Gavin Lux, a popular pick to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award, won’t begin the season on the active roster. The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Tuesday that they would instead option him to the minor leagues — a luxury they can afford given the presence of Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor.
Lux, 22, was the Dodgers’ starting second baseman down the stretch last season, batting .240/.305/.400 in 82 plate appearances in September and going 2-for-9 in the NL Division Series. He was widely projected as a starter heading into 2020, but the Dodgers described second base as a wide-open competition dating back to the first version of spring training. Lux then showed up late for the summer training portion — he declined to specify the reason — and looked a little erratic defensively in Monday’s exhibition game.
The Dodgers also signed left-handed reliever Jake McGee, who was released by the division-rival Colorado Rockies four days earlier. McGee, who played under Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman when they were both with the Tampa Bay Rays, collected a 4.78 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP and a 3.04 strikeout-to-walk ratio with the Rockies over the last four years. But he held opposing left-handed hitters to only a .240/.305/.400 slash line in 2019.
Teams will field 30-man rosters to begin the 60-game season, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects to carry somewhere between 15 and 17 pitchers. With Minor League Baseball shut down because of the pandemic, Lux will likely work out of the team’s alternate site at USC until inevitably getting activated again.