The 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers experience is an ever-changing carousel of players, either from injuries, coming up from Triple-A Oklahoma City, or unfortunately being designated for assignment.
Wednesday brought two of those in a rather shocking fashion. The longest tenured position player, Austin Barnes, was DFA’d after Tuesday night’s 11-1 loss to the Oakland A’s. The highly anticipated arrival of catching prospect Dalton Rushing was the reason for his release.
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Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic covers Rushing’s call-up, and what’s expected of Rushing now that he’s arrived in the big leagues.
“It’s a really high standard that we have (for catchers) and there’s so much that goes into the game planning and then relaying that message to the pitchers in an effective way,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said of Rushing this spring. “So really pouring himself into the defensive side. The offensive is in a really good place. You can always find tweaks there but it’s very much his receiving, his game calling.”
Rushing is expected to play about two games a week, spelling Will Smith. In the pregame presser, Manager Dave Roberts said he expects Rushing to make his first major league start on Thursday.
Cary Osborne covers Barnes’s impact with the Dodgers, and his place in Dodgers history.
On the injury front, rookie Roki Sasaki looks to be out of the Dodgers starting rotation for a while. Sasaki commented on how this injury is not a new one to him.
Cary Osborne also covers how Sasaki is looking at this stint on the IL, and how it will benefit him. Sasaki will not be picking up a baseball for the foreseeable future and is looking to be healthy at the end of the season when it matters.
“I did have something similar, but actually worse, and it was something that I was able to overcome and still perform,” Sasaki said on Wednesday.
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Sasaki is dealing with a shoulder impingement, and there is no timeline for his return.
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