Dodgers: Three Underrated Players Returning From Injuries in 2018

Andrew Toles

For Andrew Toles, he has already come back from being out of baseball and now he will try to come back from ACL surgery.  Toles injured his knee while trying to make a tough catch in left field last May and missed the rest of the 2017 season.   Toles was a much-needed spark to the Dodgers in the later stages of the 2016 season and ended up hitting one of the most significant home runs of the 2016 season when he launched a grand slam that led the Dodgers to a come back win over the Rockies.  That win sparked the Dodgers 2016 playoff run before it came to an end in the NLCS.

In 2017, Toles was off to a great start hitting five home runs in only 31 games.  His hot start was erased by his knee injury that ended his season.  Toles is a 294 hitter in his time with the Dodgers and has been an excellent left fielder.  He can even make a spot start in center field or right field when needed.  While Chris Taylor became the Dodgers leadoff hitter this season, Andrew Toles could take that role back if he makes a successful comeback from his knee injury.  Batting Taylor lower in the lineup would only make the Dodgers lineup even stronger as it would add one more run producer to the middle of the order.

Toles hasn’t stolen many bases, but he has the speed to and could add a base stealing threat to the Dodger lineup in 2018.  While the Dodger lineup was one of the best this year, the one thing they lacked was the ability to steal bases.  Putting Toles and Taylor in the everyday lineup would give the Dodgers two base stealing threats and an added dimension to an already robust starting lineup.