How much longer can the Dodgers tolerate these wildly underperforming players?

David Peralta

We realize how this is starting to sound like a broken record, but David Peralta has simply not functioned like a Major League Baseball player this year. The former Silver Slugger and Gold Glover has yet to get going at the plate or in the field, and is just an eyesore at this point for a Dodgers team with high hopes.

Peralta, 35, has not been consistently great with the bat across a full season of work since 2019 when he had an .804 OPS and 106 OPS+. He was decent in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and so-so in 2021 before returning to above-average-contributor status in the first half of last year. Once the Diamondbacks traded him to the Rays, his bat began to fall off and that has continued into this year.

In 41 games so far this year, Peralta has a pair of home runs, 11 runs scored, 18 RBI, a .218 average, .586 OPS and 56 OPS+. The OPS+ is especially shocking, as it suggests he has been 47% below league-average at the plate.

For reasons unknown, he remains a rather consistent member of the Dodgers' starting lineup. Perhaps this is because bench players like Trayce Thompson and Jason Heyward are not better options. Either way, a move might need to be made if this troubling trend continues for Peralta, who no longer appears to have his mojo on a big league field.