speed. I’m performing quick mental arithmetic here, but I imagine that would be good enough to make him a top-10 catcher.

Second Base

The Dodgers just signed Howie Kendrick, which makes Chase Utley’s $7 million, one-year deal seem a bit superfluous. The former should dominate four-hole reps, and given we all know enough about what to expect from both of them, I will respectfully move on.

Kike Hernandez will pick up scraps, but I don’t find him particularly interesting. He makes decent contact but doesn’t flash any standout tools in terms of fantasy purposes. Who’s more interesting to me — although he’s much less interesting now that he’s buried deep on the Dodgers’ depth chart instead of starting in Chicago — is Micah Johnson.

After 84 bases in a mere 601 plate appearances in 2013, he hasn’t run nearly as much. Granted, you wipe out his slow 2014, and focusing solely on his 2015 season yields something like a 50-steal pace. That’s pretty solid, and while that wouldn’t translate in full at the major-league level, his decent plate discipline would play up enough to help him reach an admirable level of value, especially at second base.

He just won’t see enough playing time. You can keep dreaming — the Dodgers enjoy shipping their roster and organizational depth all over the place just to acquire other depth. But he’s not worth much attention unless you’re in a dynasty. He’s also kind of a one-trick pony, so as much as it seems like I’m hyping him up, he doesn’t project to be a super-useful fantasy asset.

P.S. Barnes played six innings of second base last year, too.

Left Field

The most uninspiring three-headed monster. That’s not quite true — there are far more depressing platoons to be found across the league (one happens to be right down the freeway) — but for fantasy purposes, it’s a bit of a downer. Andre Ethier actually had something of a career revival last year, hitting .294 with almost 20-homer power. The BABIP is something that doesn’t figure to stick, though, and the power betrays a more recent trend that indicates his power has declined from its long-past peak. Still, he can offer 10 homers and a .275 batting average in part-time duty. You could do worse in deep leagues.

Carl Crawford splits time fairly evenly with Ethier. His career trended in the wrong direction in 2015, however, with his strikeout rate (K%) increasing almost 50% over 2014 and spiking above 20% for the first time in his career. His full-season power and speed paces are still pretty admirable — most of us would settle for 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases from a full-time left fielder, especially with a batting average that won’t kill you — but the whole timeshare thing really cramps both his and Ethier’s styles.

The #FreeVanSlyke movement won’t pay dividends until at least 2017, when both Ethier’s and Crawford’s contracts are set to expire. Thus, Scott Van Slyke assumes his role as one of the league’s more lethal part-time/bench bats. He has something of a swiss-cheese swing — his zone contact rate (Z-Contact%) ranked in the bottom quintile last year — but he has a pretty good eye. He just swings out of his shoes, and it manifests in 25-homer power (but not much else). Given his peripherals, I would ignore last year’s decline in power. Regardless, he’s not really worth an investment.

Trayce Thompson is a piece of the outfield puzzle who, like Johnson, (1) came to Los Angeles courtesy of the Chicago White Sox, and (2) will likely see very little action in 2015. A more well-rounded offensive threat, Thompson has twice the power, half the speed, twice the patience and twice the whiffs as Johnson. Those are all poorly-computed estimations, but I’m merely trying to paint a picture here: Thompson is a guy who is lauded more for his OBP than his batting average and could provide double-digit home runs and stolen bases. He also has a decent glove, too; if the Dodgers can refrain from dipping their bucket into the free-agent well next offseason, the left field job could be Thompson’s to lose.

Disclaimer

I feel like I’m forgetting a relevant prospect here — Corey Seager doesn’t count (the shortstop job is his and his alone) and hitters who have yet to clear High-A don’t really count, either. It’s just that the Dodgers have moved so many depth pieces around this offseason — Jose Peraza, Hector Olivera — that I don’t know what’s going on anymore. If you can think of a name, feel free to get angry at me in the comments!





Two-time FSWA award winner, including 2018 Baseball Writer of the Year, and 8-time award finalist. Featured in Lindy's magazine (2018, 2019), Rotowire magazine (2021), and Baseball Prospectus (2022, 2023). Biased toward a nicely rolled baseball pant.

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DaveyG
8 years ago

I am curious about Enrique Hernandez. Roster Resource has him on the short side of a platoon, so I would think he would fit into the playing time battles somewhere.

Frankenstein
8 years ago
Reply to  DaveyG

“Kike Hernandez will pick up scraps, but I don’t find him particularly interesting. He makes decent contact but doesn’t flash any standout tools in terms of fantasy purposes.”

Frankenstein
8 years ago
Reply to  Frankenstein

I assmume he’ll play a little CF against tough LHP as well.

SeattleBlue
8 years ago
Reply to  DaveyG

Kike showed last year an ability to crush lefties so he will get his at-bats, but will no longer be the short-side 2B platoon with Howie around now. He will instead be the primary backup at SS and CF (to lefty swingers Seager and Joc, with only CF being remotely close to a “platoon”), and to a far lesser extent, at 2B and 3B where he figures to share backup duties with Utley. If he continues to hit lefties like he did last year, he’ll play somewhere against them.

SeattleBlue
8 years ago
Reply to  SeattleBlue

His routes in CF look like that of an overly enthusiastic puppy at times though. And I wouldn’t want to do a straight L/R platoon with Joc at this point either. He could spell Joc occasionally, but I hope they really let Joc be an everyday player.