The Dodgers on Friday activated Jason Heyward from the injured record after the veteran outfielder missed 40 video games with a strained again. James Outman, who struggled in his second season, was optioned to Triple-A.
Heyward performed in two minor league rehab video games for Oklahoma Metropolis in Sacramento this week, taking part in 5 innings in proper subject on Tuesday and all the recreation on the place on Wednesday. He was hitless in six at-bats in each video games, with two strikeouts and a stroll.
These rehab video games have been the end result of Heyward stepping up baseball actions for the earlier week and a half, together with batting apply, going through dwell pitching, outfield and working drills. When Heyward initially landed on the injured record on April 3, his again tightness was anticipated to be a short-term damage. However when it turned clear that Heyward wasn't progressing as hoped, the crew pivoted and referred to as up Andy Pages to make his main league debut.
Pages has used his pitch to take off, and has performed all 27 video games since his debut on April 16, shifting adeptly between middle subject and proper subject. He began and performed each inning of the primary 26 of these video games earlier than showing as a pinch-hitter on Thursday. He’s hitting .267/.306/.446 with 4 residence runs, six doubles, and 113 wRC+.
He's down 4 for 36 with 17 strikeouts and three walks in his final 11 video games, however that's an space Outman has struggled with for a number of weeks. On the season, Outman is hitting .147 / .250 / .266 with three residence runs, 4 doubles, a 55 wRC +, and 32.3-percent strikeout charge.
Final yr, Outman was up and down on the plate, however the closing product was strong, above-average on the plate and on protection in middle subject, and he earned a third-place end within the Rookie of the Yr voting. of the yr within the Nationwide League.
“Final yr, when he was struggling, it was related in a way due to the indecisiveness, after which at different factors there have been swings and misses,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned of Outman on Could 6. going Now it's greater than earlier than, the place I see extra indecision.
“To be scorching, you need to have some readability, and be ok with your swing. And I don't suppose he's been there but.”
In his first at-bat that night time, Outman hit a house run, his first in practically 4 weeks. However since that residence run, Outman has only one hit in 23 at-bats, with 10 strikeouts and three walks.
Though Outman began 34 of 49 video games in opposition to left-handed beginning pitchers as a freshman in 2023, this yr he began simply two of 17 video games in opposition to southpaws, and a kind of was Thursday when the reliever Brent Suter began a bullpen recreation for the Reds.
It stays to be seen if Heyward begins each recreation in opposition to righties or in the event that they return the 34-year-old after lacking over six weeks. Heyward's final recreation performed for the Dodgers was March 30.
