Los Angeles Dodgers: Rookies are carrying their weight

The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently riding a six-year playoff streak because of the organization’s depth, which is on full display here in 2019.

As the baseball season continues into the “dog days of August,” the Los Angeles Dodgers continue their quest for a World Series title. They have the best record in baseball sporting hitting depth and pitching.

The Dodgers had a chance to add impact players at the trade deadline and instead decided to hold onto their prospects and continue on with their internal resources.

Judging by how the Dodgers rookies have been performing lately, you can’t really blame the front office for sticking with their guns.

Thanks to a steady stream of injuries the Dodgers have had to rely on some rookies to step into the roster and contribute. Thanks to their developmental system, the Dodgers have been rewarded for their faith in their prospects.

It started early in the season when free-agent signing A.J. Pollock went down with a staph infection that kept him out of the line up for two months. Into the fray stepped in their outfield prospect Alex Verdugo, who is among the top ten in hitting in the National League among rookies. He has also played strong defense, manning every position in the outfield.

Verdugo hasn’t been the only rookie making contributions. Thanks to injuries to Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez, the Dodgers have gotten extended help from Matt Beaty.

Beaty spent four years in the Dodgers minor league system before getting more playing time this year and he has made the most of his opportunity in the big leagues. Beaty is batting .294 in just 57 games and has been dangerous with runners in scoring position (RISP), hitting a slash line of .415/.467/.756/1.223 while driving in 27 runs.

Beaty is another Dodger find who can play multiple positions playing multiple games at first base and the outfield.

Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes struggled in the starting role position this season and when the Dodgers sent him down to Triple-A for a restart, up stepped in Will Smith.

All Smith has done is set a new Dodgers rookie record by driving in 19 runs in his first 14 games, breaking Cody Bellinger‘s record of 17 set in 2017. Smith was also joined Verdugo and Beaty in late June when the triumvirate became the first set of rookies to hit walk-off home runs three games in a row.

It’s not just rookie hitters helping the Dodgers in the past week two of the Dodgers top pitching prospects made their Dodger Stadium debuts and showed Dodgers fans some of the pitching talent that has been in the farm system.

In two Dodger Stadium starts, Dustin May has 3.18 ERA, striking out 10 batters over 11 innings. Tony Gonsolin won his first Dodger Stadium start on Monday, going six 2-hit shutout innings while striking out 7 and walking just one.

Both May and Gonsolin may yet prove to be an asset in the fall as the Dodgers look to shore up their bullpen.

The Los Angeles Dodgers ability to bring up productive rookies is a great sign that the front office knows what they’re doing when they chose their prospects over going “all in” at the trade deadline.  Hopefully, this answers the criticism the front office receives and that they indeed know what they are doing.