Dodgers Roundup: Roki’s unicorn split, Rushing’s finishing school, Outman’s swing, prospect ranks, baserunning risk

Before the season officially begins, there’s some quality insight to read in here.

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The Athletic: Top prospect Dalton Rushing is currently being tested, arguably more off the field than on it as a part of finishing school from the Dodgers.

He must stand in front of a room of assembled All-Stars and veteran coaches and guide them through a meeting as if it’s late September or the postseason — in February. Each morning Rushing is given a short list of National League West hitters and put in front of the meeting alongside the Los Angeles Dodgers’ illustrious group of pitchers to tell them how he thinks they should attack them.

“It’s a really high standard that we have (for catchers) and there’s so much that goes into the game planning and then relaying that message to the pitchers in an effective way,” Gomes said. “So really pouring himself into the defensive side. The offensive is in a really good place. You can always find tweaks there but it’s very much his receiving, his game calling.”

Overall, just a cool look inside part of the player development process.

Orange County Register: James Outman is trying to get his swing (and mojo) back after off-season mechanical changes.

In January, Outman went to the Maven Baseball Lab in Atlanta with the Dodgers’ hitting coaches. Outman has described himself as “a caveman” in his hitting approach when he entered professional baseball. The visit to Maven was a deep dive into the mechanics of his swing seven years later. They suggested he flatten his barrel in his setup, holding it close to parallel. The change is supposed to make his upper and lower body more connected during his swing.
“The super vertical barrel was kind of throwing off my sequencing. By the time it was coming back to this position (the start of his swing), my hips were gone so my bat was dragging through a lot.”

Things aren’t going well so far, but it can take time for the adjustments to carry over to game action.

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A deep dive into what makes Roki Sasaki‘s splitter so unique (and amazing).

Rōki Sasaki's splitter is unlike anything we've ever seen. It’s a true unicorn pitch.

A short thread on why it’s so special. pic.twitter.com/RNE5lZpylj

— Jacob Brownson (@brownsonjacob2) March 5, 2025

Roki Sasaki Splitter Overlay

Pitch 1: 45'' of drop, 7'' of arm-side break

Pitch 2: 37'' of drop, 5'' of glove-side break

Usually, you don't overlay the same pitch. Sasaki might have the only pitch where you can.

A splitter that can cut—this is just insane! pic.twitter.com/LxVEmRsMK7

— Jacob Brownson (@brownsonjacob2) March 6, 2025

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FanGraphs: Eric Longenhagen’s Top 102 Prospects list includes six Dodgers in it. Roki is #1, Rushing is up there at #8, Alex Freeland is #35, Josue De Paula checks in at #48, Edgardo Henriquez is surprising at #91 (reliever-only guys don’t usually get a lot of love), and River Ryan comes near the end at #101.

FanGraphs: Dan Szymborski follows that by posting the Top 100 Prospects by ZiPS projections, which has four Dodgers included. Roki is #1 again, Freeland is #44, Rushing is close behind at #48, and Ryan is at #83. It’s also noted that the Dodgers have three of the Top 50, four of the Top 100, nine of the Top 200, and 17 of the Top 500.

FanGraphs: Included in Longenhagen’s Picks To Click feature that aims to identify 2026 Top 100 guys are right-handed starter Brady Smith, the oft-mentioned-elsewhere outfielder Zyhir Hope, and right-handed starter Hyun-Seok Jang. Prospects mentioned by his sources were outfielder Eduardo Quintero, shortstop Emil Morales, Smith, and Jang.

Smith was a favorite of mine from the 2023 Draft Combine, an athletic but somewhat undersized righty with plus fastball ride and advanced secondary pitches. The Dodgers got a deal done with him for $700,000, and Smith had Tommy John during the 2023-24 offseason. This is the kind of pitcher who clicks if the rehab process leads to strength gains and added velocity.

MLB Pipeline: They’ve revealed their updated Top 30 Dodgers prospects list.

MLB Pipeline: They also rank the Dodgers farm system as the 4th-best in baseball.

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Baseball Prospectus: Patrick Dubuque with a really great article that’s basically about risk on the basepaths and why base coaches should be more aggressive even if it means the perception of them will be worse.

If a runner heads home on a sacrifice, they were right to do so. There are very few bad sends in general league-wide, fewer than there are teams. More counter-intuitive is the knowledge that when the runner was gunned down, the third-base coach was still probably right to send him. That’s what 80% is supposed to look like. But when the runner holds, that’s where the damage is being done. And when the ball falls in that 250-300 foot range, the failure is almost universal. Multiple times a week on average, an MLB team is holding a runner who could have scored, and a lot of the time, they’re stranding them there.

Like everything else, each decision should be dependent on context, but it’s a compelling argument and it’s actually quite intuitive when you think about it.

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Hopefully the Japan Series will go well, but what I’m hoping for most is that nobody gets injured.