Red Sox interested in Dodgers catcher

The Red Sox have interest in Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing, according to a report from Sean McAdam of MassLive. McAdam also reports that the Dodgers have had a scouting presence at Boston’s High-A affiliate in Greenville to monitor shortstop prospect Franklin Arias and left-handed prospect Brandon Clarke. It’s unknown whether a deal between the two sides is close at this time or what the exact framework of a deal involving Rushing would look like.

Rushing, 24, was a second-round pick by the Dodgers in 2022 and entered the 2025 season as a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport. He slashed a sensational .308/.424/.514 in 31 games at Triple-A Oklahoma City for the Dodgers earlier this year before being promoted to the majors back in May. He’s struggled since that promotion while serving as the backup to Will Smith, with a .216/.280/.297 slash line across 27 games. He’s struck out in a worrisome 41.5% of his plate appearances, but has looked like a capable defensive catcher and has some impressive underlying power numbers including a 12.2% barrel rate.

While Rushing may not be an immediate impact player at this point, he’d be a long-term addition with plenty of upside for the Red Sox who could make up for the loss of Kyle Teel in this past winter’s Garrett Crochet deal. In the short-term, meanwhile, he would surely be an improvement over Connor Wong as the backup to Carlos Narvaez behind the plate in Boston. Wong has had a brutal season in 2025, hitting just .144/.228/.144 across 101 plate appearances. That’s 95% worse than league average by measure of wRC+, and his weak offense has been complemented by middling defense behind the plate. Rushing would provide as much or more defensive value as compared to Wong, with a modestly more valuable bat in the short-term and plenty of long-term room for growth behind the plate both offensively and defensively.

Both prospects McAdam reports the Dodgers have been scouting are extremely well-regarded. Following the graduations of Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer earlier this year, MLB Pipeline rates Arias as the top prospect in Boston’s system while Clarke clocks in as the system’s fourth-best prospect. Baseball America, meanwhile, places Arias fourth and Clarke sixth in the system on a ranking that still includes both Anthony and Mayer. Arias is ranked 34th overall in Pipeline’s top 100 while Clarke is unranked. BA is lower on Franklin (55th overall) but views Clarke as a top-100 talent in his own right as he’s 72nd on their list.

That pair of prospects would be a substantial return if the Dodgers were able to land them both in exchange for Rushing’s services, particularly considering the fact that Rushing is largely blocked by the presence of Smith on a long-term deal. Catching talent is highly sought-after around the league, however, and with other catching-hungry teams like the Rays, Nationals, Guardians, and Mets all potentially on the lookout for help behind the plate it would surely be a competitive market if the Dodgers were to make Rushing available.

That L.A. is scouting some of Boston’s high-end prospects should not necessarily be taken as a sign that a deal is close or especially likely. McAdam suggests that the Dodgers might not be motivated to part with a player on their major league roster to acquire prospects far away from the majors. It wouldn’t be a shock if a club that was willing to offer L.A. immediate help of significance was better positioned to land Rushing, and the Guardians in particular have intriguing pieces they could dangle such as closer Emmanuel Clase and outfielder Steven Kwan, both of whom could make plenty of sense for a Dodgers club that is on the prowl for bullpen help and has gotten minimal production from Michael Conforto in left field. That’s a largely speculative connection, of course, and Rushing by himself surely wouldn’t be enough to land either one of those players.

All that said, it wouldn’t be the first time the Dodgers have dealt a blocked top prospect in exchange for long-term pieces. Prior to the 2024 season, L.A. swapped Michael Busch (and right-hander Yency Almonte) to the Cubs in a deal that landed them outfield prospect Zyhir Hope and left-handed pitching prospect Jackson Ferris. That pair of prospects were not yet consensus top-100 talents and were even farther from the majors then than Arias and Clarke are now, but the deal has certainly paid off for the Dodgers given that Hope is rated as the sport’s #31 prospect by Pipeline while Ferris clocks in at #97. Of course, it must be noted that the Busch trade was an offseason deal, and the urgency associated with the trade deadline could make the Dodgers less incentivized to focus on bolstering their farm system when they’re in the midst of defending their title as the reigning World Series champions.