{"id":556632,"date":"2026-02-05T20:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/556632\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:58:16","slug":"dodgers-spring-training-preview-outfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/556632\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers spring training preview: Outfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dodgers had a clear need on offense, and they filled it by signing the best free agent available. Outfielder Kyle Tucker and his four-year, $240-million contract turned a weakness into a strength<\/a>. Let\u2019s look at the outfield as spring training nears.<\/p>\n

40-man roster outfielders<\/p>\n

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Things to watch<\/p>\n

Elevating the floor and ceiling: Dodgers outfielders as a group in 2025 hit .240\/.299\/.415, and ranked 17th MLB with a 98 wRC+. Upgrading from Michael Conforto to Tucker should work wonders. Tucker has a 130 wRC+ and at least four Wins Above Replacement in each of the last five seasons, the latter even in 2024 when he missed half the season with a fractured right tibia.<\/p>\n

Staying healthy: The vast majority of Dodgers position players are in their 30s, but Tucker is 29 and joins 25-year-old Andy Pages in the suddenly more youthful outfield. Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, now in left field, struggled in a 2025 season that saw him miss time with a groin strain<\/a> and fouling a ball off his foot<\/a>. When healthy, Hern\u00e1ndez can be a force offensively, and now he\u2019ll be a little further down a much deeper lineup<\/a>. In addition to the shin injury in 2024, Tucker missed time with the Cubs last season with a calf strain and played through a hand fracture in June<\/a> that led to a second-half decline.<\/p>\n

Room for growth: Andy Pages had a dreadful postseason with just four hits in 51 at-bats, but also made a championship-saving catch in Kool Aid Man fashion in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series<\/a> in Toronto. Pages and coming off a 27-homer, 4-ish WAR season and is also only 25 years old. There\u2019s a lot to like here, especially when Pages is likely to hit at or near the bottom of the lineup.<\/p>\n

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Useable depth: The other three outfielders on the 40-man all have minor league options. Alex Call is the one most likely to stick on the bench, with the caveat that the inevitable return of Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez hasn\u2019t yet happened. Michael Siani is a defense-first center fielder who could be this year\u2019s Justin Dean, but let\u2019s see how many more times Siani is placed on waivers<\/a> first.<\/p>\n

Will Ward get the call? Ryan Ward had the best of his three seasons in Triple-A Oklahoma City last year in winning Pacific Coast League MVP<\/a>, but was passed over in favor of several other call-ups with more defensive value before getting added to the 40-man roster in November<\/a> to avoid losing him to minor league free agency. Ward is a modern-day Maytag repairman in that his best two positions are designated hitter and first base, and the Dodgers have Hall of Famers at those positions. Ward, who turns 28 in three weeks, also can monitor corner outfield space when needed, but now with Tucker the team is well-stocked in both left field and right field as well. There doesn\u2019t appear to be much of a path to playing time for Ward on the Dodgers, but expect the Cactus League \u2014 he played in 45 spring training games over the last three years \u2014 to be his showcase to other teams who might have room for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers had a clear need on offense, and they filled it by signing the best free agent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[909,1384,5,138,24,4245,161,39236,5953,29,57,73298,111,18208,4,39948,1528,282],"class_list":["post-556632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-alex-call","tag-andy-pages","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cubs","tag-justin-dean","tag-kike-hernandez","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-medianews-group","tag-michael-conforto","tag-michael-siani","tag-mlb","tag-ryan-ward","tag-teoscar-hernandez","tag-toronto"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116020032657013763","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}