Dodgers Get Dalton Rushing Up To Speed Leading A Pitching Staff
The Dodgers are not afraid to think outside the box when developing a catcher.
Drafted in the first round in 2016, Will Smith reached Triple-A in 2018 and spent September of that season with the big league team.
He wasn’t added to the roster as a September callup. Instead, he traveled with the team, participated in game-planning meetings and got a taste of what would be expected of him in Los Angeles.
It was an attempt to speed up the learning process, and it certainly seemed to work. Smith made his MLB debut the following May, was the team’s everyday catcher by August and is now a two-time all-star.
The Dodgers are trying a similar approach with their current top prospect, Dalton Rushing.
A non-roster invitee to big league camp this year, Rushing was tasked with leading mock meetings with the pitching coaches and game-planning staff, studying scouting reports and then explaining how he would call a game for specific pitchers against certain hitters.
“It’s a hard thing and it’s an intimidating experience to come up and be a big part of a meeting where you have these veteran pitchers and a coaching staff that has done this at a high level for so long,” Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said.
“So doing everything we can to shorten that learning curve when guys do get here is really important.”
Rushing’s ability at the plate has created speculation that his path to the big leagues will not be at catcher. He has also played first base and left field in the minors. But Gomes said that catching needs to be Rushing’s “meat and potatoes” to reach the majors.
“It’s a really high standard that we have, and there’s so much that goes into the game-planning and then relaying that message to the pitchers in an effective way,” Gomes said.
“(Rushing is) really pouring himself into the defensive side. The offensive (side of his game) is in a really good place. You can always find tweaks there, but it’s very much his receiving, his game-calling.”
L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
— After not making the Dodgers’ Tokyo Series roster, David Bote exercised an opt-out clause in his contract and became a free agent. The former Cubs third baseman hit .400 (12-for-30) with three doubles and two home runs in spring games with the Dodgers.
— Righthander Patrick Copen returned to the mound in games this spring and even pitched at Angel Stadium against the Angels in the preseason Freeway Series. It was Copen’s first game action since being hit in the face by a line drive on Aug. 20 last year. A seventh-round pick out of Marshall in 2023, Copen was 3-2 with a 4.39 ERA in nine starts for High-A Great Lakes when the line drive ended his season. Copen’s fastball averaged 97 mph against the Angels.
