{"id":97738,"date":"2025-03-18T17:47:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T21:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=97738"},"modified":"2025-03-18T17:47:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T21:47:49","slug":"dodgers-judgment-dalton-rushing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/18\/dodgers-judgment-dalton-rushing\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Could Be Rushing to Judgment on Their Top Catching Prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers kicked off their season-opening series Tuesday with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan. Their star-studded roster is set. However, behind the major-league talent, there is plenty of depth as well. One such example is catching prospect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=rushin000dal&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Rushing<\/a>. The young backstop is rated as the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/30\/five-potential-september-call-ups\/\" target=\"_self\">No. 2 Dodgers prospect<\/a> behind Japanese phenom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=sasaki000rok&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roki Sasaki<\/a>, who is scheduled <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/12\/dodgers-showcase-japanese-starters-open-season-japan\/\" target=\"_self\">to make his first major-league start<\/a> in his home country on Wednesday. That leads to the question, when will Rushing get his first taste of action in Dodger Blue?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=rushin000dal&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Rushing<\/a> delivers a walk-off two-run double. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SpringTraining?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SpringTraining<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9fwWjmAyLA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9fwWjmAyLA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1895680695747690719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers May Have Erred Cutting Dalton Rushing\u00a0 from Big League Roster<\/h2>\n<h3>The Last Cut is the Deepest?<\/h3>\n<p>To his credit, Rushing was one of the last cuts on the roster when the Dodgers broke camp after completing their Cactus League exhibition. Los Angeles got an extended look at him and he made the most of it. The left-handed hitting star had a batting average of over .300 with a few clutch hits with men in scoring position. This was better than veteran backup catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barneau01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Barnes<\/a>, who handles the pitching staff extremely well but struggles to hit.<\/p>\n<h3>A Crowded Field<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers locked up All-Star catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=smithwi05,smithwi04,smith-091wil,smith-088wil,smith-090wil&amp;search=Will+Smith&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Will Smith<\/a> for the long term last season with a 10-year contract extension. Still, one might expect that a position change might be in the offing eventually. After all, donning &#8220;the tools of ignorance&#8221; does take its toll on whoever is behind the plate.<\/p>\n<p>Rushing spent some time in left field and third base at Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2024. However, manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/roberda07.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Roberts<\/a> said that the Dodgers see Rushing as a catcher at this point.<\/p>\n<h3>Case in Point<\/h3>\n<p>Still, injuries do remain a concern. For example, Smith revealed during spring training that he sustained a bone bruise while sliding into second base last season. The injury that occurred in June still hasn&#8217;t healed completely. This is probably why Smith&#8217;s batting average fell precipitously below .200 in the second half of the year. He insisted that it had to do more with the mechanics of his swing, but we shall see.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Smith was also hit by a pitch on the knee, but appears none the worse for wear.<\/p>\n<h3>Making Room or a Mirage?<\/h3>\n<p>It looked like Rushing had a chance to make a bid for the 40-man roster this year. The Dodgers <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/09\/diego-cartaya-former-top-prospect-traded-to-twins\/\" target=\"_self\">did trade<\/a> former top prospect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=cartay000die&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Diego Cartaya<\/a> to the Minnesota Twins over the winter. The former top prospect may have needed a fresh start after dealing with defensive struggles and injuries of his own. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/feduchu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-18_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hunter Feduccia<\/a> seems to be the backup choice should Barnes or Smith take a trip to the injured list. In fact, Feduccia spent some time with the big league club when Barnes dealt with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/19\/dodgers-austin-barnes-broken-toe\/\" target=\"_self\">broken toe<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<h3>Biding His Time<\/h3>\n<p>Because of the incredible depth within the Dodgers organization, there is no rush for Dalton to make his debut. However, the Dodgers know better than most teams how long a baseball season can be, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/25\/dodgers-bullpen-michael-grove-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">injuries can happen<\/a> at any time. The best thing the young backstop can do is be patient and be prepared. His time will come one way or another.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers kicked off their season-opening series Tuesday with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan. Their star-studded roster is set. However, behind the major-league talent, there is plenty of depth as well. One such example is catching prospect Dalton Rushing. The young backstop is rated as the No. 2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":97780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071],"tags":[2914,28402,257,28711,305],"class_list":["post-97738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","tag-austin-barnes","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-dave-roberts","tag-hunter-feduccia","tag-will-smith"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97738"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97781,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97738\/revisions\/97781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}