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Some players are not meant for the bright spotlight, and six years into the MLB career of second baseman Gavin Lux, you have to start wondering if he’s one of them. While the Dodgers obviously loved his potential when they made him their first-round pick out of high school in Wisconsin in 2016, he has, in reality, been pretty average as a big-league player.
Lux looked like some of his potential was coming home to roost in 2022, when he hit .276 with a .346 on-base percentage and a .399 slugging mark, and led MLB with seven triples, but since then, things have gone haywire. He tore his ACL and missed all of 2023, and here in 2024 he has come back to hit just .245.
Lux did get hot right after the All-Star break, though, and it is possible that the first half of his season was slowed by the lengthy recovery time needed in coming back from an ACL tear—doctors frequently say that players need more than a year to truly feel like themselves. Lux has hit .391 since July 11, with an impressive 1.139 OPS in that span.
Still, in speculating what might happen with the Dodgers this offseason, the folks at Bleacher Report tabbed Lux as the player most likely to be traded after the year is complete.
Dodgers Could Seek Offseason Upgrades
In an article titled, “1 MLB Player From Each Team Most Likely to Be Traded in 2024-25 Offseason,” B/R’s Zachary Rymer pegged a second-base upgrade as the most plausible move for the Dodgers to make on the trade market. Lux is only 26 and is still under team control until 2026—he’d be an attractive bit of trade bait for a lot of young teams.
Wrote Rymer: “He never seemed to actually be on the trade block, but Lux was a popular source for speculation last winter. Which was understandable, as he looked like a change-of-scenery candidate even then.
“Now? Even more so. He’s been healthy this year after missing all of 2023 with a torn ACL, yet he’s still nothing close to the star the Dodgers hoped he would become. Trading him to clear the way for a middle infield upgrade would make sense.”
The Dodgers could have some flexibility there. When star Mookie Betts returns next week, he is set to go back to playing shortstop, but there has been speculation that he could eventually replace Lux at second base. Next season, the Dodgers can figure out where to best deploy Betts—at short, at second or in the outfield. That gives them choices when it comes to figuring who which players to add.
Gavin Lux Getting Better in Surgery Return
And there’s still time for Lux to show that the Dodgers should stick with him. His knee injury was particularly gruesome, as he tore not only his ACL but also his LCL and did damage to his hamstring as well.
He told the Dodgers team website that part of the challenge has been adjusting to wearing knee protection early in the year, even after doctors told him he could remove it. Lux also said that watching footage of his past swings helped him spot differences, and made him realize he had to put some focus back on his legs, even the surgically repaired one.
“Get your legs more under you and that’s really it, man,” Lux said. “There’s nothing really crazy different with the swing, just trying to use the ground better with my legs and be aggressive. That’s really it.”
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