Again within the spring, Gavin Lux’s largest drawback was throwing the ball.
Then the common season began, and the Dodgers’ as soon as extremely touted infielder abruptly seemed unable to hit.
A month into his return from lacking 2023 with a knee damage, Lux arrived at Nationals Park this week with simply 9 hits in 19 video games, a .148 batting common that ranked Tenth-worst within the majors amongst hitters with 50 at-bats, and a seemingly dwindling period of time to reaffirm his place as a core member of the staff.
Supervisor Dave Roberts hadn’t misplaced religion in Lux, the previous first-round draft decide who underwent knee ligament surgical procedure final March after a spring coaching damage.
“My encouragement [to him] is simply to proceed to take good at-bats,” Roberts mentioned, “and the outcomes will come.”
However Lux’s personal self-belief gave the impression to be wavering, after his defensive struggles in camp this yr price him his beginning shortstop spot, and his poor begin on the plate raised questions on his function because the common second baseman close to the underside of the lineup.
In an 11-2 Dodgers win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night time, nevertheless, Lux’s fortunes ever-so-slightly began to show.
In his first two-hit recreation because the opening week of the season, Lux scored within the second inning after going the opposite method for a single to left. He drove in two runs by pulling a floor ball via the infield within the fifth. And for the primary time in weeks, he seemed extra just like the regular contributor he had been earlier than his damage in 2022, coupling his improved protection at second (the place he has but to commit an error this yr) together with his once-signature capability to hit the ball to all elements of the sector.
Lux wasn’t the one Dodgers participant to shine on an evening Will Smith and Mookie Betts every had 4 hits, Shohei Ohtani collected three doubles to stay MLB’s chief in batting common (.371), slugging proportion (.695) and OPS (1.128), and Andy Pages hit his second dwelling run of his debut week within the huge leagues.
A high quality six-inning, two-run begin from rookie Landon Knack additionally aided the trigger.
Lux’s breakthrough, although, may need been the largest big-picture growth, giving the membership’s former prime prospect and key bottom-of-the-order presence a wanted increase of confidence after a dreadful begin to the yr.
