How Important Are Bench Players?

Over the last couple of years, I have been concerned with what I have considered a lack of power off of the Dodgers bench. Players like Kike, Rojas, Taylor, do not exactly scare the opposition. The way teams are constructed now, especially the Dodgers, it seems versatility trumps the ability to crush baseballs. Back in the day, that role was usually filled by veteran players nearing the end of their careers.

In this era, it seems more about how many positions you can play late in the game. Having an awful postseason offensively, Andy Pages was inserted for defensive purposes in game seven and made a game saving catch that kept the Jays from scoring. Pages, who hit 27 homers during the season was 4-41 in the postseason. Pages though is considered a power hitter. He normally plays every game.

So, who supplied the power? The game tying homer was hit by Rojas, one of the team’s best defensive players. At the time, Miggy had only played one game in the World Series, game six. LA was one out away from losing the series to the Blue Jays. Will Smith would win it in the 11th with his own solo shot.

During the 2025 season, Dodger pinch hitters were 21-107, a .196 BA. They had 5 homers and 14 driven in. They struck out 32 times and walked 14. Not a very good record of success. The best pinch hitter in Dodger history was Manny Mota. Not a power hitter but a very good bat to ball hitter.

The record for PH homers in a season by a Dodger is 7. Dave Hansen, a backup third baseman has that record. I doubt it will ever be matched or broken the way pinch hitters are used in this era. Since power does not seem to be the primary goal, I would think they would at least consider getting players who were pretty decent hitters along with their abilities on defense. Let us look at some of the bench candidates.

Hyeseong Kim hit .280 in his short stint with the Dodgers. Kims OBP suffers from the fact that he does not walk very much, at least he did not do so last season. He walked just 7 times and struck out 52. A guy with his speed is most valuable when he gets on base. A little more awareness of the strike zone would be a huge asset to Kim.

Miguel Rojas is a defensive whiz. He has also had some big moments with the bat. In his career, Miggy has hit .232 in pinch hitting roles. He has 1 homer and 13 runs driven in. Last season, Miggy was probably the Dodgers best pinch hitter. He hit .429 as a PH and hit 1 of the 5 PH homers LA had. His OPS was over 1.200.

Alex Call was a .260 hitter last year. He did not have many PH chances during the season. He was used more as a defensive replacement. One of his assets is his ability to get on base. His OBP was .361. It was .333 with the Dodgers. He is also a very good outfielder who can play all three positions.

Andy Ibanez, recently signed by the Dodgers as a free agent is a 32-year-old glove first infielder. He has also played the outfield a little, but most of his experience comes as a 2nd or 3rd baseman. He has no power to speak of and does not hit very well at all.

Dalton Rushing is the one current bench player who has some power. He hit double figure homers in the minors twice. He only had 142 at bats in the major’s last season. He was replaced on the postseason roster by Ben Rortvedt, who after his trade to LA suddenly found his bat. Rortvedt was placed on waivers after the season and claimed by the Reds, so the backup job falls into Rushing’s lap. How much he will give LA on offense remains to be seen.

Alex Freeland got his first taste of the major’s last season and showed some good defense but did not really get many chances to show his offensive side. Freeland played at three different levels of the minors in 24, and last year he played 106 games at OKC. He batted .268 and clubbed 16 homers, so he also has showed some power. The issue right now for Alex is roster space. With Ibanez signing a MLB deal, and Rojas being retained, there is not any room for him. The only way he makes the 26-man out of spring is if someone gets injured.

The odd man out here is Ryan Ward. The Dodgers did him a disservice by adding him to the MLB roster. He is simply injury insurance. LA attempted to find trade partners for Ward and Bobby Miller according to reports, but there were no takers. Ward is a legitimate power threat having hit 133 homers in the minors. But he turns 28 in February.

Those are the probable bench players available on the 40-man roster. There are four players currently on the roster at OKC who have appeared in the majors, Chuckie Robinson, Ryan Fitzgerald, Matt Gorski and Nick Senzel. Currently there are no outfielders listed on the OKC roster, which means we will probably see AF sign some players to minor league deals.

In my humble opinion, which means little, the Dodger bench has plenty of defense and not much offense. Maybe that will change, and maybe it won’t. How benches are used has changed dramatically from when I first started watching the game. It will probably change more over the next decade or so.