The Dodgers have called up infielder Gavin Lux from their alternate training site, with Lux set to serve as the extra 29th man for Game 2 of Thursday's doubleheader with the Giants.
Lux will appear on the Los Angeles roster for the first time this season, after he was somewhat surprisingly not included on the club’s roster for its July opener. Lux did miss part of summer camp for unexplained reasons, and while there was speculation that Lux may have been kept in the minors for service-time reasons, manager Dave Roberts explained in early August that the Dodgers didn’t “feel he’s ready right now.”
“It was a short ramp-up for Gavin, and he wasn’t right mechanically,” Roberts told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and other media on August 5. “And he knows that; we know that. He’s still getting there at [alternative training site] USC, getting at-bats daily, it’s coming. I see video every day, it’s getting better.”
Roberts said at the time that Lux would only be called up to the Dodgers on an everyday basis, so though the “29th man” designation could imply some fluidity with Lux’s status, it would seem like the star prospect will now be part of the team’s regular mix. Lux is in Thursday's starting lineup as a second baseman, which was also his position during his 23-game debut with Los Angeles last season.
Corey Seager obviously has Lux’s normal minor league position of shortstop covered at the MLB level, so Lux now looks to be the first-choice option at the keystone. Enrique Hernandez, Max Muncy, and Chris Taylor have split time at second base this season with Hernandez getting the bulk of the playing time at that particular position, though all three players have been deployed elsewhere around the diamond given the Dodgers’ penchant for versatility. With the DH spot in play for the 2020 season, Roberts should be able to find enough at-bats to keep everyone satisfied and rested as the Dodgers are already essentially in tune-up mode for the postseason.
Lux hit .240/.305/.400 over 82 plate appearances with the Dodgers last season, plus an .856 OPS over 10 postseason trips to the plate. A consensus top-five prospect in baseball coming into the 2020 campaign, Lux has dominated minor league pitching since being selected 20th overall in the 2016 draft, and he now aims to be the next homegrown Dodgers prospect to find stardom in the majors.
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