8 best Dodgers under 25 years old on 40-man roster

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 14: Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks off during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium on June 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 14: Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks off during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium on June 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
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Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman; Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman; Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

If you were to take a quick glance, you’d think the Los Angeles Dodgers have an aged roster, and you wouldn’t be wrong. So many of the stars on this team are 29 or older.

But make no mistake about it, there are some mid-20s studs (Walker Buehler, Julio Urías), some in their early 20s, and a prospect pipeline filled with great expectations. The Dodgers aren’t going anywhere. For a long time. Apologies in advance to all San Francisco Giants fans.

It hurts to think this current Dodgers core could be finito after the 2022 season. All of Justin Turner, Max Muncy, Blake Treinen and AJ Pollock have contract options. Trea Turner could be a free agent. Cody Bellinger’s future remains uncertain.

So it helps to keep an eye in the years ahead, especially in regard to those currently on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster who can help this team in 2024 and beyond. Either that, or they’ll be used as trade bait at some point, but that’s a conversation for another time.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman very clearly has a plan and these players under 25 years old on the 40-man roster make that very clear.

The Dodgers’ best players under 25 years old on the 40-man roster

Eddys Leonard and James Outman

Here, we have two prospects who have yet to make their MLB debuts. Eddys Leonard, an infielder, ranks No. 18 in the Dodgers farm system, according to MLBPipeline.com, while James Outman, an outfielder, ranks 27th.

Leonard is just 21 years old and got added to the 40-man this offseason after hitting .297 with a .929 OPS across 107 games between Single-A and High-A. He scored 89 runs, belted 22 bombs, batted in 81 runs, and stole nine bases. Pretty darn good for a 20-year-old (at the time). The right-handed slugger was signed out of the Dominican a few years ago and could be beginning his big climb.

As for Outman, he was also recently added to the 40-man roster after his impressive showing at High-A and Double-A in 2021. The toolsy outfielder hit .266 with an .869 OPS, 90 runs scored, 18 homers, 54 RBI and 23 stolen bases in 104 games. It was a huge improvement from his 2019 campaign at Single-A, too. Classic Dodgers prospect numbers right there.

Though he’s not ranked particularly high on any of the main gurus’ prospect boards, the TrueBlueLA community has him at No. 10 on their list. Don’t hate that! And it’s a big plus that he throws righty and hits from the left side of the plate.

These guys won’t be debuting in 2022 (barring an unforeseen, meteoric rise), but it wouldn’t be crazy to assume 2023 feels right for their development at this juncture.

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Jacob Amaya; Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Jacob Amaya; Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports /

Jacob Amaya and Jorbit Vivas

Our next two are prospect shortstop Jacob Amaya and infielder Jorbit Vivas, both of whom were also added to the 40-man this offseason.

Amaya, 23, is the team’s No. 13-ranked prospect and just dominated the Arizona Fall League after an unimpressive showing at Double-A Tulsa (.216/.303/.343 slash line with 60 runs scored, 12 homers and 47 RBI in 113 games). But when you play against the best of the best in the AFL and hit .333 with a 1.018 OPS in 19 games, your stock immediately recoups.

Though his bat could use some work, Amaya is a terrific defender at arguably the most important position on the field and possesses advanced instincts. That’s where a lot of his value lies. Assuming his bat resembles something closer to his AFL showing rather than his Double-A season, he could rise quickly in 2022.

And then there’s Vivas, who has played second and third base throughout his minor league career, which began in 2018 (he’s still only 21). The Dodgers obviously liked what they saw in Single-A and High-A in 2021 when he hit .312 with an .893 OPS, 85 runs scored, 14 homers, 87 RBI and eight stolen bases across 106 games. Another throw right, bat left guy, Vivas seems to be turning more heads than expected since being signed out of Venezuela back in 2017. He’s now added more power to his swing and expanded his defensive versatility to shortstop and left field last season.

Two great assets to have, no matter how they’ll be used.

Brusdar Graterol #48 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Brusdar Graterol #48 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Justin Bruihl and Brusdar Graterol

Let’s beef up that bullpen, baby! Perhaps this newcomer and breakout 2020 talent will help accomplish that in 2022.

Bruihl, who many were unaware existed until September, made his MLB debut last year, appearing in 21 games and registering a 2.89 ERA and 1.07 WHIP (mostly as a reliever with the exception of two “opener” performances). His fastball-cutter-slider combo proved to be effective, but next season will be more telling when we have a larger sample size.

He doesn’t overwhelm hitters with velocity (90.4 MPH sinker and 88.2 MPH cutter), so fans are hoping his expected ERA of 3.78, 3.79 FIP and 11 strikeouts across 18.2 innings aren’t a sign of a worst-case scenario brewing. Then again, the left-hander was able to handle three successful postseason outings with relative ease, so perhaps the 24-year-old’s just got “it.”

In the case of Graterol, fans would love to see more out of the hefty righty, who throws bowling ball sinkers akin to Blake Treinen’s (in addition to a slider, cutter and four-seamer). But a bout with COVID and forearm tightness seemingly held him back in 2021, which resulted in an unsightly 4.59 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and just 27 strikeouts in 33.1 innings. Hopefully the Red Sox weren’t right about his injury history when they reneged on the first version of the Mookie Betts trade back in 2020.

If healthy and used properly, Graterol, just 23, can be a weapon in the back end of the bullpen, which he showed flashes of during the team’s World Series run two seasons ago. It doesn’t help that a lockout might be affecting his offseason training, but fans are keeping their fingers crossed that he’s not interrupted, as he was heading into 2022.

Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Dustin May and Gavin Lux

The grand finale. And the uncertainly surrounding these two might be too much for some Dodgers fans to handle.

Let’s stay with May. The 24-year-old dubbed “Gingergaard” because of his comparison to Noah Syndergaard while sporting red hair, suffered a torn UCL in May and underwent Tommy John surgery. We might be seeing him until the second half of the 2022 season, assuming his recovery continues on its positive trajectory.

Before the injury, the right-hander was believed to be a top-of-rotation arm being deployed out of the back end of the rotation due to his career 2.93 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 111 strikeouts in 31 games (19 starts), totaling 113.1 innings. His fastball, sinker, cutter and curve make up a vaunted arsenal that major league hitters have largely had trouble figuring out (7.4 hits/9 and 1.2 HR/9).

With his career thrown off course for about a year and a half, the Dodgers are hoping for a rebound given what was expected of the former 2016 third-round pick.

Lux is kind of in the same boat … but without the injury concern and with much less production. Sky-high expectations … but no proof of them panning out just yet. And that’s why 2022 will be a pivotal year for the 24-year-old. In 144 career games, the lefty-hitting middle infielder (and now outfielder?) has hit just .233 with a .682 OPS, 69 runs scored (sick, bro!), 12 homers, 63 RBI and seven stolen bases. That’s since debuting in 2019.

Many thought he’d be dangled at the trade deadline before he suffered an injury because his bat failed to show much of anything during the first half of the year outside of a couple of hot stretches. It was even more concerning that he was unable to find his footing despite being protected by one of the best offenses in the league. And then his move to the outfield later in the year indicated that the Dodgers might be done trying to make him a key figure in the middle infield (as do the offseason Carlos Correa rumors).

A make-or-break campaign at 24 years old sounds harsh, but such is life when you’re working to be trusted by a premier MLB organization. Whatever Lux’s role is in 2022, he’ll have to turn heads or else he will be deemphasized further or traded to another team that could use young middle infield help.

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