Dodgers 2024 Roster Rundown

welcome to a brand new season of Dodger baseball last year a lot of people seem to appreciate my roster rundown before the season in fact it might have been the only video that a lot of people seem to appreciate so I'm back to do another one obviously the Dodgers are coming off an incredibly exciting off season but every player matters in baseball even Austin Barnes and I figured new fans especially would want to know more about the roster before the season begins so allow me to quickly take you through the position players the pitchers and a few minor league players that we might see throughout the year at first base we've got Old Reliable Freddy Freeman Freddy is coming off another great season and remains one of the best hitters in baseball and even if he only squeezed out one measly single in the playoffs last year it's safe to say we can still trust the man to deliver at second base we have Gavin Lux who is returning after missing all last season with a torn ACL Gavin was supposed to be the short stop this year but his defensive abilities during spring training left something to be desired so they're sending him back to the position that he spent most of his major league career at I'm a big fan of Gavin so I'm really hoping he has a great season even if the spring training Switcheroo probably wasn't the best start for his confidence I honestly think most of his defensive problems are mental at this point so I'm hoping the Dodgers stick by him as he gets more comfortable at shortstop the man Gavin is switching places with is mooki bets last year saw Muki seamlessly moov from The Outfield to second base in the middle of an incredible regular season for him I'm sure we'll still see him in right field and second base on occasion but it seems like this year he's going to spend most of his time at Short let's just hope that he'll be spending most of his time getting hits when October comes around at third base there's Max Muny obviously his defense at third leaves something to be desired since it wasn't his original position but he makes up for it with that sweet sweet slugging percentage and behind the plate we have Will Smith who's probably the most consistently underrated player on the Dodgers since he mostly stays quiet and delivers a great performance without much fanfare he dealt with an injury that hindered him a little bit last year but he still finished the season with an Ops of 797 and even managed to show up in the playoffs he almost makes up for the stats of his backup catcher but we'll get to him later moving to the Outfield the primary players are probably going to look like this in right field we have Jason Hayward who signed a one-year contract to return to the Dodgers after proving himself last season and if he can replicate it it'll be well worth the $9 million salary although there's no better bargain than paying him League minimum like last year in center field there's James outman who's coming off a promising rookie season and very importantly showed that he has the ability to overcome a slump and remain consistent that's what gives a player a real staying power in my opinion so it's safe to say that we'll be enjoying James for years to come and by that I mean both his onfield performance and that beautiful head of hair and in left field we'll be seeing teoscar Hernandez who came to the Dodgers on a one-year deal after openly admitting that he was unsatisfied with his options in free agency but he had a very off off year last season so this will be a good way to prove himself and $23.5 million might still be a bargain for the Dodgers since they somehow found a way to defer even that contract speaking of which our designated hitter is another new member of the team shoh Otani not sure if you guys know anything about this guy but I have a feeling he'll be pretty good I guess we'll find out now let's move on to our bench players and as humiliating as that phrase sounds I think a lot of them will see a ton of playing time and be incredibly important throughout the season first we have Chris Taylor the longtime Dodger who will continue to be an important utility man throughout the season his versatility around the field makes for some very flexible lineups and we know he can come up clutch when the moment needs him then there's the old fan favorite Kik Hernandez just when we thought the Dodgers were seriously going to put Manuel Margo on the field they traded him to the twins to make room for our old friend Kik and after a rough go in Boston he's returning to the club a slightly humbler man who is now willing to come off the bench instead of starting every day and honestly I think his contract is an absolute steal at $4 million his Bat might not blow us away but he's another guy who makes the lineup super flexible and we know he's incredibly clutch in the postseason and after the last 2 years we need as much help with that as we can get not to mention that the Good Vibes he brings to the team are worth their weight in gold we also have Miguel roas the veteran shortstop who was abruptly thrust into an everyday role after the Lux injury last year and while he definitely doesn't have the bat to be a starter he might honestly be the best defensive shortstop in the game and by all accounts he's an incredible Clubhouse guy who looks out for the young players I also have a feeling that he'll play better this year since he was dealing with an injury in the second half of last season and got surgery in October and by playing better I mean that he'll probably have like a 650 Ops but a guy with a 650 Ops looks like Barry Bonds next to our final position player backup catcher Austin Barnes last season saw him finish with a 180 batting average and a 498 Ops which is is uh not great granted he's often praised for his catching abilities and apparently he's a great person but those factors have certainly gotten him a lot further than most players with stats like this not much we can do about it though so let's just hope he can reach the Mendoza Line this year now let's move on to the pitchers starting with the rotation going into the season the second biggest signing from this offseason was yoshinobu Yamamoto a 25-year-old Japanese pitcher who signed with the Dodgers for 12 years he's easily one of the best pitchers to ever come out of Japan so it'll be interesting to see him transition to MLB I'm sure there's going to be an adjustment period but hopefully he'll settle in soon enough technically he might not be here for all 12 years as the contract comes with a few opt outs he could take but considering he grew up a Dodger fan and his glove looks like this I have a feeling he'll be here for the long run then there's Tyler glasnow who was acquired in a trade this offseason that saw Ryan pepio and Johnny Duca go to the Rays and I'll definitely miss those guys but glaz now signing a 5-year extension with the Dodgers bodess well the only question is how healthy he can stay after an injury-prone career so far but at least the fan base is used to Injured pitchers by now Bobby Miller is heading into his sophomore season after putting up a 3.76 erra last year and that was a season where he wasn't even necessarily going to be called up so I'm guessing he'll be even better after nearly a full year of Major League experience then there's James Paxton who was kind of an under the radar signing in late January and he's another talented but injury-prone pitcher which explains why the team likes him so much he's so injury-prone in fact that his deal was already changed from $1 million to $7 million because of unspecified health issues very comforting speaking of health issues originally the rotation was going to include Walker Bueller and then emiten but now both of them are going to be starting the season on the ilil it seems Walker Bueller is not quite ready to return from his second Tommy John surgery just yet now that doesn't make a ton of sense to me since it seemed like he was almost ready to return at the end of last season and yet he's still not going to be ready by late March emiten started throwing late this spring due to some shoulder discomfort and general soreness but it seems they're optimistic about his return so hopefully both those guys come back soon and perform well because as last year taught us you could never have enough starting pitchers but the question remains who will the final pitcher of the rotation be at the moment it's not officially confirmed but the most likely candidate seems to be Gavin Stone last year he showed some promise but finished with a 9 ER but he put on some muscle this year and has looked fantastic in spring training so I think we'll see him in the rotation until one of those other guys is ready there is of course the great Clayton kersa to discuss after ending last year with a postseason performance that could be described as not ideal kers underwent the first major surgery of his career and now hopes to come back to the Dodgers around August honestly this might work out perfectly as it'll allow Kershaw's arm to be strong going into the playoffs for once but it's genuinely a joy to watch him pitch so I hope to see him return as quickly as possible it's hard to sort through the rest of our pitchers because I'm honestly not sure who's going to make the opening day roster but I'll give you a quick rundown starting with the two Fring starter slong relief guys Michael Grove has seen his fair share of starts over the last two seasons and honestly I think it's time we admit that he belongs in the bullpen he looked much better as a reliever near the end of 2023 still if times get tough there's a chance he takes the mound at the start of a few games but God I hope it doesn't come to that Ryan yarro was acquired in a trade last season and was then stupidly left off the postseason roster in favor of Michael Grove what a decision that was and even though his pitches never hit above 89 mph yarro is a great bulk Innings guy who can easily get a few starts in here and there now we get to the bullpen which is kind of a mystery right now as the team continues to figure out who they want to use this year but I'll start off with some guys who will definitely be helping us out fan favorite Joe Kelly is back on a one-year deal and it seems he has no interest in going anywhere else for the rest of his career and I don't think any Dodger fans are complaining even if he does give us a good dose of heart attacks on the mound bruar graterol is coming off an incredible season putting up a 1.2 erra in 67 Innings last year he also felt like the only pitcher we could trust in the postseason but he is yet another pitcher who's kind of a question mark right now as he has been officially ruled out for the Korea series due to hip discomfort but thankfully he's hoping to be ready for opening day in the states so as long as he can keep the command from last year he'll be a beast in the bullpen Alex vesia had a rough season last year but the team clearly has faith that he can return to the low 2 ER seasons of 2021 and 2022 he's also one of only two lefties who will definitely be in the bullpen this year the other one being yarro so we better hope vessia can get it together this time around returning to the team is one of last year's DFA Reclamation projects Ryan braer who says he wanted to come back after the Dodgers took him from a 7.29 erra at the start of the season with the Red Sox to a 0.7 ra in over 38 Innings with the Dodgers we really do take Mark Prior for granted sometimes Blake Tran is back on the mound after missing all of last year and pitching only five innings in 2022 according to him he was considering getting a surgery in early 2022 until God told him to fight through it which he did before ultimately deciding to get the surgery at the end of the year instead causing him to miss all of 2023 so I guess God had money on the Diamondbacks last year another injured pitcher who seems ready to go this this year is Daniel Hudson the veteran reliever who signed a minor league contract to come back to the Dodgers after pitching just three Innings last year but they were three scoreless Innings so we'll take what we can get this man's legs are seemingly made of cardboard but as long as he can pitch he'll be good to have rounding out the trio of injury-prone relievers JP fire rizen should finally pitch for the Dodgers this year and if you have no idea who that is you might be shocked to learn that he's been with the Dodgers since December of 2022 but spent all of last season recovering ing from shoulder surgery he's only pitched 89.2 innings in his career but he put up a 2.31 erra in those Innings so he's definitely worth taking a look at and then there's Evan Phillips who has worked his way to being the team's semi-official closer since we claimed him off waivers from the Rays in 2021 truly a guy I'm glad to have on the team those are probably the only guys who I can guarantee will pitch for the Dodgers this season but here are a few pitchers who might also get a spot on the team Gus varland returned to the Dodgers last year after previously being taken by the Brewers in the rule five draft and if you don't know what that is don't worry about it because I don't have time to explain it the point is the team seems to like his stuff so he'll probably make the roster again eventually the prospect Kyle hurt pitched two innings last year but he looked so good in those two innings that everyone's pretty excited to see how he develops I'd be very surprised if he doesn't make the team at some point Landon Knack put up a 2.51 erra in the miners last year and the Dodgers have been rolling him out for all the pre preseason team bonding events so I suspect this will be the year he joins the majors then there's Matt Gage TJ McFarland and Ricky Vasco don't have much to say about those guys but you might see them pitch this year and now for some position players who could also get called up in 2024 first and foremost is Miguel Vargas who was our starting second baseman last season before being sent down halfway through the year the Dodgers obviously weren't satisfied with his work which is why Muki became our second baseman people thought Vargas would get traded but if the dodg still plan to do that they're probably looking to increase his value first so now the junior Miggy has been converted to an outfielder which always goes seamlessly you can ask Gavin Lux about that anyway his Bat hasn't looked great in spring training but maybe they'll still give him a shot this year the catcher Hunter fedua is third in the catcher death chart meaning he's probably who they'll turn to if something happens to Barnes or Smith this guy was a great hitter last year which makes you wonder why they haven't tried him out as a Barnes replacement but we won't get into that again Austin gothier is a shortstop Prospect who had a great year in the miners last season and has been having a really good spring so he's an important depth piece without a doubt speaking of shortstop depth pieces Trey Sweeney was once a first round pick by the Yankees we got him in the offseason trade of Victor Gonzalez his Bat hasn't come alive in the miners but maybe the Dodger devil magic will get him there then there's Andy pz an outfielder who has had an incredible spring training but he's only played one game in AAA so there's a good chance we still won't see him in the majors until next year here although Dave Roberts recently made it seem like pz might be closer to the majors than we think so who knows other potential call-ups include Travis swaggerty Jose Ramos and Kevin padow and that's about it I'm sure I still managed to forget some people but hopefully that gives you a good idea of the Dodgers roster going into a very exciting season as for this channel last year I was doing weekly Recaps of the season but those have been officially retired however I'll be experimenting with some shorts and some posts on the YouTube Community tab so keep an eye on this channel and who knows maybe I'll make a few fun videos over the course of the season so subscribe if you're going to be following the Dodgers and let me know your thoughts on the roster in the comments and in a year we can all look back on this video and laugh at how many bad predictions I [Music] made