Dave Roberts' comments on James Outman don't bode well for Dodgers future

James Outman's quiet decline last season was one of the tougher storylines of 2024. A former top prospect who placed third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 should've been a testament to the Dodgers' farm system, which continues to rank highly in pipeline lists despite the fact that the vast majority of LA's players are not homegrown.

Instead, Outman was hitting under .150 by mid-May and was demoted. He was called back up for a short stint in early July through early August, and then one more time for a single game at the end of the season, but his struggles at the plate continued; he hit just .148 with a .541 OPS during that span.

He's in Dodgers camp this year, but his chances of making the stateside Opening Day roster look slim (though he's already been confirmed as a part of their 31-man traveling roster to Tokyo). If any young Dodger is going to get a spot, it'll be Andy Pages, who outperformed Outman by every metric last season.

In spring games so far, Outman is batting .214 with a .824 OPS. That OPS is nothing to turn your nose up at, and it includes a double, two triples, and a homer, but he's also struck out in over half of his at-bats.

Dave Roberts said of Outman's struggles, "Early on, he looked really comfortable with kind of a little revamped swing. But right now, he's swinging and missing a lot. I don’t know if he's pressing. He just doesn't look as comfortable."

James Outman's horrendous strikeout rate in spring training isn't going to earn him a spot on the Dodgers' roster

It's even more tragic because Outman could be a perfect solution to the Dodgers' problems. They're uncertain about who will fill in at center field, now that Hyeseong Kim will start the season in the minors and Tommy Edman could move to second base, although they'll probably fill center with Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor; Outman was an elite defensive center fielder in his rookie season.

The bat just doesn't match up. Now, it's likely that Outman will go back to the minors to start the season and stay there until/if an injury to a bench player crops up later in the year.

There's a chance that Outman goes to Tokyo and outperforms Pages, which could give him another shot at a stopgap role in center, but he's going to need to use the precious few spring games between now and then to calm himself down and stop swinging at everything.