Dodgers Dugout: Are the Dodgers striking out too much?

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Winning two of three doesn’t feel as good when you lose the third game. But beating the team with the American League‘s best record two of three is good.

Random thoughts

—We could talk about the bullpen again, but really, there’s nothing new to talk about. Just waiting for Kirby Yates, Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol to get healthy. And there are no guarantees then. The last two World Series the Dodgers won, there was a starting pitcher on the mound in relief for the final out. Closer Clayton Kershaw anyone?

—Kopech, Scott and Yates threw bullpen sessions Friday.

—Bobby Miller has been moved to the bullpen in the minors, because he was still having trouble as a starter. Since moving to the bullpen: Six innings pitched, no hits, no runs, one walk, five strikeouts. He could end up as a valuable bullpen addition.

—Roki Sasaki is scheduled to begin his rehab assignment with Oklahoma City this week. The plan is to build him up to five innings before he returns.

—Hyeseong Kim has resumed baseball activities and will start a rehab assignment possibly this week.

—Tommy Edman should return when rosters expand in September.

—Shohei Ohtani has 41 home runs this season. The list of Dodgers who have had 40-home-run seasons:

5 times
Duke Snider (1953-57)

2 times
Shawn Green (2001-02)
Gil Hodges (1951, 1954)
Shohei Ohtani (2024-25)

Once
Cody Bellinger (2019)
Adrian Beltré (2004)
Roy Campanella (1953)
Mike Piazza (1997)
Gary Sheffield (2000)

Ohtani has the season record with 54 last season. He is on pace for 56 this year.

—Ohtani has scored 111 runs this season. It is the 54th time a Dodger has scored at least 111 runs. The top 11 in runs scored since 1901:

Babe Herman, 143 (1930)
Shohei Ohtani, 134 (2024)
Pee Wee Reese, 132 (1949)
Duke Snider, 132 (1953)
Freddie Freeman, 131 (2023)
Maury Wills, 130 (1962)
Eddie Stanky, 128 (1945)
Johnny Frederick, 127 (1929)
Mookie Betts, 126 (2023)
Goody Rosen, 126 (1945)
Duke Snider, 126 (1955)

Ohtani is on pace to score 152 runs this season.

—That points to one reason Ohtani bats leadoff. He gets on base more often, so he scores more often. Yes, he’d probably drive in more if he batted lower, but he’d also score fewer runs. Is it a fair trade-off? Well, they won the World Series with him there last season.

—The Dodgers surprised many by bringing outfielder Justin Dean up from the minors last week, sending Esteury Ruiz down.

Dean was a 17th-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2018. He played in the minors for the Braves, and in the Mexican League, before signing with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent before this season. It has been a long road for Dean, 28.

“I had thoughts that maybe it’s not for me,” Dean told Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider. “It’s not for everybody. So I definitely had those thoughts. But I don’t know what else I would do, so I’m going to keep doing this. And my parents really encouraged me to continue to do it. They’re my backbone and who I would fall back on when things didn’t feel right, and they just continued to push for me and continued to pray for me.”

So why did the Dodgers call him up instead of other, younger players with better offensive numbers? One word, a word that has been missing in a lot of the Dodgers’ outfield this season: defense.

“Justin is a really plus, plus center fielder,” Dave Roberts told reporters. “So we’re just giving him a look out there as a defensive replacement, to pinch run, be a guy off the bench that we think there’s a lot of utility in that.”

We forget sometimes the struggles some of these players go through to reach the majors. Players such as Ohtani make it look so easy and glamorous. It’s easy to forget that for some guys it can be a grind, with many never making it. So give Dean a couple of extra seconds of applause the next time you see him.

—Since saying in Friday’s newsletter that Mookie Betts should be moved down in the order, Betts has gone five for 14 (.313) with a home run and five RBIs. I must remember to use the power of the newsletter for good and not evil.

—I get a couple hundred emails after each newsletter. I try to respond to as many as I can. If I don’t respond to yours, forgive me. I read them all, and appreciate them all, even the ones who disagree with me. Lately, I’ve gotten a lot of emails a bit anxious over the fact that the Dodgers are striking out so much. So, are they striking out more than usual? Let’s look at the strikeout percentage for each batter this season, compared to career norms. We’ll focus on the 13 Dodgers with the most plate appearances.

The average strikeout percentage for a player in the majors this season is 21.9%. In 1988, just to go back to a season we all remember fondly, the rate was 14.7% (and that was with the pitcher batting for almost half the teams).

Striking out more this season

Player, +/-, K% in 2025, 2024 K%, career K%
Freddie Freeman, +7.2%, 22.9%, 15.7%, 18.9%
Kiké Hernández, +6.2%, 25.8%, 19.6%, 20.1%
Shohei Ohtani, +4.5, 26.7%, 22.2%, 25.6%
Miguel Rojas, +3.7%, 13.8%, 10.1%, 12.3%

Striking out less this season
Max Muncy, -5%, 21.3%, 26.3%, 24.4%
Teoscar Hernández, -3.9%, 24.9%, 28.8%, 29.2%
Andy Pages, -3.6%, 20.8%, 24.4%, 22.6%
Tommy Edman, -2.4%, 17.2%, 19.6%, 16.7%
Michael Conforto, -1.2%, 23%, 24.2%, 23.7%
Will Smith, -0.1%, 19.2%, 19.3%, 18.6%
Mookie Betts, 0, 11%, 11%, 13.5%

Team strikeout % this year: 21.4%
Team strikeout % last year: 22%

So, the Dodgers are actually striking out less often this year, and it’s pretty consistent across the board, no matter the game situation.

The only two people who are truly having a bad strikeout year are Freeman, who has already struck out more times this season than last season, and Kiké. Ohtani is close to career norms, and Rojas is striking out more, but still far less than most. They’ve scored 5.18 runs per game this season, 5.20 last season. If the Dodgers don’t win it all this season, it probably won’t be because of strikeouts, even if Ohtani did have a crucial strikeout with one out and the bases loaded in the ninth inning of a one-run loss to Toronto on Sunday. The final pitch was out of the strike zone.

—Dave Roberts gave a rare criticism of Ohtani after the game: “The last thing I was thinking was he was going to strikeout. We’ve got to come up with one right there. Chasing the ball down is something we can’t have happen.”

—The Dodgers travel all the way to Orange County to take on the Angels for three games starting tonight. For those of you wishing for a cheaper way to go to a Dodger game without a big traffic hassle getting in and out of the stadium, now is your chance.

—If the postseason started today, these would be the 12 teams to qualify:

NL
1. Milwaukee
2. Philadelphia
3. Dodgers
4. Chicago
5. San Diego
6. New York

AL
1. Toronto
2. Detroit
3. Houston
4. Seattle
5. Boston
6. New York

The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.

The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.

In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.

It would behoove the Dodgers to finish in the top two in the NL.

These names seem familiar

A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Saturday). Click on the player name to be taken to the baseball-reference page with all their stats.

Batters

Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .272/.325/.485, 464 plate appearances, 20 doubles, 5 triples, 20 homers, 66 RBIs, 122 OPS+

Michael Busch, Cubs: .263/.348/.500, 416 PA’s, 16 doubles, 3 triples, 22 homers, 64 RBIs, 143 OPS+

Hunter Feduccia, Rays: 3 for 19, 1 double, 28 OPS+ (numbers with Rays only)

Gavin Lux, Reds: .274/.356/.375, 379 PA’s, 20 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 42 RBIs, 99 OPS+

Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .269/.348/.454, 391 PA’s, 18 doubles, 8 triples, 10 homers, 39 RBIs, 120 OPS+

James Outman, Twins: in the minors

Joc Pederson, Rangers, .148/.287/.282, 179 PA’s, 6 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 9 RBIs, 67 OPS+

Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, .247/.277/.318, 267 PA’s, 12 doubles, 2 homers, 25 RBIs, 70 OPS+

Corey Seager, Rangers: .265/.370/.470, 378 PA’s, 15 doubles, 17 homers, 41 RBIs, 143 OPS+

Chris Taylor, Angels: .189/.302/.396, 42 PA’s, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 82 OPS+ (numbers with Angels only)

Justin Turner, Cubs: .222/.292/.333, 154 PA’s, 6 doubles, 3 homers, 15 RBIs, 82 OPS+

Trea Turner, Phillies: .282/.340/.427, 520 PA’s, 25 doubles, 4 triples, 12 homers, 51 RBIs, 109 OPS+

Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .229/.305/.402, 439 PA’s, 25 doubles, two triples, 13 homers, 44 RBIs, 97 OPS+

Alex Verdugo, Braves: .239/.296/.289, 213 PA’s, 10 doubles, 12 RBIs, 66 OPS+, released by Braves

Pitching

Walker Buehler, Red Sox: 7-6, 5.40 ERA, 100 IP, 110 hits, 46 walks, 75 K’s, 76 ERA+

Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 6-11, 4.56 ERA, 120.1 IP, 106 hits, 48 walks, 147 K’s, 90 ERA+

Kenley Jansen, Angels: 4-2, 2.72 ERA, 21 saves, 43 IP, 32 hits, 13 walks, 42 K’s, 156 ERA+

Dustin May, Red Sox: 0-1, 7.36 ERA, 3.2 IP, 6 hits, 1 walk, 4 K’s, 61 ERA+ (numbers with Red Sox only)

Ryan Pepiot, Rays: 7-9, 3.77 ERA, 136 IP, 114 hits, 47 walks, 134 K’s, 108 ERA+

Max Scherzer, Blue Jays: 2-2, 4.21 ERA, 47 IP, 41 hits, 11 walks, 49 K’s, 99 ERA+

Ryan Yarbrough, Yankees: 3-1, 3.90 ERA, 55.1 IP, 48 hits, 17 walks, 49 K’s, 104 ERA+

Up next

Monday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 10-7, 2.51 ERA) at Angels (José Soriano, 7-9, 4.01 ERA), 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, FanDuel Sports Network West, KCOP Ch. 13, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830, KWKW 1330

Tuesday: Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 3-2, 3.00 ERA) at Angels (*Tyler Anderson, 2-7, 4.63 ERA), 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, FanDuel Sports Network West, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830, KWKW 1330

Wednesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 0-0, 2.37 ERA) at Angels (Kyle Hendricks, 6-8, 4.63 ERA) 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, FanDuel Sports Network West, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830, KWKW 1330

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

‘Straight grinder.’ How new Dodger Alex Call became one of MLB’s toughest at-bats

And finally

The Dodgers salute Don Newcombe. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.