Dodgers: Gavin Lux won’t let you forget him after monster spring

The Dodgers didn’t add any major offensive free agents this winter, re-upping with long-time leader Justin Turner before mostly staying out of the fray with unfamiliar names.

That doesn’t mean this offense didn’t add a potential All-Star during the offseason, though. He might’ve just arrived internally.

Recall, if you will, all the way back to…prior to the 2019 season. The Dodgers had yet to snap their title drought. “Coronavirus” was a fake disease you claimed you’d caught if you were too hungover on Seis de Mayo. And Gavin Lux was MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 prospect in the entire sport, and a consensus top-five talent.

What happened from there? A year-end cameo led to appearances in four NLDS games (and a playoff home run), but the entire Lux project went off the rails in a 2020 campaign that agreed with very few people.

The Dodgers persevered anyway, of course, capturing one of the strangest titles ever won in any sport, while Lux was relegated to the sidelines.

In case you forgot his pedigree, though, he entered 2021 with a chance to reestablish himself, and earned Dave Roberts’ praise by the end of camp as a player who’d earned everyday reps.

Los Angeles isn’t just getting a new starting second baseman and eight hitter. They’re adding another potential All-Star to the bottom of the lineup.

Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux could be another All-Star-type talent in 2021.

In 2020, Lux bucked the odds by providing nearly zero, playing in just 19 games and delivering an unbecoming .175 average with three home runs. Instead of a Rookie of the Year front-runner, he was stunningly a non-factor, and played zero role other than a cautionary tale down the stretch and into the team’s first championship in 32 years.

Rejuvenated upon arrival this spring, though, Lux mashed .333 in 50 plate appearances, though with only five extra-base hits mixed in (four doubles, a home run).

In order to become something closer to a spark plug, he’ll need to reengage his power, which generally comes to both the opposite field and the pull side.

It seems, though, that the team intends to give him every chance to do so this year, and was not dissuaded by a step back in a strange campaign for everyone.

“Gavin Lux: everyday player” may have materialized one year later than we all anticipated, but the version we’ve gotten a look at this spring seems far more ready to contribute than the one who arrive at Summer Camp last year.

Sometimes, all it takes is a clearing of the head to put the finishing touches on a future All-Star.

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