Thanks largely to his veteran teammates within the outfield, James Outman’s rookie season has him wanting the a part of a participant who’s been seasoned for a decade within the league already.
Although Outman’s 2023 season has had its fair proportion of ups and downs, a number of contributors within the clubhouse have aided his journey by his first 162 sport slate, together with one former Dodger who departed the workforce on the commerce deadline in Trayce Thompson.
“I keep in mind I used to be having a tough couple months earlier this yr and Trayce Thompson, my locker mate on the time, was like ‘Hey’. After the sport, I come and sit down and you may inform I’m annoyed. Simply kinda considering and he’s like ‘Hey, if I requested you in Could, would you’re taking being on the workforce’, and he listed off the stats that I had and requested ‘Would you’re taking that?’ and I mentioned ‘Yeah, I might’ve taken something.’ Particularly as a result of I didn’t know that I might make the workforce. Earlier this yr, I might’ve taken something. So, it sort of put issues into perspective and helped me have a look at issues exterior of simply that day.
Even after being despatched to the White Sox as a part of the deal to herald each Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly, Thompson’s contributions for the remainder of LA’s season might have been greater than simply equal compensation in early August.
Taking Outman below his wing very like Jason Heyward, Thompson’s encouragement and inspiration as a veteran himself have been all that the rookie wanted to show his season round.
One in all few LA rookies to hit 20 residence runs of their first full season, Outman’s second half has been an incredible signal for the playoffs as he’s been among the many NL leaders in OBP for the reason that All-Star Break.
Even with spectacular energy and on base abilities, his protection in middle with diving catches, residence run robberies and gunning down runners have been invaluable to the workforce as nicely.
Selecting up his pitchers each time he’s manning the outfield, Outman has lived as much as his final title by monitoring down even the hardest of balls and utilizing his vary to ship batters again to the dugout in disbelief.
All of that work and inspiration from Thompson and others has seen the rookie turn into one of many key items in a Dodgers lineup hungry for playoff redemption and a attainable World Sequence title in 2023.
Picture Credit score: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports activities
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