Thursday marks exactly two weeks from opening day for the Dodgers, and technically 51 players remain in big league camp. Let’s categorize all those players to figure out what actual decisions need to be made to get down to 26 active players on March 26.
Starting on the shelf
Evan Phillips is already on the 60-day injured list as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery last June, as is Kiké Hernández, who had left elbow surgery in November. I didn’t count there two players in the 51 players remaining in camp.
Blake Snell hasn’t yet faced hitters this spring after a slow offseason, and will begin the season on the injured list. Same for Tommy Edman as he returns from right ankle surgery.
Gavin Stone missed all of last season after shoulder surgery. He made one start this spring before getting shut down with shoulder soreness.
Brusdar Graterol is being slow-played after missing last year following shoulder surgery. Brock Stewart had shoulder surgery in October, but has been throwing bullpen sessions already. Neither will be ready by opening day. Same for Bobby Miller, who has been sidelined this spring by shoulder soreness.
That’s six players who won’t be ready for opening day, effectively leaving 45 other players at least nominally vying for a roster spot.
A nice showing
A group of non-roster invitees have been active nearly everyday during Cactus League play. Zach Ehrhard and James Tibbs III are two outfielders a little older and further along in the minors than the quartet of top-100 outfield prospects. Zyhir Hope is the last of those top-100 prospects still kicking in camp, his combination of performance at the plate and actual competence in the field keeping him around longer than his fellow prospects.
Noah Miller has played nearly every game at shortstop and impressed in the field enough to be able to see a major league future, even though he hasn’t really hit much in the minors. Miller last year at age-22 had a 73 wRC+ for Triple-A Oklahoma City. For comparative purposes, Miguel Rojas at age 22 had a 75 wRC+ and to that point had played only 75 games in Double-A, yet to reach Triple-A.
Catchers Eliézer Alfonzo and Seby Zavala have played a ton as well.
Veteran Nick Senzel has seen time at second and third base plus designated hitter this spring. Outfielder Jack Suwinski was claimed off waivers on February 21, then cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A on March 2, knocking him down to non-roster invitee status. He has yet to appear in a game this spring.
It’s not a stretch to say none of these nine players are going to make the opening day roster, trimming the group down to 36 players.
Roster locks
Aside from Edman, the Dodgers lineup is basically set, with Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernández, and Andy Pages all secure in their positions.
Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing will be active, as will non-roster invitee Santiago Espinal, filling the current vacancy on the 40-man roster.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow are comfortably atop the starting rotation. Roki Sasaki will be in the rotation come hell or high water.
Edwin Díaz, Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and Jack Dreyer are bullpen fixtures.
That’s 19 locks, leaving is with 17 more players vying for seven active roster spots.
Last arms standing
The two rounds of spring roster cuts so far has trimmed the non-roster pitchers the most, going from 17 down to only four such arms remaining.
Cole Irvin is the starting pitcher of the group, in case the Dodgers need to fill a spot in the rotation at some point — spoiler alert: they definitely will need to fill spots — whether that’s on opening day or later in the year.
Chris Campos is the prospect of the group, now 25 years old and impressing in relief after four professional seasons as a starting pitcher. He’s pitched five scoreless innings in his four appearances, striking out nine of his 20 batters faced with no walks.
Ryder Ryan has allowed three runs in his nine innings, with eight strikeouts and two walks, including two innings in each of his last three appearances.
Antoine Kelly has arguably been the most impressive non-roster pitcher in camp, hovering around 96 mph and touching 99 mph with his fastball. The southpaw has allowed two walks and one hit in his six innings, with seven strikeouts in his 20 batters faced. He faces tough competition to crack the Dodgers bullpen, even before considering whether they’d want a fourth left-hander.
Position-player battles
With Espinal among the locks above, there are 11 position players set and two spots to fill. Hyeseong Kim and switch-hitter Alex Freeland are in the mix for a potential left-handed side of a second base platoon. Kim impressed early in camp but has been away at the World Baseball Classic.
The other position players on the 40-man roster previously unaccounted for are outfielders Alex Call and Michael Siani. That’s four players for two spots here, with the extra outfielder choice coming down to whether the Dodgers prefer offense or defense with this bench spot.
Pitching spots to fill
After the non-roster arms remaining and the 40-man position players still around, that leaves nine pitchers among those vying for five roster spots on the opening day roster.
After Yamamoto, Glasnow, Ohtani, and Glasnow, two rotation spots remain. Justin Wrobleski has looked great thus far, and could easily make the roster even if he’s not starting right now. Emmet Sheehan had the inside track on a rotation spot but was sidelined by illness earlier in camp. Sheehan pitched 2 1/3 innings last time out and has time for two more build-up starts before the season. River Ryan has impressed greatly in his three outings and is built up to three innings. The only question is whether the Dodgers will play things cautiously with Ryan after missing all of 2025 after Tommy John surgery. Landon Knack is still in camp.
For the three other bullpen spots, 40-man roster options include Ben Casparius likely ticketed for short relief after a hybrid role last year, Will Klein looking to build on his October heroics, Edgardo Henriquez looking better after early spring struggles, the 6’10 Paul Gervase could give the Dodgers an advantage in basketball scrimmages, and Kyle Hurt has struck out nine of his 21 batters faced (42.9 percent) this spring after missing all of last season.
This will all get sorted out over the next two weeks.
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