An early attempt at sorting out the few position battles – Dodgers Digest

While the Spring Training games haven’t even started yet, now seems like a good a time as any to speculate on the Opening Day roster for the 2025 Dodgers since the team is on an accelerated schedule due to their early start for the regular season.

26 will be in, who makes the cut?

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Locks (20)

Catchers (2): Will Smith, Austin Barnes

Infielders (4): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas

Outfielders (2): Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto

Utility (2): Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez

Shohei Ohtani (1 Of A Kind): Shohei Ohtani

Rotation (4): Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki

Bullpen (5): Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda

So that’s 11 of the 13 position player spots already accounted for, as well as four of the five rotation spots and five of the eight bullpen spots.

Despite six spots technically being up for grabs, sorting it out isn’t as complicated as it seems when looking at the layout of the competitions.

Position Player Candidates (4)

Unless there’s some kind of injury, it’s basically these four guys for two spots. They all have options except for Taylor, so like it or not, he’ll likely have the advantage going into the competition. The trade of Gavin Lux also seemingly opened up a spot for Kim to start at second base, so unless the Dodgers can find a trade partner for CT3 or he looks completely unplayable, I’d bet on both Pages and Outman going down at the moment. My preference would be for Pages to stick around given that he proved to be at least a capable platoon guy last year already, but the safe bet is on CT3 and Kim.

Pitcher Candidates (9)

Given how Miller looked after his injury last year and that May is coming off the more recent major surgery, Gonsolin seems like the best bet for the last rotation spot given the track record, the fact that he was already making rehab starts late last year, and that he’s now almost 18 months clear of TJS. Really though, this could end up being a true battle of who looks the most ready because they remarkably all still have options.

Assuming Gonsolin wins the last rotation spot as I project, I’d expect May to head to the pen, where he might be better off anyway. After that, the late starts for Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech that make them likely unavailable for Opening Day make this exercise a lot more interesting than it was last month. While Miller and Wrobleski are likely sent down to be starters, Knack, Casparius, and Grove could compete for the swingman spot, where the Dodgers used them last year. Henriquez then has a chance to force himself on the roster, which is what I’d prefer seeing, with veteran Gallegos lurking if he regains his old form and there’s injuries. Since the Dodgers usually play it safe at the start of the season, which is especially likely with the travel to Japan and what not, I’ll guess they go with May, Knack, and Grove in the pen to start the year.

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26-Man Roster

Catchers (2): Will Smith, Austin Barnes

Infielders (5): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Hyeseong Kim, Miguel Rojas

Outfielders (2): Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto

Utility (3): Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor

Shohei Ohtani (1 Of A Kind): Shohei Ohtani

Rotation (5): Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin

Bullpen (8): Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda, Dustin May, Landon Knack, Michael Grove

The lineup would see Edman essentially becoming the starting center fielder, with Enrique and Rojas around for lefty matchups the Dodgers don’t like for Kim and Conforto. CT3 would mostly spell whoever needs rest, ideally against a lefty, though I would prefer Pages to stick around.

The rotation is pretty straight-forward, while the pen construction includes three lefties and three swingmen, so there’s both matchup potential and the ability to rescue starters early. Henriquez putting it all together in Spring Training and flashing his back-end potential would be preferable over a third swingman, though.

And that’s about it.

Discuss!