Dodgers trade Gavin Lux to Reds in wake of | College News

The Dodgers have thinned out their glut of center infielders, trading second baseman Gavin Lux to the Cincinnati Reds for outfield prospect Mike Sirota and a competitive-balance Round A draft decide, the group introduced Monday.

Lux had a productive end to 2024 after lacking 2023 as a result of of torn knee ligaments, batting .304 with an .899 on-base-plus-slugging share in the second half after hitting .213 with a .562 OPS in the primary half, and he drove in the tying run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly in the World Series Game 5-clinching win over the New York Yankees.

But with Mookie Betts shifting from proper area to shortstop this winter and the Dodgers signing slick-fielding Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, a left-handed hitter whose best place is second base, to a three-year, $12.5-million deal on Friday, the left-handed-hitting Lux turned expendable.

The Dodgers have lots of middle-infield depth behind Betts and Kim, with Tommy Edman, who gives above-average protection at shortstop, second base and heart area, slick-fielding center infielder Miguel Rojas and utility man Chris Taylor on the roster. Betts additionally has appreciable expertise at second base.

Lux, 27, was a first-round decide of the Dodgers out of Indian Trail High School in Kenosha, Wis., in 2016, and he was named Baseball America’s minor league participant of the 12 months in 2019 after batting .347 with a 1.028 OPS, 26 homers and 76 RBIs in 113 video games for double-A Tulsa and triple-A Oklahoma City.

After enjoying 18 video games for the Dodgers at second base during the pandemic-shorted 2020 season, Lux bounced across the diamond in 2021 and 2022, enjoying shortstop, second base, left area and heart area, the Dodgers getting artistic in their makes an attempt to keep his bat in the lineup.

But an awkward slide into third base during a spring-training sport in March 2023 led to season-ending surgical procedure after Lux tore each the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his proper knee.

Lux was set to take over at shortstop final spring earlier than a collection of throwing errors prompted the group to transfer Betts to shortstop and Lux back to second base final March.

Lux, who’s projected to make $2.7 million in his second 12 months of arbitration this season, completed with a .251 batting average, .703 OPS, 10 homers, 24 doubles and 50 RBIs in 129 video games final season.

He acknowledged that he babied his surgically repaired knee for many of the primary half, ensuing in a swing that was more tentative and produced more smooth contact.

But he adjusted his mindset and method in the week earlier than the All-Star break and went on a tear, batting .347 with a 1.043 OPS, seven homers, 14 doubles and 21 RBIs in 40 video games from July 20 to Sept. 4.

“I don’t think it’s a swing change,” Lux, who was named National League participant of the week to begin the second half, stated on the time. “I’m just trying to be more aggressive, and when I get a decent pitch to hit, put a good swing on it.”

Lux cooled off in September, batting .216 (11 for 51) with 5 RBIs over his final 20 regular-season video games, and he hit solely .176 (six for 34) in 12 postseason video games.

But he had two hits, together with a two-run home run in the seventh inning, in the Dodgers’ 8-0 win over the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and he hit a score-tying, bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of an eventual 7-6 win that clinched the World Series title for the Dodgers in Yankee Stadium.

Sirota, 21, was chosen by the Dodgers in the sixteenth spherical of the 2021 draft however didn’t signal. He was a third-round decide of the Reds out of Northeastern University in 2024 however didn’t play for a minor league affiliate. The Dodgers can even obtain the thirty seventh general decide in subsequent summer time’s draft in the deal.