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Dodgers: 3 Areas the Dodgers Offense Must Improve Next Season
The make-up of the 2018 Dodgers team is going to look pretty identical to last year’s team. With only three major free agents this off-season, Dave Roberts can rest assured his core players will be ready to make another run at a World Series. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
There’s very little the Dodgers could do this off-season to drastically improve their 2018 outlook. As of now, the Dodgers are currently the NL favorites to return to the World Series without having made any off-season moves. There’s speculation to many impactful moves Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi can make, but the improvements for this team come outside of their roster.
The style of Dodger baseball. Last season, the season didn’t end with an LA championship because of lack of talent. It ended the way it did because of the club’s inability to play efficient baseball down the stretch.
I come from a small ball era where managers have to grind for every run and cherish every baserunner. Well, it’s become more and more evident that this old style of play is slowly dying in today’s game of baseball. Rarely do we see pitchers pitch past 125 pitches to throw a complete game, and rarely do we see managers sacrifice runners over to get into situational hitting spots.
But that’s an aspect of the game I’d love to see Dave Roberts bring back next season. Roberts has the most talented, versatile team in the entire league, so there’s no reason he should stay away from the small ball game script. Starting with stealing bases.
Steal More Bases
It honestly really surprises me why Dave Roberts does not encourage his players to be more aggressive when it comes to stealing bases. Especially when you remember that base stealing was the biggest asset of Dave Roberts’ game as a player with 243 career stolen bases. After all who doesn’t think of this infamous moment when they hear Dave Roberts’ name.
12 years ago - THE STEAL #redsox #daveroberts #ALCS https://t.co/UcAN0ydaaJ
— F&F Sports (@FandF_Sports) October 18, 2016
Last season the Dodgers only attempted 105 steals and ranked 19th in the MLB with 77 successful stolen bases. They ranked in the top half of the league with a 73% success rate but still swiped below the National League average (84).
With a more familiar roster this upcoming season, I expect Roberts to implement a more aggressive style on the bases. With a good mixture of young, versatile players in the lineup on a daily basis, there’s no reason why the Dodgers shouldn’t be atop the league in stolen bases.
Chris Taylor has proven to be the ideal leadoff hitter in today’s game. He provides the dual power and speed combination leading off for the Dodgers. Taylor led the Dodgers in stolen bases last season with 17, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility for him to have a 20-20 or even 25-25 season.
Aside from Taylor, there are several other candidates to have more than 15 steals next year. Yasiel Puig had 15 last season, due in large part to his increase in walk rate, so that should continue to trend in the right direction.
The Dodger lineup is presumably getting younger by replacing Adrian Gonzalez with Cody Bellinger and Yasmani Grandal with Austin Barnes. Both players are exceptionally fast for their position and should be able to get 10-15 steals.
That also doesn’t include the return of Andrew Toles who was a good base stealer in the minor leagues. Although his stolen bases haven’t translated to the MLB, if there’s ever a part of a player’s game that doesn’t slump, it’s speed.
There are five players I mentioned above, each with 15 stolen bases potential. It seems as if this is a dying aspect of the game as the league average was down from 2016. This is just another aspect of the game the Dodgers should use to their benefit given their youth and versatility.
Lay Down Sacrifice Bunts
I can’t tell you how many times throughout the season where the Dodgers had an opportunity to push a run across but end the rally with a double play. Sacrifice bunts seem like the easiest (yet, it’s not so easy) aspect of baseball that is most underutilized.
The Dodgers had 31 sacrifice hits (commonly referred to as bunts) last season. That is in the middle of the pack in the MLB but 13th in the NL. 13th out of 15 NL teams with 31 sac bunts. That’s an average of about one bunt every fifth game. That stat is incredible when you consider that the Dodgers were 3rd in the NL in OBP (.334).
Yet the Dodgers grounded into 119 double plays 119 last season. That is the 8th most double plays in the league and averages out to about a double play ever 3/4ths of a game. With numbers that skewed, it’s frustrating to see Roberts continue to give hitters the green light when runners are on base.
I understand Roberts wants to chase the big inning, especially with a lineup this deep. But managing with the eye test figures to be the more efficient style of operating, just ask AJ Hinch. There are obviously situations when the team needs to move a runner over and play for one run.
I don’t expect Turner or Seager to lay down a bunt because they’re the best pure hitters in the lineup. But when you have a rookie that is dropping bombs and leading the team in RBI square up to bunt, it shows this team is bigger than any individual’s ego. I don’t think any player on this team has an ego too big not to bunt.
The Dodgers should not be at the bottom of the NL in bunts. They have a deep lineup that could drive in runs in any part of the order. Bunts and situational hitting allow for more runners in scoring position. This allows for more opportunities to score runs.
Cut Down on the Strikeouts
More from Dodgers Way
- Kevin Kiermaier being ‘top target’ to replace Cody Bellinger is bad sign for Dodgers
- Are the Dodgers really prepared to hand Shohei Ohtani a blank check?
- Dodgers fans shouldn’t dismiss interest in Dansby Swanson for this reason
- Giants laughably sign pitcher that Dodgers absolutely own
- Dave Roberts’ quote about Padres in NLDS should motivate Dodgers
Striking out has become the norm for the players in baseball. This season set the single-season record for most strikeouts in the league with 40,104 strikeouts between all 30 teams. That translates to roughly about 8.25 strikeouts per game, up from 2016’s 8.03 mark. That isn’t a big surprise considering we’re transitioning from a pitching dominated league to a home run hitting-strikeout friendly league.
The Dodgers did their fair share of striking out last season. They set a franchise record for most strikeouts in a season with 1,380 and struck out more than the league average at 8.55 per game. They had four players with over 130 strikeouts. Headlined by none other than Cody Bellinger, who happen to set the record for most strikeouts in a series during the World Series.
The Dodgers ranked 7th in the league in strikeouts and were 3rd in the NL in striking out with runners in scoring position with 2-outs. Perhaps even worse than those numbers is that the Dodgers led the NL in strikeouts with the bases loaded (38). Countless missed opportunities last season.
Despite the fact that the Dodgers were one of the best offenses in the league, they still had the potential to be better. They missed on several opportunities last season because of what I believe to be a stubborn approach at the plate. Instead of focusing on a productive at-bat to move a runner over to help produce a run, they were focusing on hitting the ball out.
I don’t want to be hypocritical, so I’ll say the Dodgers were atop the league in home runs. But if you live by the long ball, you’ll die by the long ball. That proved to be right with their strikeout numbers.
It’s easier said than done to cut down on the strikeouts. Dave Roberts just needs to be sure to keep an eye on the situation. A run is a run whether it goes 400+ feet or is scored by a walk, sacrifice bunt, and a bloop single.
Next: FanSided Mock Off-Season Results
The Dodgers don’t have much room for improvement after a 104 win season and World Series appearance. The improvements may come internally opposed to on the free agency market. If Dave Roberts can correct these three aspects of Dodger baseball, they will without a doubt be World Champions.