The Los Angeles Dodgers announced a slew of roster transactions on Tuesday afternoon before their new series with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The major headline of the roster news is that Will Smith and Dalton Rushing were activated from the IL. It was reported that Will Smith would return today, but the Rushing news is a bit of a surprise.
The Dodgers X account wrote (on 9/1):
“The Dodgers have activated catchers Will Smith and Dalton Rushing and LHP Justin Wrobleski from the injured list, and added IF Alex Freeland to the active roster. In order to make room on the roster, the Dodgers optioned OF Alek Thomas and designated catcher Ben Rortvedt for assignment.”
There is certainly a lot to digest there, but with most roster moves, there is always a casualty, and that happens to be catcher Ben Rortvedt in this instance.
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Dodgers Designate Ben Rortvedt for Assignment
It’s a pretty unsurprising move that Ben Rortvedt has been DFA’d, as both Dalton Rushing and Will Smith are much more capable hitters on the team’s roster.
MLBTR.com’s Anthony Franco wrote (about Rortvedt):
“The Dodgers will place Rortvedt on waivers this week. They’re surely hoping he’ll clear and accept an assignment back to OKC as organizational depth for the final month and change. There’s a decent chance that’ll happen, as Rortvedt is out of options and would otherwise need to be added to a claiming team’s active roster. Even if he accepts a minor league assignment for September and October, he’d qualify for minor league free agency at the beginning of the offseason.”
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Ben Rortvedt’s Tenure with the Dodgers
The Dodgers traded for Ben Rortvedt at the MLB trade deadline in a deal with the New York Mets.
LA really needed catching depth at the time, so the news made sense, but even he likely knew his time with the big-league club would be short, with Rushing and Smith being close to activation.
In 27 at-bats with Los Angeles this year, Rortvedt recorded just 5 hits, and has 0 XBH, and 1 RBI.
He’s played in MLB for parts of five seasons, including two different stints with the Dodgers.
Across 586 at-bats, Rortvedt holds a career average of .189 with nine home runs and 53 RBI.
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