Dodgers: 3 unexpected standouts from LAD's first spring games

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Any Los Angeles Dodgers fan who hasn’t been utterly glued to the television or computer screen since spring training games commenced this weekend has to explain themselves.

But for those of you who may have had something come between you and unlimited consumption of Dodgers action, we’re here to help.

Because the team that has seemingly produced an endless assembly line of studs has unleashed a few more interesting characters on us after the first weekend of baseball.

And no, Trevor Bauer doesn’t count. Though he looked pretty worth the money.

Is it unfair to other teams that Los Angeles has cornered the market on faceless studs who can roll out of bed and hit .300 with 15-20 homers? What about lanky pitchers who emerge from the dark bullpen and immediately reveal they have the swing-and-miss stuff of a 28-year-old All-Star?

No, it’s actually perfectly fair. It’s fair to be better than all of your opponents. It’s great, actually.

These three new Dodgers have taken the first step towards making an impact in 2021 — they’ve captured our attention.

Will they become key 40-man pieces shuttled back and forth throughout the season? Will they emerge as in-house replacements for departed players, both this offseason and next? Who knows. For now, though, we’ve got our eyes on these three helium-packed risers.

These 3 Dodgers have performed especially well at spring training thus far.

Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /

3. Michael Grove

Were you aware of Grove, the Dodgers’ 18th-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, before this weekend’s action?

If you’ve tracked him in the past, you know that his rocky results haven’t matched his pedigree so far.

Selected in the second round out of West Virginia in 2018, Grove’s 2019 season at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga was an eyesore. He posted an erratic 1.55 WHIP, walking 19 men in 51.2 innings pitched alongside a 6.10 ERA. On the flip side, though, his 73 whiffs in such a limited timeframe left plenty of room for optimism.

Great stuff, unsightly .293 batting average against, and not much of a leg to stand on entering the unfortunately-timed 2020 shutdown.

Well, cut to ’21, and Grove is the man Dave Roberts went to in order to save the team’s first spring game of the year. He preserved a 2-1 win against the Oakland A’s with the type of effortlessly great 1-2-3, two-strikeout inning that early-March dreams are made of.

Michael Grove's impressive inning from the Dodgers first game pic.twitter.com/hHI54XqG69
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) March 2, 2021

Perhaps I’m the idiot, but … how was this guy bad at any level in ’19?

Behind more polished collegiate arms like Bobby Miller and Clayton Beeter on the pecking order, we weren’t expecting to see anything spectacular out of Grove in 2021.

But with swing-and-miss stuff like this — and Roberts’ clear “trust” in a veritable high-leverage situation early on — it looks like Los Angeles has another create-a-player to deploy in the late innings sometime soon.

Zach McKinstry – Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /

2. Zach McKinstry

The Dodgers’ do-everything starter Chris Taylor hits free agency next year, one calendar year after the unfortunate departure of Kiké Hernandez.

Huh. Think anyone told 19th-ranked prospect Zach McKinstry about that?

So far in camp, the utility man has received effusive praise from AJ Pollock, who said, “That guy can simply flat-out rake. His bat is definitely going to play in the big leagues, I think.”

Add in his ability at second base and potential to fill in ably at short, third, and all three outfield spots, and the Dodgers’ 33rd-rounder from 2016 might be filling some championship shoes fairly soon at Chavez Ravine.

Oh, right, his spring training start. Does 2-for-4 with significant playing time in the first two games seem telling to anyone else? That’ll play. That’ll play all over the diamond.

McKinstry earns a slot here for the contact ability he’s already shown, as well as the fact that his fellow players are getting his hype machine going in earnest, too. Unprompted.

Sometimes it’s all about the narrative, after all.

In his last full season at the minor-league level, McKinstry hit .300 with 19 homers and 78 RBI across Double-A and Triple-A. He especially picked apart pitching at the highest level, hitting a robust .382 in a 26-game cameo with Oklahoma City.

This could be the year for McKinstry to garner a foothold, and nothing about his first few spring games should dissuade you from having that opinion.

DJ Peters #70 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Rob Tringali/Getty Images) /

1. DJ Peters

Are you tired of having outfield depth? Good. We’re not, either.

DJ Peters ranks as the potential Dodgers center fielder of the future — pending a positional change to make Cody Bellinger’s life easier — or an excellent utility man, slotting in at No. 12 in the aforementioned MLB Pipeline top 30.

Unlike the other names on this list, though, Peters’ time was always expected to be now, with a looming arrival date of 2021 stamped on his prospect pedigree.

So far, so good in the spring, as the speedster is making up for a lost 2020 by proving he still belongs at the highest level.

Peters started the second game of the spring in center backing up Trevor Bauer, and got the scoring started with a two-run homer before continuing a game-sealing rally with a single later on. The day prior, he walked twice against Oakland, giving him a perfect 1.000 batting average and OBP through two contests, both spent in center.

Bellinger’s shoulder injury has nominally allowed Peters to shine, though it’s nothing team brass didn’t expect from the 25-year-old.

After all, it’s no secret he’s been placed front and center on a pedestal so far in the former MVP’s absence.

Let’s hope this trio keeps their hot streaks up, because there’s nothing more exciting than falling in love with untapped potential in the desert in Arizona. Hope springs extremely eternal here, especially when you have a developmental pipeline as strong as the Dodgers’ crew.

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Dodgers: 3 unexpected standouts from LAD’s first spring games

These 3 Dodgers have performed especially well at spring training thus far.

3. Michael Grove

2. Zach McKinstry

1. DJ Peters

Dodgers: 3 internal options that could fill Kiké Hernandez’s role

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