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…
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.
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Discussion (112)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I have never personally met anyone who wanted to dump Kim OR to sign Arraez. But I hang out with a pretty solid class of people.
Suarez signed a one year deal with the Reds. Hicks was traded to the White Sox from Boston.
For a bunch of commenters and monitors who are just chomping at the bit to dump Kim, nobody asked why we didn’t we spend the 12Mil to pick up a 3 time batting champ 2B with average defense and excellent walk/strikeout ratio and keep the Giants from picking him up. I assume it is because he doesn’t hit home runs either. Arreaz would have looked good batting in front (9th) of Ohtani with his high OBP and low K rate and he is a one year rental at worst.
If Kim could raise his .OBP and learn to bunt he would be a hell of a weapon in the 9 hole. With his speed he should be able to bunt for hits.
“The Dodgers have signed left-hander Cole Irvin to a minor league contract, Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton reports. Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds that Irvin’s deal includes an invitation to the Dodgers’ big league spring camp. It’s a late birthday present for Irvin, who just celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday. Irvin makes his return to North American ball after spending the 2025 season in Seoul with the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. Over 28 starts and 144 2/3 innings with the Bears, Irvin posted a 4.48 ERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, and 12.2% walk rate. For comparison’s sake, Irvin had a 4.54 ERA, 17.1 K% and 5.6 BB% over 593 innings at the Major League level from 2019-24, so the lack of control is a sudden red flag. Irvin did display a severe lack of control over a handful of games with the Twins in 2024 and with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, but over a small sample size”.
Top 100 Prospects The Padres currently have between zero and two prospects in the top 100, depending on the publication: MLB Pipeline: Two prospects—Ethan Salas (C, No. 77) and Kruz Schoolcraft (LHP, No. 95). Baseball America: Only one prospect—Ethan Salas, who fell to No. 90 on their list. ESPN (Kiley McDaniel): Zero prospects in the top 100. Their top-ranked player, Salas, dropped to No. 110. Overall Farm System Ranking The Padres’ farm system is currently ranked as the worst in baseball by major outlets: ESPN: Ranked 30th (dead last). The Athletic (Keith Law): Ranked 30th. USA Today: Ranked 30th.
“It’s an especially precarious position for San Diego’s front office leader to be in considering previous reports of behind-the-scenes tension between Preller and club CEO Erik Greupner. It will be worth watching Preller’s status until an extension is revealed, as he would surely be a coveted talent for rival franchises around the league if the Padres were to decide to let him go. Preller took over in San Diego in the final weeks of the 2014 season, and while the Padres have only made the playoffs four times under his leadership, the team’s body of work over the past six seasons represents the most successful stretch of baseball in franchise history”. This could be the main reason the Padres have done very little this offseason to improve their roster and Preller could be heading for the exits with a rookie former player as manager. Not a good situation but some here said Preller’s days would soon come to an end with some of his trading the farm away.
So I guess the strategy by having a bench of defensive players is that we have plenty of clout in the starters. So we should have the lead going into 8th and 9th inning and can afford to take guys like Teo out to replace them with good defensive guys. Or when Max or Freddie are hurt or need rest, we can pop a guy in and the other guys take up the slack. How much better can we be than being in first place every year?
Congrats. VA knows baseball
Arraez signed with the Giants because they told him he could play second base. He played mostly at 1st for the Padres and was the DH sometimes. He started out as a 2nd baseman in Miami. He is okay at 2nd, a .988 fielding percentage. His worst defensive position is 3rd. They talk about the Dodger rotation on MLBTR today. Snell said he just never felt right at the beginning of last season. He does not want to repeat that. Ohtani should be ready by opening day.
Hampton was a good hitter for a pitcher. Had a career .246 BA and posted a 7.5 WAR as a hitter. His OPS was .650. Ken Brett hit .281 over his career. Wes Farrell holds the record for the most career homers by a pitcher with 38. Ohtani will not pitch in the WBC. He will be on Team Japan, but he won’t be pitching.
Maybe not but he is just another utility guy. LA has too many of that type player as it is.
Does arraez play a position or DH? No matter, he adds a .300 hitter to that lineup. Was hoping he would go to the American League! Guy’s a tough out even though he has almost no power. He may play first and Devers will DH. So the opening day rotation for the Dodgers is? Glasnow. Sheehan. Yamamoto? Sasaki? Snell? Stone? Ryan? Ohtani? Who gets “slow walked” and who doesn’t? I’m sure they all will miss quite a few turns. I’m really excited about having Tucker in this lineup! Ohtani Betts Freddie Tucker Smith Teo Max Pages Kim If Kim hits .275, Look out! He and Ohtani on the bases! Mookie bounces back in a big way! Freddie will be very good! Teo could have a monster year if he has dropped some weight. IF. Max has a healthy season, he could get back to 30 plus homers. Andy Pages? I hope Mark is spot on about him. If he continues to get better, he could be an all star! Health is the only thing that keeps them from threepeating!! Congrats to my youngest son on being inducted into the Roanoke baseball hall of fame today! Very much deserved!
I don’t think so. Arraez is a singles hitter with NO power to speak of and a glove with a hole in it. Why didn’t other teams consider signing him even for the one year deal he received by SF, They can have him.
Insurance is the issue preventing Rojas from competing “The WBC has a provision that will not allow players who have reached the age of 37 to be insured. Rojas is 36 years old, and his birthday is prior to the first game of the WBC. Rojas surely earned a chance to compete for his home country, but the fact that his birthday is Feb. 24 and he will reach the age that contracts are no longer guaranteed means that he will be denied the opportunity to compete. “It’s not right,” Rojas said. “I don’t feel it’s right.” We need him to be healthy for the regular season.
Luis Arraez makes the Giants better!
Mike Hampton?
True
I was always amazed by Tony Cloninger hitting 2 Grand Slams in one game and Rick Wise hitting 2 home runs and pitching a no hitter in the same game. Both colossal feats worthy of mention even on a Dodgers site.
The change in pitching philosophy is what killed the bench. It use to be you had 8,9 or 10 pitchers on a roster and 15,16 or 17 position players. You could have a power bat or 2 that didn’t need to play in the field. You could carry 3 catchers 5 outfielders and up to 9 infielders depending on how many pitchers were on the roster Now days you have rosters of 13 pitchers and 13 position players you need more versatile players that can play multiple positions. The Dodgers can technically carry 14 pitchers because of Ohtani.
Big D was a good hitter. Had some power, 29 homers in his career with 133 driven in. But he had just one really good year with the bat. He hit .300 9n 65 with 7 homers. His OPS that year was .839 and he drove in a career high 19 runs. But he had a higher OPS, .852 in 58, the other year he hit 7 homers. But overall, he was a career .186 hitter. By comparison, Hershiser hit .201. Newcombe is probably the best hitting pitcher the team ever had, his BA was .268. He had 15 homers and 109 RBIs.
Drysdale
Ward? Maybe they can get a Low-A prospect for him if he has a good spring.
I think no team could afford to pay more for Donovan than LA.
Exactly. Never been good at guessing the rosters.