Dodgers: Next kid up Gavin Lux is here to stay at second base

After watching one of the most clutch performers fracture his wrist, Dodgers fans cheered mightily for their latest hero from the Minors, Gavin Lux.

Heralded from the day he was taken in the 1st round of the 2016 MLB Draft, Gavin Lux finally made his anticipated debut for the Dodgers.

Treated to a Dodgers offensive fireworks show, Lux made haste in joining the party.

Lux smacked the first pitch he saw straight up the middle and without speaking a single word, Gavin Lux showed everyone exactly what all of this hype was about.

In just the second at-bat of his Major League Baseball career, Lux stroked a gapper double like he was slicing through a piece of cake, with ease. Even more impressive was the way in which Lux worked the count full, patiently waiting for his opportunity to strike.

Max Muncy going down was an unfortunate occurrence. However, given the nature of the Dodgers front office, their depth, and their playoff implications, Gavin Lux’s call-up was far from inevitable, so the silver lining in Muncy’s injury was that it forced the Dodgers to call up Lux, and play him once he came up.

The Dodgers best-case scenario would be if Muncy heals in time for the playoffs to play first base and the Dodgers keep Lux with the playoff roster to play second base.

Minor League Background

As he showed last night, Gavin Lux isn’t afraid of the spotlight. Throughout the 2018-2019 seasons in the minors, Lux continuously bested every expectation placed upon him since the day he was drafted.

He was promoted from AA-Tulsa to AAA-Oklahoma back in late-June and all he’s done since being drafted is hit. His .392 batting average in AAA can attest to that. In only 199 at-bats in AAA this year Lux bashed 13 home runs.

Drafted out of high school in the 2016 draft, Lux’s M.O. was that his bat-to-ball skills were elite but his power hadn’t yet matured at the game level. Upon changing his swing in Single-A Advanced at Rancho Cucamonga, Lux started receiving more recognition as a top-level talent with every HR he hit.

Historically, when hit-first hitters develop their power at a later date, they develop into MLB players who last far longer than the power-first hit later prospects.

Hitting home runs will get you far enough in the minors, but to last in the bigs, you must hit. Gavin Lux’s pedigree as a first-rounder mixed with his minor league career and his ability to perform when it matters most make him the highest of caliber candidate to stick with the Dodgers from here-on-out.

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Lux’s clutch gene was on full display last year during AA-Tulsa’s historic championship run.

A recently promoted Lux had only 28 games of Double-AA experience when Tulsa landed in last year’s Texas League playoffs. In those 28 games, he hit to the tune of .324 AVG, .904 OPS, 4 HR’s, and 9 RBI’s. His walk-to-strikeout ratio was a stellar 14/20.

Lux’s numbers only got better when Tulsa entered the Texas League Playoffs. His numbers throughout said playoffs: 8 games played, 33 AB, 8 runs scored, 14 hits, 25 total bases, 5 doubles, 2 HR’s, 4 RBI, 5 BB, 12 K’s, which equaled a .424 batting average, .500 on-base percentage, .758 slugging percentage, equaling a 1.258 OPS.

Gavin Lux’s clutch hitting and the Tulsa Drillers brought back their first Texas League Championship to Tulsa since 1998, or 20 years.

In totality, Lux’s pedigree, increased power, impeccable timing to reach the bigs, hit-first approach, stellar eye, and proven clutch genetics are all reasons behind my belief that Gavin Lux is not only here to stay, he’s here to help the Dodgers get past the World Series and bring back the first World Championship to the Dodgers since 1988, or 31 years.

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Our jobs as Dodger fans throughout all of this? Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Go Blue.

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