Dodgers Dugout: A look at each player at the All-Star break

Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman have had decent seasons so far. See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred Welcome to the Dodgers Dugout newsletter, which comes twice a week during the season and covers the Dodgers. To sign up to receive it via email (it’s free), go here Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Here we are at the All-Star break. How did that happen so fast? And how crazy is baseball? Arizona is 49-47, 11½ games out of first. The Angels are tied for the worst record in baseball (38-59) and are also 11½ games out of first. The Dodgers begin the second half of the season with a 61-36 record, leading the NL West by 11½ games over Arizona. Yes, they lost their last three games going into the break, but those things happen. The first few games after the break (at Yankees, at Philadelphia, at Mets) won’t be easy, so we will see where things stand after that. How does their record compare to years past at the break? 2025 58-39, .598 led NL West by 5½ games Record after break: 35-30, .538 won NL West by 3 games 2024 56-41, .577 led NL West by 7 games Record after break: 42-23, .646 won NL West by 5 games 2023 51-38, .573 second in NL West, a half-game behind Arizona Record after break: 49-24, .671 won NL West by 16 games 2022 60-30, .667 led NL West by 9½ games Record after break: 51-21, .708 won NL West by 22 games 2021 56-35, .615 second in NL West, two games behind San Francisco Record after break: 50-21, .704 second in NL West, one game behind Giants Now let’s look at the main players on the team. We will include their slash numbers (AVG/OB%/SLG%) and their career slash numbers. We will list them in order of OPS+. The discussion of whether pitching is hurting his hitting has mostly come to a halt. But maybe it is hurting his knee? That’s a huge thing to keep an eye on in the second half. It’s highly unlikely that Edman hits this well the rest of the season (he’s had only 78 plate appearances), but the Dodgers are certainly better with him on the roster. He is still as steady as ever. When was the last time you said “Wow, that was a bad at-bat by Freeman?” It never seems to happen. Unsung star of the first half, even if he did make the All-Star team. He’s quite the steal at only $10 million. And his defense has gotten better too. Has has filled in quite well for Will Smith. Remember the Pages who seemed to break wrong on every fly ball his rookie year? That Pages no longer exists. He is not playing like a guy who is retiring at the end of the season. You could make a case for this being his best year ever. Looking at his numbers, you have to wonder if he had any other nagging injuries before he went on the IL because of a neck problem. Playing catcher is hard, folks. You have to figure the Dodgers were hoping for more than a league average hitter for $60 million a season. I always wonder if deep down, a guy such as Rojas says to himself, “That guy is making $60 million and I’m making $6 million?” The consistency just isn’t there anymore. The last two seasons he has been decidedly average as a player. He may never be the hitter he once was. Then again, he’s hitting .288/.335/.475 since June 9. Many fans are still enamored with him, but until he develops a better eye at the plate and a more consistent swing, he’s going to spend a lot of time in the minors. Another Dodgers top prospect who hasn’t panned out ... yet. Remember Miguel Vargas, who looked about as bad as Freeland with the Dodgers and was on the AL All-Star team this year? Perhaps they can use that as a factor at the trade deadline. Strangely, the Dodgers have a hitter with the same name. I wonder if they ever get them mixed up. Get this: He has pitched this well and might not even be in the postseason rotation if Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell return. Glasnow has been in the majors for 11 seasons and pitched more than 100 innings only three times, and in one of those seasons, he pitched over half of those innings in relief. It has been a quiet season from him so far, but a very good season. Considering all the arm injuries in baseball, it’s amazing his arm didn’t fall off this year after his usage in the postseason. Once again, the Dodgers find a pitcher on the scrap heap, make an adjustment, and he becomes a solid pitcher. A big disappointment so far. If any of the 12 million starting pitchers on the IL for the Dodgers was healthy, you have to figure they might get a shot. He starred briefly while in the bullpen last postseason, but overall, you have to wonder why the Dodgers don’t let him figure things out in the minors. Snell is like Bigfoot. You think he might exist, but he’s seen only rarely and pictures of him are blurry. The search continues. This is Vesia’s sixth season in the Dodger bullpen, and he has had only one mediocre season, in 2023. He comes in, get the job done, gets the team pumped up and leaves. Every team needs a Vesia. No one gets too excited when Henriquez comes into a game, but he sure has been effective. Career ERA before joining Dodgers: 11.05. ERA with the Dodgers: 2.39. At the beginning of the season, we mentioned something like what Klein did in Game 3 of last year’s World Series could catapult him into a long, solid major league career. So far, so good. Yes, he has had a rough game or two this season, but overall he has been a dependable closer. It is hard to draw any conclusions on Stewart since he has pitched only 13.1 innings for the team since it acquired him at last year’s trade deadline for James Outman. Henriquez, Klein, Dreyer. Three guys who draw little notice but have been stalwarts in the bullpen this season. He had three great seasons with the Dodgers, but it has been hit and miss since then. On the IL again, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering his name. Kyle hurt? Yes. He has pitched only three innings since his return from the IL, so it’s too soon to draw any conclusions on how well he has recovered. He was really, really good before the injury. And finally ... Of course, this doesn’t include players such as Kiké Hernández and Edwin Díaz, who played very little this season but are expected back after the All-Star break. Overall, a solid team. There’s no one where you can say “That guy is terrible.” There may be a player or two who is overpaid for their production, but even those guys aren’t terrible. And that’s how you end up with the best record in baseball at the All-Star break. Remember sitting down with the Sunday newspaper and turning to the page that listed all of the hitters and pitchers and their stats? The Times and almost every other paper stopped running that years ago. Let’s do a little of it now by listing the top five in key categories in the NL and where the top Dodger is at the break. Remember, to qualify for rate stats, you have to have 3.1 plate appearances or one inning pitched for each game your team has played. Friday: Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 3-5, 5.33 ERA) at New York Yankees (Gerrit Cole, 3-4, 4.04 ERA), 4:05 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020 Saturday: Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 4-6, 4.81 ERA) at New York Yankees (*Ryan Weathers, 3-7, 4.15 ERA), 5:08 p.m., Fox, AM 570, KTNQ 1020 Sunday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 9-6, 2.85 ERA) at New York Yankees (Cam Schlittler, 9-5, 2.05 ERA), 4:20 p.m., NBC, Peacock, AM 570, KTNQ 1020 In case you missed it Plaschke: Who says they don’t need him? Dodgers need to trade for Tarik Skubal Most pressing question for Dodgers in the second half: Can Shohei Ohtani stay healthy? Shohei Ohtani wins two ESPYs ... and Mike Tyson learns the Dodgers superstar is a guy Dodgers’ Mookie Betts has six Gold Gloves. And now a baseball glove company Shaikin: To seize 2028 Olympics spotlight, does MLB really need draconian participation rules? Kevin Costner on the legacy of Vin Scully. Watch and listen here. Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at To get this newsletter in your inbox,