Michael Busch and James Outman are both in the starting lineup today and are 2 of the organization’s top prospects.
James Outman is a big, athletic outfielder that has a middle linebacker background and is absolutely fearless around the wall. He has “plug an play” defensive skills, and after making some adjustments to his swing, is turning into a very good offensive player as well. Outman went to High School in the Bay Area and graduated at Serra, then played Collegiately at Sac State before being drafted in the 7th Round of the 2018 Draft by the Dodgers.
Here is a look at James Outman “Under the Hood”.
Outman was the last crop of Dodgers who had the benefit of playing rookie ball in Ogden and was considered to be “plug and play” as a defender. He has shown excellent range and is great at both going back on the ball and playing the wall, and also coming in and making sliding catches. Outman was featured on Dodger Poke, so for a more detailed description of him you can click anywhere on the underlined portion and read all about him.
I still think I could have used some work going into professional baseball, but Reggie was a stickler for defense at Sac State so I felt like I held myself to a really high standard in college and was ready to hold myself to an even higher standard as a Professional.
The 6’3 outfielder was considered “plug and play” defensively, but knew that he needed to make some adjustments to his swing. He had always hit the ball hard, and had always shown good power, but he needed to build a swing that would create more consistency. Outman was not only open to the changes, he has been the driving force behind them and the results have been fantastic. After being moved up to AA Tulsa this past year, Outman hit .339 in August, had 7 multi hit games, and an OPS of .976. He backed that up by being an All Star in the Arizona Fall League while hitting .292 with an OPS of .994.
I made a lot of adjustments, but probably the biggest one was being able to relax in the box and loosen up my body and let my athleticism take over instead of just trying to muscle the baseball.
MLB?
James Outman is, in my opinion, a Major League caliber player and one that could stick for many years. He has MLB defensive skills, more than enough athleticism, can steal bases, hit for power, and now has a swing that should allow him to be both consistent and powerful. His approach to the game, work ethic, and ability to relax and have fun, but also play with an “edge”, are big-league caliber tools that will keep “edging” him forward. He has all the tools to be a big leaguer, has a big-league approach, and is getting closer to his dream, one step at a time.
Michael Busch
Michael Busch came to the Dodgers from the University of North Carolina and was a 1st round pick in the 2019 draft. While Busch had a slow start, his finish to the season was nothing short of remarkable. After a decent start in May, things went pretty sideways for the Tar Heel infielder in June as he hit .173, had no home runs, had just 1 RBI, and struck out 29 times in 75 at-bats.
After going 0 for 3 in his first game in July, Busch’s average was all the way down to .217. But as the weather heated up, so did his bat.. In the rest of the month, the Tar Heel 2nd baseman hit .300 and had 8 multi-hit games which were almost twice as many as he had in May and June combined.
Although August was a fairly modest month, the #3 Dodger prospect had a September to Remember. In September, Busch hit .413 and had 6 multi-hit games in the 13 games the Drillers played in September. If you add in the last 2 games of August, Busch had 8 multi-hit games in his last 15 games played.
Busch is a right-side infielder that played mostly 2nd base but also played 1st, so the Dodgers are trying to create the versatility in him that they like in their players.
Dodgers infielder, Michael Busch, had one of the most amazing months of offensive baseball I've ever seen.
In September, he hit .413, had an OPS of 1.230, and had multiple hits in exactly 1/2 of the games played in the month.
Dude can absolutely rake!#dodgers #michaelbusch pic.twitter.com/sgeapxyGW8
— Dodgers Daily (@dodger_daily) January 26, 2022
