5 Dodgers prospects that should undoubtedly be on 2023 roster

3. James Outman

James Outman was the hottest hitter in the entire Dodgers organization heading into October and still did not make the playoff roster when he absolutely should have. I understand the team traded for Joey Gallo, but that experiment obviously was not working and Outman 100% could have had a bigger impact than Gallo.

Heck, Gallo didn’t even record a single postseason plate appearance in the NLDS despite Cody Bellinger struggling so badly that he got benched. If the team obviously didn’t trust Gallo enough to actually log a postseason plate appearance then why didn’t they just add Outman instead of him?

Outman had a very brief showing with the big-league club and was absolutely phenomenal in his minimal sample size. In his four games played, Outman went 6-13 with two doubles, a home run and two walks.

He was also nothing short of spectacular in the minors last season. Not only did Outman hit for the cycle two different times in one week, but he was the best hitter in the entire organization (and that includes top prospect Diego Cartaya).

In 125 games split between AA and AAA, Outman slashed .294/.393/.586 with 31 home runs and 106 RBI. He hit .324 with a 1.090 OPS in 415 plate appearances against right-handed pitching. Probably time for him to be starting in left field.