Dodgers' Breakout Players, Most Disappointing to Start 2023 Season
It's a new-look roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with an influx of young talent filling multiple key spots following a number of key departures in free agency, but this team still has legitimate title aspirations.
Outfielder James Outman was one of the biggest stories of the first quarter of the season, going from second-tier prospect to NL Rookie of the Year front-runner with a terrific month of April.
On the flip side, the offseason addition of Noah Syndergaard has not worked out as hoped, and he is among a handful of players who have underperformed.
Ahead, we've taken a closer look at the biggest breakout players, as well as the most disappointing one, on the Dodgers roster through the first quarter of the 2023 season.
Under-the-Radar Breakout: LHP Justin Bruihl
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The Dodgers signed Justin Bruihl as an undrafted free agent out of Cal Poly in 2017, so the fact that he has even made it to the majors makes him a success story, but he is emerging as one of the team's most reliable middle relievers.
The 25-year-old has a 3.65 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 13-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 12.1 innings, and while he has been optioned to the minors twice already this year, that is more a product of the Dodgers utilizing the fact that he has option flexibility unlike many other players on the roster.
Quality left-handed relievers are always in short supply around the league, and it looks like the Dodgers have found one by doing their due diligence on scouting even after the MLB draft is over.
Biggest Disappointment: RHP Noah Syndergaard
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With Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney both departing during the offseason, the Dodgers signed Noah Syndergaard to a one-year, $13 million deal to fill a spot in the starting rotation as he once again looked to rebuild some value following a disappointing 2022 campaign.
The former NL Cy Young contender missed all of 2020 and made just two appearances in 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he didn't have the same electric stuff when he returned to the mound last year, finishing 10-10 with a 3.94 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 134.2 innings with the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies.
It looks like that diminished stuff will be the new normal as he is once again working in the 92-93 mph range with his sinker after averaging 97.5 mph pre-injury in 2019.
Through nine starts, he's gone 1-3 with a 5.88 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and a .295 opponents' batting average, and he has failed to complete six innings in each of his last five starts. At this point, he is the weak link in the rotation, and he could end up being the odd man out once the rotation gets back to full strength.
Biggest Breakout: OF James Outman
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James Outman was the No. 10 prospect in the Dodgers system and nowhere to be found on the Top 100 prospect list at Baseball America when the 2023 season began, despite posting a .978 OPS with 31 doubles, 31 home runs and 106 RBI in the upper levels of the minors last year.
He won a spot on the Opening Day roster and quickly played his way into a starting role, climbing to the top of the NL Rookie of the Year race by hitting .292/.376/.615 with seven home runs and 20 RBI in 29 games in April.
The 26-year-old has crashed back to earth since the calendar flipped to May, hitting just .179/.273/.328 in 77 plate appearances this month, and his 33.9 percent strikeout rate on the year is a major red flag that his stellar start was going to be difficult to sustain.
Nevertheless, he was one of the biggest stories of the season's first month, and that is worthy of recognition as the team's most notable breakout of the year thus far.
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