Dodgers: 4 players who could be first-time All-Stars in 2021

3. Will Smith

The Los Angeles Dodgers already have one of the best hitting catchers in baseball

Will Smith is already playing at an All-Star level. All he has to do is continue playing the way he has played thus far and he is almost a lock to get into the Midsummer Classic. Smith’s arrival in the big leagues was not expected to be this impactful, as he was not even the best catching prospect in the farm (sorry, Keibert Ruiz).

Smith jumped into the scene in 2019 with several clutch hits on the Los Angeles Dodgers, eventually slugging his way into a prominent role with the team. He became the team’s starting catcher in 2020 and his bat was so valuable that Dave Roberts was willing to take the risk of starting Smith at DH when Austin Barnes was behind the plate.

The Dodgers had no other catcher on the roster.

Smith has not become an All-Star yet as the stars simply have not aligned. He came into the league late in 2019 and 2020 did not have an All-Star Game — otherwise, he probably would have made it.

In his 91 games played thus far, Smith has slugged 23 home runs with 67 RBI, a .268 batting average and a .937 OPS. His 162-game pace is absurd for a catcher, as he is on pace for 41 home runs and 119 RBI in 162 games. Only six catchers in the history of baseball have had a 40 home run/100 RBI season. The last was Javy Lopez in 2003.

Those are very high numbers for Smith to hit, and there naturally will be some season-long fatigue. However, if Smith plays in 130 games, then he is likely going to slug 25-30 home runs with 75-90 RBI. That is what an All-Star catcher looks like.

2. Gavin Lux

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ top prospect is ready for a full-time starting job

Gavin Lux has been in a very similar situation to Alex Verdugo’s predicament, prior to being traded. Lux has seemingly been big-league ready for a season and a half at this point, but has not been tasked for the full-time second base job with the Dodgers.

Lux was a September call-up in 2019 and did okay. He hit .240 with a .705 OPS in 23 games that season. That was still enough to land him a spot on the postseason roster, where he hit a home run in his first-ever postseason at-bat.

The 2020 season was an odd one for Lux, as many expected him to be the team’s full-time starting second baseman. He showed up late to what the league called “Summer Camp” for undisclosed reasons and mostly stayed at the alternate site.

Lux appeared in only 19 games and was not that great. He accumulated 63 at-bats and hit .175 with a .596 OPS.

Do not sell your Gavin Lux stock. He was a green rookie in 2019 and was put into a really bad situation to succeed in 2020. With another offseason and a regular Spring Training to go to work, we should finally see the potential that Lux possesses.

Is it enough to be an All-Star? Well, that just depends on how quickly he can adapt to MLB pitching and how the other second basemen in the National League play. But with Enrique Hernández gone, the door is open for Lux to prove his worth.

Let’s not forget that Lux was ranked as the second-best prospect in baseball behind Wander Franco by MLB Pipeline in 2019 and that he hit 26 home runs with a .347 average and 1.028 OPS in his last season in the minors.

1. Victor Gonzalez

The Dodgers reliever could be one of the best in the league

A non-closing reliever making the All-Star Game? That sounds far-fetched, right?

Well, it does not happen all that often, but it certainly does happen. Ryan Pressly made the American League All-Star Game roster in 2019 despite not being the closer of the Houston Astros. At the All-Star Break, he had a 1.31 ERA.

Victor Gonzalez would have to have a really good season in order to become a first-time All-Star, and while he is a sleeper pick, it still is in the realm of possibility. Gonzalez was really good for the Dodgers last season and, quite frankly, was better than people may realize.

The wipeout southpaw had a 1.33 ERA in 20.1 innings pitched last season with a 0.738 WHIP and 23 strikeouts. There were only two pitchers in MLB with a better WHIP than Gonzalez with at least 20 innings pitched — NL Rookie of the Year Devin Williams and AL Reliever of the Year (with Cy Young and MVP votes) Liam Hendriks.

Gonzalez quietly had the third-best season by a reliever in baseball last year and nobody realized. He did not even get a single vote for NL Rookie of the Year.

Now, it was a small sample size, but we have every reason to believe that it will continue. First of all, the Dodgers trusted him in high-leverage situations in the playoffs and he delivered. Gonzalez allowed just two runs in 6.2 IP in the MLB Playoffs in 2020.

Second of all, the advanced numbers are extremely favorable for Gonzalez. Per Baseball Savant, Gonzalez ranked in the 99th percentile in xERA, xwOBA, xSLG and the 96th percentile in xBA. Simply put: he was elite.

Yeah, relievers can make All-Star Games and Victor Gonzalez has the stuff to get there.

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