ANAHEIM, CA—As Spring Training winds down, with less than three days until Opening Day, the Los Angeles Dodgers 26-man roster is essentially set, especially with the news of Alex Freeland making the roster over Hyeseong Kim earlier this week.
That said, the Dodgers’ bench has been one of the significant areas to watch this spring, especially with a few non-roster invitees pushing for a spot, including recently signed utilityman Santago Espinal.
Espinal, 31, was added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster last week, all but guaranteeing a spot on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster with Tommy Edman‘s injury to start the year; however, we now have more clarity on his role moving forward, along with others on the Dodgers’ bench.
According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Espinal was expected to play all over the field, including second base, third base, and first base, and to confirm the platoon situation with Alex Freeland and veteran infielder Miguel Rojas.
“I see Alex (Freeland) at the outset taking down the lion’s share of second base versus right-handed pitching. I see Miguel Rojas playing versus left-handed pitching at second base. I see Santiago playing third base at times to spell Max (Muncy) versus a left-handed pitcher.”
“He can play some first base to spell Freddie (Freeman) if he’s coming out of a game or if there’s a game he doesn’t start. Not sure with those two guys–Miggy and Alex–how much second base he’s going to play. But there’s certainly opportunity potentially if Miggy kicks over to shortstop to spell Mookie (Betts) at times.”
The Dodgers bench, like the rest of the roster, is already set in stone, which will include Rojas, Espinal, Freeland, along with outfielder Alex Call and catcher Dalton Rushing.
Rushing also figures to get more opportunities at first base, as explained earlier this spring, as a way to get Freeman extra days off throughout the long 162-game season.
Hyeseong Kim Optioned to Triple-A
At the tail end of the weekend, the Dodgers announced they officially optioned fan-favorite Korean utilityman Hyeseong Kim to Triple-A despite his hot start to spring training.
Hyeseong Kim hit .407 with a .967 OPS. His 11 hits put him in the top ten of the team for Cactus League play despite the fact that he missed two weeks of camp playing for Team Korea in the WBC.
By most metrics, Kim had a “better” spring than Alex Freeland, the player the Dodgers are opting to start the season with at second base, but the reasoning goes beyond the numbers, per Dave Roberts.
“I think the at-bat quality has been fine. He just hasn’t finished off the at-bats,” Roberts said. Later, he added, “Alex played a lot, didn’t have a great spring, but played great defensively.”
Kim will now continue to get everyday at-bats with the OKC Comets playing second, short, and center field.
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