The Dodgers are patching together their catching group one move at a time, and the latest addition is a familiar big-league veteran.
Los Angeles signed Chadwick Tromp to a minor league deal and sent him to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he stepped in for Chuckie Robinson after Robinson was released. Tromp gives the organization another body behind the plate while Will Smith and Dalton Rushing remain sidelined.
Tromp has been around the league for parts of seven seasons, logging 88 major league games across three teams. He has only cleared the 20-game mark in a season once, doing it with the San Francisco Giants in 2020. This year, he split time with the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles, batting .163 with four RBIs and an OPS of .344.
The bat has never been Tromp’s calling card, but the Dodgers are adding him for the glove and the depth. Over his career, he has six home runs and 27 RBIs.
He now joins Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. as Triple-A insurance behind the club’s big-league catching tandem.
Smith has been out since early June with a lingering neck injury, and there’s still no firm timetable for his return. The Dodgers are holding out hope that the All-Star can make it back in September, which would give him time to get ramped up before the postseason.
He has finally begun a hitting progression, and manager Dave Roberts said Smith could get into coaches’ batting practice this week.
“He’s been throwing, [doing] the weight room stuff each day,” Roberts said. “It’s been better, so this is going to be a big week for Will. And my expectation is that he should be taking some coaches’ batting practice at some point this week.”
Smith still needs a rehab assignment before he can be activated.
Rushing’s situation is different, but just as uncertain. After suffering a slight UCL tear, there had been speculation that he might need surgery. He has now said that surgery is not an option right now.
The Dodgers plan to give Rushing the next few weeks to recover, and there’s at least a chance he could return as a left-handed bat for the postseason. He said he still wants to be able to catch, too, but that will depend on how he feels over the next month.
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