The Los Angeles Dodgers began their first road trip of the 2024 season with a 9-7 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The opener of the three-game series was notable in that Michael Busch faced his former team for the first time since being traded during the offseason.
The Dodgers sent Busch and Yency Almonte to the Cubs this past January in a trade that netted prospects Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope. The trade gave Busch an opportunity to be an everyday player, which he is taking advantage of.
The former top Dodgers prospect went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and walk against his old club on Friday. Busch did not make much of the blast and said he is just relieved to finally have one this season, via Tim Stebbins of MLB.com:
“That was a good one,” Busch said. “For a second, I thought it wasn’t going to get out there. Just happy to get one on the board.”
Busch enjoyed the challenge of facing Bobby Miller, who came up in the Dodgers farm system together:
“He’s a good pitcher,” Busch said of Miller. “He’s going to get his outs, he’s going to get his strikeouts. But the more that we can force him in the zone, force him to make good pitches, it’s tough. It’s tough as a pitcher, no matter if you have really good stuff like he does.”
As the Dodgers were mounting a comeback in the ninth inning, Busch capped off his afternoon with a diving catch at first base to end the game:
“Nico was telling me we were just trying to keep everything from getting to the outfield,” Busch said. “So if we had to dive, we were going to dive, and two pitches later I had to dive.”
The Cubs have struggled to find a long-term solution at first base since trading Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees in 2021 and hope Busch is that answer.
The 26-year-old has gotten off to an excellent start this season as he is hitting .316/.417/.474 with one home run and two RBI in seven games entering play Saturday.
Michael Busch’s Dodgers career
Busch made his MLB debut with the Dodgers during the 2023 season and hit .167/.247/.292 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBI in 27 games.
In parts of four Minor League seasons with the organization, Busch batted .283/.390/.529 with 79 homers and 267 RBI.
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