Dodgers Interview: Alex Call reflects on his whirlwind 2025
LOS ANGELES — Alex Call showed up at DodgerFest last Saturday looking like a guy who still can’t believe how fast his baseball life changed. One minute he was grinding through a season in Washington, and a plane flight later he was trying to keep pace inside a pennant race with the Dodgers. Now he’s walking into his first full spring with a clubhouse that expects deep runs in October. And he sounded like he’s still enjoying every second of the jump.
“It’s been awesome,” Call said. “Truly a blessing to come over here, to have a childhood dream come true. I just praise God for each day, each opportunity, and all the blessings that have been poured out.”
Call didn’t see a ton of duty after joining the Boys in Blue. He appeared in only 38 games, logging 83 plate appearances along the way. He ended up hitting .247, but his elite knowledge of the strike zone pushed in OBP up to .333. Add that to a .384 slugging percentage, and you’ve got a respectable showing for the stretch run.
For him, the shock of it wasn’t just the uniform change. It was the stakes. “This is really what every kid’s dream is, to come and play for a World Series opportunity, and let alone win it,” he said. “I think about all the players that have had amazing careers and never won a World Series. To go from the start of the season being on the Nats, hoping to compete for a playoff spot, getting traded at the deadline, and going to the World Series favorites, it’s still fun to look back and reminisce.”
Call kept returning to that timeline, like he was still turning it over in his head. “It’s crazy how different things can be in a few months, a few weeks,” he said. “Now here we are rolling into next year, getting ready to go, and I couldn’t be more excited.”
Asked what made him feel, even from the outside, that this Dodgers group was built to stay on top, Call didn’t overthink it. He started with the obvious. “You just look at the roster,” he said. “For me, it was like, you look at the Dodgers roster at the start of the season and it’s like, holy cow. These are the best players in the game. They’ve got proven pedigree, proven back to the baseball card stats that they’re going to be tough to beat.”
Then he talked about what happens after you actually walk into that room. “You join that team and you get to know the guys,” Call said. “They welcome you in. They make you feel comfortable. They help. They just say, ‘Hey, you do your thing. You do what you do. And all together, we’ll do what we do.’ And it’ll be something special. And it was…. It was so much fun to get to know these guys on a personal level after admiring their careers,” he said. “Being welcomed in and getting to join them was really fun.”
He also laughed about how different it feels to watch the Dodgers add talent when you’re on the inside of it instead of on the schedule. “It’s pretty fun,” Call said. “You expect nothing less. The Dodgers have proven they’re going to take the money they make and reinvest it back into the team, which is the way I think all teams should operate. We do an amazing job of doing that. When you get top-level talent, top-level guys, guys you don’t really enjoy facing, it gets you excited because the ultimate goal is winning the World Series. If we’re going to get better players to help do that, guys who have proven track records of producing at the major league level, it gives you a little extra jolt. It’s like, ‘All right, here we go. Let’s do it again.’”
For Call, that “do it again” energy doesn’t mean he’s expecting anything handed to him, especially in an outfield that stays crowded. He framed his role in simple terms: be ready, stay sharp, do his job when the phone rings. “No matter what for me, my job is to be ready to play the game that I love at the highest level possible,” he said. “Be the very best version of Alex Call. Whenever they call my name, be ready to execute, play the game that I play, be the player that I am, and perform at a high level.”
He kept coming back to the same word: ready. “That’s my expectation,” Call said. “Keep it simple, and then hopefully, whatever they need me to do, I’ll be ready.”
Even coming off a title run, he said his winter didn’t turn into some brand-new routine. If anything, he sounded like a player who’s learned what not to do when he has too much time to tinker. “It didn’t change my routine,” Call said. “Having so many offseasons under my belt now, I’ve become so much more mature. I’m proud of myself for saying that.”
He explained it like a hitter talking himself out of a trap. “I know I’m a hard worker,” he said. “But sometimes when it comes to my swing, I can overswing, try to get it so perfect so early because you want to come to swing training ready.”
This year, he’s trying to stay steadier. “For me, it’s about relaxing,” Call said. “Trusting that if I show up each day and don’t overswing, don’t go crazy, don’t make myself crazy trying to feel perfect in my swing, I trust that as I go through the process, listen to the coaches, go about my business, I’m going to be exactly where I need to be.”
Call said he feels good physically, too, especially after getting a chance to reset. “My swing feels like it’s in a great spot,” he said. “My body’s in a great spot. I was able to take some nice time off. I was kind of banged up a little bit, knee and ankle, things like that.”
He credited the Dodgers’ resources for helping him get through a winter that was more about purpose than panic. “Having a little rest, having a little physical therapy, and then diving into a full offseason of intentional training, specific for me, using our staff and everybody, they’ve done a great job,” Call said. “I feel amazing. So I’m ready to rock and roll, feel great, and excited for this year.”
DodgerFest itself was new for him, and he sounded genuinely happy to see how the fan base shows up for a February event like it’s already April. “I’m super grateful to be a part of it,” Call said. “I’ve always loved the idea of doing a fan fest and being a part of one, breaking up the offseason, getting everybody excited.”
He described it as the perfect little bridge into camp. “This is a fun time of year,” he said. “Baseball is about to be back, about to be in spring training, about to have some fun, and try to run it back.”
Then he got specific about what it’s like playing in front of this crowd, even in his short time in L.A. “Dodgers fans, it’s been such a pleasure coming to L.A. and playing in front of them,” Call said. “You can feel the passion. You can feel the energy. You know everybody hangs on every game and every pitch. It’s special and unique from what I’ve seen so far in my career.”
So the turnout at DodgerFest didn’t shock him at all. “It doesn’t surprise me that we have some fans here,” Call said. “We have everybody enjoying it. So I’m just going to enjoy it too.”
And yes, he plans to keep one part of the championship year in the right place, instead of tossing it on like a regular cap. When the conversation turned to the iconic World Series hat he’s been wearing around the event, Call smiled and treated it like a piece of personal history. “This is the hat that is going to be cherished for all time,” he said. “I don’t really wear it in public unless I’m doing a specific event like this.”
He even admitted he’s basically giving it a final lap in the sun before it goes into the keepsake category. “Once the season starts, this is my time to kind of show it off,” Call said. “Once the season starts, I’m not going to wear it probably much ever again. So this hat’s time to shine and get out in the sunlight.”
For a player who went from deadline trade to championship celebration in one season, that tracks. Call isn’t pretending the ride wasn’t wild. He’s just saying it plainly, smiling through it, and getting ready to do his part when the Dodgers call his name again.
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