Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — It’s a long way from the bright lights of LA to the praries of Oklahoma. In more ways than one. And, for a while anyway, centerfielder James Outman will be spending time in the latter.
The victim of a roster crunch, Outman was sent packing when Jason Heyward came off the IL on Friday night. The writing was on the wall for a while: Chris Taylor‘s tenure with the team meant he wasn’t going anywhere, and when Max Muncy went on the IL, the Dodgers needed somebody who could play infield OR outfield, and Miguel Vargas was a logical choice to fill that slot at least temporarily. That left Outman on the “out” side looking in.
Truth be told, it’s been an awful stretch for Outman. So far in 2024, Outman has collect only sixteen hits in 122 plate appearances. That pencils out to just a .147 batting average. Couple that with reduced power numbers (just three homers and a .266 slugging percentage) and a strikeout rate of nearly 40%, it’s not hard to see why the Dodgers front office felt that the utility of his getting regular playing time in LA was hard to justify. So off to Oklahoma City he went, his locker cleaned out before the game on Friday night.
This is especially distressing because it was hoped that the talented lefthanded hitter would be taking a step FORWARD this year, not back. He did have a good rookie campaign upon which to build. He was third in Rookie of the Year voting for the National League, behind only Corbin Carroll (who is also struggling this year) and faux rookie Kodai Senga of the Mets. That’s some pretty good company. But Outman’s numbers deserved the praise. After a strong start in the spring of last year, Outman hit the doldrums in the early summer before coming on strong with a solid second half of the year. His slash line of .248/.353/437 translated to above-league-average .790 OPS and his 23 home runs and 70 RBI more than made up for the loss of Cody Bellinger in centerfield, who was coming off one of his worst professional seasons ever in 2022.
“It was a tough one,” manager Dave Roberts said of the decision. “I don’t think any of us expected to be in this position given last year and our expectation for him this season. We felt that James needed an opportunity to go down and play every day. There’s something to getting out of this environment.”
When he came up last year, Dodgers’ staffers and coaches praised Outman’s “football mentality” and his ability to slow down big at-bats and let the game come to him. “I don’t think any moment is gonna be too big for him,” Roberts said after his early-season success. “There’s just certain guys that special things are bound to happen.”
Let’s hope those special things will be happening back in LA in the future. But for now, we won’t be hearing Baltimora’s “Tarzan Boy” on Dieter Ruhle’s organ anytime soon.
