Mike Salas
Continuing our DodgersBeat position preview is center field, where the Los Angeles Dodgers have multiple position players on the roster who are more than capable of fielding.
Last season, the position was primarily held by Andy Pages and James Outman. When the Dodgers signed utility player Tommy Edman, he shared time in center field with Pages. Outman’s bat struggled, so the Dodgers decided to send him back to OKC to work on his swing.
What Will Center Field Look Like with Tommy Edman Slated to Make Up Most of the Starts?
The Los Angeles Dodgers made a move at the 2024 trade deadline to beef up the outfield by signing Tommy Edman from the St. Luis Cardinals. The Dodgers inked a 5-year, $74 million deal through 2029 with a 2023 club option.
Edman is a 29-year-old gold glove second baseman. The Californian native played his college at Stanford before being drafted by the St Luis Cardinals in the sixth round.
During his time with the Cards, he mainly played second base and was moved around the infield and outfield in his later playing years. In his last year with St. Luis, he posted a .237/ .294/ .417 and 98 wRC+.
Edman helped the Dodgers win the World Series last season and was named the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player. His clutch hitting and eclectic plays at shortstop helped the Dodgers advance to the World Series.
In the 2024 postseason, Edman slashed .328/.354/.508 with a .862 OPS, two home runs, thirteen RBIs, and five stolen bases in sixty-one at-bats.
Over his six-year career, Edman has hit .277/.315/.412 with a .727 OPS, including 126 doubles, twenty triples, fifty-nine home runs, 242 RBIs, and 112 stolen bases, along with stellar defense.
Edman is a Gold Glove Award-winning second baseman who can also play above-average shortstop and third base. His speed makes him an average centerfielder, along with his lateral movement and reaction time to a hit ball. He is not the tallest centerfielder, which prevents him from making plays at the top of the wall.
Edman’s versatility makes him one of the best utility players in the game, which gives the Dodgers the advantage of playing him in multiple spots.
So far, during the Dodgers 2025 spring training, Conforto has shown some life to the bat in batting practice and during live BP. Conforto was one of four to face Yamamoto’s live simulation, and he was able to get a couple of hits off him.
For the upcoming 2025 regular season, FanGraphs has Edman projected to hit 15 home runs, .253/.309/.394 slash line a .307 wOBA, and a 98 wRC+.
The Dodgers organization had been eyeing him for a while before they signed him. He is a fan favorite, and with his signing extension, Edman will be a Dodger for the next five years.
Other Options
With Tommy Edman set to play most of the innings in center field. There are two other options for playing center field when Edman is playing the infield.
The first option that comes to mind is second-year player Andy Pages. Pages is a natural corner outfielder with a cannon of an arm and the ability to crush balls when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound.
The knock-on Pages last year, “he’s a horrible center fielder.” What most fans don’t know who do not follow the minor leagues. Last year, Pages was coming off a shoulder injury that sidelined him for all of the 2023 minor league season.
He came into the Dodgers 2024 spring training looking good. He lost weight, he looked like his shoulder was totally rehabbed, and his bat was knocking balls out of the ballpark. 2024 was his first season back after spending a month in Triple-A ball with OKC before he was injured. Pages won a spot on the roster and earned a World Series by hustling and blocking out all the criticism.
With a year under his belt with one of the league’s most recognized and respected franchises, Pages can show off his talents in left field and display his natural talent in his bat.
Key Stat: 40.8 SwSp% Pages pulls the ball a lot while consistently hitting it on a good launch angle. He had a solid rookie campaign with a .712 OPS, but expect him to take a big step forward in 2025. FanGraphs has him as an average hitter with a .247/.317/.441, .328 wOBA, 100 wRC+. If you scroll up a little on this article, Pages numbers are slightly better than Conforto. The only difference is experience in the Majors.
James Outman had a breakout year in 2023 and was thought to be Cody Bellinger‘s replacement in center field. Unfortunately, Outman had a sophomore slump year in 2024 and was sent back to the minors to work on his swing.
Outman shines above the competition defensively, but his bat is what’s holding him back. In 2024, he had fifty-five strikeouts, four home runs, eleven RBIs, a .147/.256/.265, and a 521 OPS. So far in spring training, he has not improved his hitting and seems to be stuck in the mental block of the 2024 season.
Hyeseong Kim is primarily a second baseman but has also logged a decent amount of games at shortstop, third base, and both corner outfield spots, a true utilityman. Just recently, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also stated that Kim would see time in center field, but the primary spot still seems to be second base.
Kim’s ability to adjust to Major League pitching in spring training has been an issue. He is working on a new swing, which could possibly be sent down to the minors to perfect.
Chris Taylor, 34, has played all over the baseball diamond since joining the Dodgers, but father time has crept up on the once above-average defender. Offensively, Taylor must improve, as in 2024, he had his worst season, hitting .202/.298/.300 with a 74 wRC+.
Kiké Hernández, like Taylor, will play all over the field but primarily center field, third base, and potentially shortstop.
Overall, the Dodgers center field platoon can be above average. The question is who will take the two remaining spots on the 26-man roster. The Dodgers are looking to go back-to-back World Series Champs in 2025, and they will need a solid center fielder to do their part in producing runs when October comes around.
DodgersBeat Grade B+
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