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I believe he’s only there because of Kershaw. If you notice he rarely catches for the other starters. AJ Ellis was kept around only because Kershaw didn’t want anyone else catching for him.
Official 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers Thread : Game 4
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I believe he’s only there because of Kershaw. If you notice he rarely catches for the other starters. AJ Ellis was kept around only because Kershaw didn’t want anyone else catching for him.
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Corey been looking like **** out there for the last month
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Just a matter of time for Mookie....
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Nice mookie!
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Felt like my shouting helped push that homer back.
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Feel good about Tsutsugo. He seems to have good zone awareness so if they can help him figure out how to attack velo, via reps and some mechanical tinkering, we got ourselves a quality player.
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Damn nicely hit ball by pujols
Would have been a base hit by anyone else
Would have been a base hit by anyone else
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ct3 bomb
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CT!
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Dieter with the Mario Kart music 
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Luxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Lux!!
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LUXXXXX!!!
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Yeah buddy !
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Lux finally living up to the hype. Tight pants are here to stay
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Hello Lux!
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Two more against AZ to get that confidence all the way up before heading up to the Bay. I’m excited for the series against SF, they’re doing well to start the season so I’m ready for friendly banter with some of my homies.
On Tsutsugo from The Athletic:
On Tsutsugo from The Athletic:
Fabian Ardaya
LOS ANGELES — Yoshi Tsutsugo’s acclimation to the major leagues has been all about catching up. But the Dodgers are placing a bet, out of ability and necessity, that they can again extract something out of a bat suddenly made available to the open market.
Tsutsugo’s first go of it against big-league pitching revealed a disturbing trend for his long-term prospects. The Rays had signed the Nippon Professional Baseball star to be a left-handed corner bat for a lineup that relied heavily on balance. Instead, a disjointed and abbreviated season quickly revealed an effective attack plan that reduced Tsutsugo’s production as a hitter.
While Tsutsugo flashed a strong approach as a rookie, one in which he swung selectively and ran a walk rate above 14 percent, he struggled against the steady diet of high velocity that came his way. He struggled to tap into power, and as a result, his approach dissolved over the course of this April before the Rays designated him for assignment in the second year of a $16 million deal.
But the Dodgers, as thin on their bench as they’ve been in some time with 14 players spending time on the injured list through Tuesday, saw a chance to make the most of a guy who they’d reportedly shown interest in when Tsutsugo was initially posted for major-league clubs two winters ago. This time, they acquired him along with future Hall of Famer Albert Pujolsover the weekend in separate deals.
“Very much believed in the bat,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “At its core, we believe he is a really good hitter. How long that will take to unlock, we’re not sure. But from all the digging we’ve done, we feel very confident he’s going to work and do everything in his power to get there.”
Friedman and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts cited the “professional” approach the 29-year-old Tsutsugo has demonstrated throughout his career (including a .910 OPS in 4,000 plate appearances over a decade with the NPB’s Yokohama BayStars), which carried through for most of his first year in Tampa before he started swinging and chasing more to start 2021.
They’ve already pointed to adjustments the Dodgers’ hitting staff of Robert Van Scoyoc, Brant Brown and Aaron Bates can incorporate, largely to improve Tsutsugo’s timing at the plate that has so clearly been disturbed by the frequent high velocity. It led Tsutsugo to, as Roberts put it, become a “shell of himself” from what his swing looked like during his days in Japan. Tsutsugo said Tuesday that the organization has already shown him footage of his old swing and encouraged him to “get the good stuff” he had from it and meld it with his current swing for more consistent results, indicating that timing is more of his immediate focus than simply catching up to high heat. Tsutsugo notably incorporated a more exaggerated leg kick into his swing in his Dodgers debut Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.
The two appear interconnected. He hasn’t been able to catch up to fastballs, especially hard-thrown fastballs, and it’s been a problem.
Roberts, like Tsutsugo, attributed it more to overall timing than just velocity. The manager said he will have a “new baseline” in how the organization views Tsutsugo’s progress.
“We believe in him, as a person, as a player,” Roberts said. “He can hit. His actions are real, the ball comes off the bat and he’s a professional hitter. Last year was kind of funky for many reasons, obviously — inconsistency of playing time, mechanics and things like that. So I think that he’s in a good spot.”
The Dodgers have some room for patience with Tsutsugo to allow their hitting staff adequate time to integrate their adjustments. They have at-bats to give — Tsutsugo’s defensive versatility could earn him starts at first, third and left field, as well as some games as a pinch hitter — without the lineup desperately needing his presence. Even before the Dodgers acquired him, the club owned the top lineup in baseball by wRC+ (124) against right-handed pitching, where Tsutsugo would most likely be applied.
As was the case with Pujols, it’s an opportunity largely afforded through a massive spate of injuries and the diminished depth the organization compared to years past. Joc Pederson, the Dodgers’ primary weapon for years against right-handed pitching, is in Chicago. Zach McKinstry has missed a month on the injured list. AJ Pollock’s injury has rendered Matt Beaty an everyday player. The other left-handed-hitting option on the Dodgers’ bench, Luke Raley, has a .545 OPS through his first 47 career plate appearances. They have a runway to give and a reason to have confidence in a player they’ve liked in the past.
For all the Rays’ recent run of success in unlocking things in pitchers, the Dodgers have found similar success in finding more in hitters like Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, McKinstry and Beaty than their roster status or draft position would suggest.
LOS ANGELES — Yoshi Tsutsugo’s acclimation to the major leagues has been all about catching up. But the Dodgers are placing a bet, out of ability and necessity, that they can again extract something out of a bat suddenly made available to the open market.
Tsutsugo’s first go of it against big-league pitching revealed a disturbing trend for his long-term prospects. The Rays had signed the Nippon Professional Baseball star to be a left-handed corner bat for a lineup that relied heavily on balance. Instead, a disjointed and abbreviated season quickly revealed an effective attack plan that reduced Tsutsugo’s production as a hitter.
While Tsutsugo flashed a strong approach as a rookie, one in which he swung selectively and ran a walk rate above 14 percent, he struggled against the steady diet of high velocity that came his way. He struggled to tap into power, and as a result, his approach dissolved over the course of this April before the Rays designated him for assignment in the second year of a $16 million deal.
But the Dodgers, as thin on their bench as they’ve been in some time with 14 players spending time on the injured list through Tuesday, saw a chance to make the most of a guy who they’d reportedly shown interest in when Tsutsugo was initially posted for major-league clubs two winters ago. This time, they acquired him along with future Hall of Famer Albert Pujolsover the weekend in separate deals.
“Very much believed in the bat,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “At its core, we believe he is a really good hitter. How long that will take to unlock, we’re not sure. But from all the digging we’ve done, we feel very confident he’s going to work and do everything in his power to get there.”
Friedman and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts cited the “professional” approach the 29-year-old Tsutsugo has demonstrated throughout his career (including a .910 OPS in 4,000 plate appearances over a decade with the NPB’s Yokohama BayStars), which carried through for most of his first year in Tampa before he started swinging and chasing more to start 2021.
They’ve already pointed to adjustments the Dodgers’ hitting staff of Robert Van Scoyoc, Brant Brown and Aaron Bates can incorporate, largely to improve Tsutsugo’s timing at the plate that has so clearly been disturbed by the frequent high velocity. It led Tsutsugo to, as Roberts put it, become a “shell of himself” from what his swing looked like during his days in Japan. Tsutsugo said Tuesday that the organization has already shown him footage of his old swing and encouraged him to “get the good stuff” he had from it and meld it with his current swing for more consistent results, indicating that timing is more of his immediate focus than simply catching up to high heat. Tsutsugo notably incorporated a more exaggerated leg kick into his swing in his Dodgers debut Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.
The two appear interconnected. He hasn’t been able to catch up to fastballs, especially hard-thrown fastballs, and it’s been a problem.
Roberts, like Tsutsugo, attributed it more to overall timing than just velocity. The manager said he will have a “new baseline” in how the organization views Tsutsugo’s progress.
“We believe in him, as a person, as a player,” Roberts said. “He can hit. His actions are real, the ball comes off the bat and he’s a professional hitter. Last year was kind of funky for many reasons, obviously — inconsistency of playing time, mechanics and things like that. So I think that he’s in a good spot.”
The Dodgers have some room for patience with Tsutsugo to allow their hitting staff adequate time to integrate their adjustments. They have at-bats to give — Tsutsugo’s defensive versatility could earn him starts at first, third and left field, as well as some games as a pinch hitter — without the lineup desperately needing his presence. Even before the Dodgers acquired him, the club owned the top lineup in baseball by wRC+ (124) against right-handed pitching, where Tsutsugo would most likely be applied.
As was the case with Pujols, it’s an opportunity largely afforded through a massive spate of injuries and the diminished depth the organization compared to years past. Joc Pederson, the Dodgers’ primary weapon for years against right-handed pitching, is in Chicago. Zach McKinstry has missed a month on the injured list. AJ Pollock’s injury has rendered Matt Beaty an everyday player. The other left-handed-hitting option on the Dodgers’ bench, Luke Raley, has a .545 OPS through his first 47 career plate appearances. They have a runway to give and a reason to have confidence in a player they’ve liked in the past.
For all the Rays’ recent run of success in unlocking things in pitchers, the Dodgers have found similar success in finding more in hitters like Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, McKinstry and Beaty than their roster status or draft position would suggest.
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Homerun ball always gets Kershaw.
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Yoshi!!!
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Dude swerved in and ran directly in front of Muncy
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RISP...
JT gotta get a sacrifice right there...
JT gotta get a sacrifice right there...
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I really hope Barnes is giving kersh his paycheck .. only reason why dude is on the team smh
Smith and Ruiz should be our comboat catcher
Smith and Ruiz should be our comboat catcher
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Let's go!
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