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3 young Dodgers who must step up in 2022 season

By Adam Weinrib

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 27: Tony Gonsolin #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after retiring the side against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning in Game Six of the 2020 MLB World Series at Globe Life Field on October 27, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 27: Tony Gonsolin #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after retiring the side against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning in Game Six of the 2020 MLB World Series at Globe Life Field on October 27, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Gavin Lux, Los Angeles Dodgers
Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images) /

1. Gavin Lux

From 2018-2021, the infield was too over-stuffed for Gavin Lux.

In 2022? There’s plenty of room for the slugging second baseman, as long as he’s willing and able to participate.

It feels like we’ve written time and again about how the 24-year-old Lux is entering a make-or-break campaign this season, but the assertion is doubly true now that the Dodgers have actually let Corey Seager walk instead of just watching us spin our wheels about it. Unless the team comes out of the woodwork to sign Freddie Freeman, Lux will be their second baseman entering camp, with Trea Turner in the final year of his deal at short, an aging captain in Justin Turner at third, and an injury-rehabbing Max Muncy at first.

At the tail end of Sept., there seemed to be a good chance LA would be back-to-back champions entering 2022 with more infield options than they could shake Muncy’s boomstick at. Instead, the first baseman’s injury sent the offense into a tailspin, and Seager’s departure led to more uncertainty than ever.

Arguably, there’s now a future for Lux at three positions rather than zero, and his Dodgers blueprint doesn’t involve him being shoved into center field, either. All he has to do is hit … which sounds simpler than it really is, considering that just hasn’t happened yet. His legs and defense provided the 2021 Dodgers with 1.6 WAR; unfortunately, his bat didn’t do much of the talking yet again, accounting for a below-average 87 OPS+.

Thus far, the story of Lux’s Dodgers career can be encapsulated in the moment in 2021’s NLDS where he believed he’d tied up the Giants with a two-out, left-center home run, only for the wind to push the ball just short as he circled the bases with his arms outstretched. Now, he no longer has to force himself into the lineup. The spot is his. Will he celebrate, or get overwhelmed by the moment after years of external forces conspiring to block him? This is the year. A golden opportunity. Don’t waste it.

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