Dodgers: Three key positional battles to keep an eye on going forward

The Dodgers have seemingly hit their stride in the past couple of weeks, playing much better baseball and continuing to close the gap on the Colorado Rockies. This is mainly due to the Dodgers’ offense finally producing with some consistency.

That being said, the Dodgers find themselves in a predicament when filling out the lineup card and selecting a starting pitcher on a nightly basis. This problem is a great one to have, but someone has to sit on the bench and bullpen and probably will not be too happy about it.

The three positional battles that I will analyze are center field, the final spots in the starting rotation, and the role of utility man.

Battle of Final Spots in the Starting Rotation

The Dodgers’ starting pitching depth was something that was very much talked about before the season opening. However, the depth struggled at the outset due to injuries but has now become a good problem for the team. A decision must be made on who gets the last spot in the Dodger rotation.

For me, there are three locks in the Dodgers rotation, and they are Clayton Kershaw, Brandon McCarthy, and Kenta Maeda. These pitchers have a solid, proven track record and are pitchers that cannot be used in relief. This means that two from the likes Alex Wood, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Julio Urias, and Rich Hill will start and two will go to the bullpen or minors.

Of this group of four, I believe that Alex Wood and Ryu should be the ones to get the nod for the last two spots in the rotation, contingent on the health of Hill. This season Alex Wood is 5-0 with a sparkling 1.88 ERA over seven starts and has a superb 52 strikeouts in only 43 innings of work, which equates to 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. This start earned him NL Player of the Week honors last week.

Ryu, on the other hand, has not gotten out to a great start so far this season, posting a record of 2-5 with an ERA of 4.75 over 36 innings of work. However, Ryu has valuable playoff experience and is still working his way back from an injury that cost him about two seasons. I believe the Dodgers should leave him in the rotation to see what they have in him because he could be a potential X-factor as the season progresses.

This leaves the $48 million offseason signing Rich Hill and young phenom Julio Urias as the odd men out. This will not be an easy decision for Dave Roberts, but it’s the correct one.

Julio Urias is still very young, and the Dodgers are keen on bringing him up slowly by limiting his innings pitches. So far this season, Urias has struggled with his command and release point and has been knocked around a bit his last couple of starts. This has led to being optioned back to Triple-A. A stint back would allow for him to work out his kinks which then might be the perfect thing to boost his confidence.

Rich Hill should not be in the rotation only because he cannot stay healthy. He has been plagued with blisters, which has limited him to only 13 innings pitched this season. A move to the bullpen would mean that his appearances would be more often than every fifth day, but each appearance would also be lesser in duration. This could allow his hands to toughen up to help avoid blisters for a possible return to the rotation come playoff time.

In the end, health will determine who gets the final two spots, but I believe that Alex Wood has at least pitched his way into an almost lock for the starting rotation.

Chris Taylor vs. Kiké Hernandez

The final roster battle is between utility men Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez. Hernandez has been the Dodgers’ utility man the past couple of seasons due to his ability to play the infield and the outfield. This spring, the Dodgers tried Taylor in the outfield with limited success.

This season, Taylor has forced this conversation to occur in the Dodgers’ front office due to his stellar play. He is batting .333 with five home runs and 16 RBI with an OBP of .446!

Not only that, but he is feasting on left-handed pitching, batting .440 with two home runs. Left-handed pitching has been the Dodgers’ weakness, so anyone hitting this well against them should be on the roster.

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Kiké Hernandez is batting .250 with three home runs and 12 RBI. Against left-handers, he is hitting .267/.353/.578. That’s an astonishingly elite .931 OPS. Taylor will not continue to hit for the surprising power he has hit for thus far, so it will be a choice between average (Taylor) and power (Hernandez).

I believe that the Dodgers should keep Taylor over Hernandez on the squad as their utility man. The pro to Hernandez is his ability to play the outfield and hit for power against lefties. However, with the call-up of Cody Bellinger, the Dodgers have a player that can play first base and all outfield positions, which would help if Hernandez were to be sent down.

However, Taylor can play 2B, SS, and 3B, which would still give the Dodgers the flexibility that Hernandez provides in the infield. I believe that Taylor should be the man to stay with the ball club due to his ability to hammer left-handed pitching this season. With all that has been made up about the team’s inability to hit lefties, it would be hard to understand why the Dodgers would send a player down who is helping the team considerably in that area.

Next: Getting you ready for the 2017 draft

This decision has been put on hold for now with the unfortunate injury to Justin Turner. The silver lining is that this will allow the Dodgers to further evaluate what they have in each player and get a larger sample size to determine if Taylor’s hot start is a fluke or here to stay. Hopefully, the answer is the latter.