Cody Bellinger will become an unrestricted free agent in 2024, and one of the hot-button topics is whether the Dodgers will tender him a contract, or will they let him walk and take his elite defense and MVP-type potential with him. It’s a question that can’t be answered at the moment considering that he will be under contract for all of next season and I’m sure his performance in 2023 will have a lot to do with the direction the organization takes with him.

What to Consider

One of the first considerations as to how to handle Bellinger is going to be what the Dodgers already have in-house to replace him. If the Dodgers decide that they are not going to tender a contract to Bellinger during next season, they would surely try and get a return on him through trade, but that doesn’t mean they would trade for a Center Fielder, so let’s talk about the options the club would have “in-house” to play center in that scenario. 

Trayce Thompson had a very heart-warming and good return to the Dodgers organization in 2022. He hit .256 with an OPS of .860 which are both very good marks, especially considering the type of defense he plays, but, he hit just .154 in the Post Season and posted an OPS of just .467, so, 2023 will be a big year for him in terms of whether he is viewed from a long-term perspective at any outfield position.

Chris Taylor is a very good athlete, but he seems to be best suited as a utility-type player. Taylor is a lifetime .256 hitter in the regular season and has performed almost identically in the post-season during his career as well with a slightly lower avg. of .250, but with a 50-point higher OPS. So, he has shown to produce when it matters, which is why the Dodgers re-signed him, but I don’t think the club would want to pin him down to just 1 position. Plus, he hit just .221 this past year and his OPS was down to .677, so 2023 will need to be a bounce-back year for him to get any kind of consideration for an everyday role, to begin with. 

Big Splash?

If the Dodgers decide to make a big splash by acquiring a big-time free-agent outfielder, Mookie Betts could easily slide over to Center Field and do a fine job. Betts had a career-high 35 home runs in 2022 and is under contract until 2033, so he will be with the club for the long term. This is an “out of the box” solution, but one that could work if the necessity arises.

Joey Gallo was picked up by the Dodgers in a trade that sent Clayton Beeter to the Yankees, so the club gave up quite a bit of value to get him so it would sting to watch him walk in Free Agency with no return. We all know that Gallo can hit the ball a country mile, but that the trade is that he swings and misses a lot. In fact, in 2022, he struck out 163 times in 350 at-bats and paired that with just a .160 average, so he would be a long shot, to say the least. But, he is ultra-talented, so who knows if the “bat to ball” skill clicks, and if it ever did, he would be a feared hitter combining that with his power. 

“Out of the Box”

Gavin Lux is another “out of the box” idea to become a consideration to even become a possibility to being thought of as a long-term solution to the Dodgers center field. But, he is very fast and has a very good hit tool and those are guys that find themselves in the lineup somewhere, so don’t be surprised if the Dodgers continue to find creative ways to get his offense in as many games as possible. But, as I said, the idea of him becoming the everyday center fielder for the Dodgers is pretty far “out there”, but anything is possible with a player of his skill.

Jason Martin is a 26-year-old left-hander that had a great year in OKC this year hitting for both average and power. He hit .285 with an OPS of .938 and had 32 home runs, which is a career-high for him. The Dodgers picked up Martin last off-season via free agency from Texas after he had been optioned by the Rangers, and finished 2021 hitting .350 in his last 40 at-bats, so he has shown that he can hit MLB-level pitching. He played mainly right field for OKC, so the idea of him moving to center for the big club on a permanent basis is a long shot, but if he keeps hitting as he hit in 2022, he will force his way into an MLB lineup somewhere. If Martin ever became an everyday outfielder for the Dodgers, it would, however, almost certainly be at one of the corners.

Kevin Pillar is another Dodger that is headed to Free Agency that is very intriguing. Pillar had a great Minor League season in 2022 until he got hurt, and has had success in the MLB as recently as 2020 when he hit .288 with an OPS of .798. He hit just .231 in 2021 for the Mets, but if you remember, that was the season where he got hit in the face with a fastball that required surgery. Pillar is known to play great defense, so the defensive aspect of it fits, and, if he can carry his Minor League offense from 2022 over to the MLB level in 2023, he will be a candidate to fill in the Center field role in some way. Would he be considered a long, long-term solution, probably not, but he could easily give the club a couple of very good years at that position. 

Top Prospects

James Outman is a 25-year-old who, quite possibly, was the best player in the Minor Leagues this year. He hit with .294 with an OPS of .978, and having played for Reggie Christiansen at Sac State, Outman has always valued defense and has made adjustments that have helped his offense match. Outman has always had a lot of power and this year was no different as he hit 31 home runs, but making consistent contact has always been the issue for him. Outman struck out 152 times in 473 at-bats, so, if the club decides not to make him an everyday MLB starter, this would be the stat as to why because every other part of his game checks the boxes plus some. 

Johnny DeLuca was one of the hottest hitters on the planet before he suffered a season-ending injury for Tulsa. He was awarded the Player of the Week in the Midwest League on back-to-back weeks just before he got promoted to AA at the beginning of July and he hit .298 with an OPS of .965 in his last 2 months of the season with Tulsa. DeLuca, like Outman, is a great combination of strength and speed and is a great athlete and hit 25 home runs before he was forced to shut down his season, so he has every tool. When he was promoted he led Great Lakes in home runs and stolen bases, so he can beat a defense in every which way possible. 

Drew Avans is a 26-year-old who is one helluva baseball player. He had the longest on-base streak in the PCL in 2022, had an OPS over .800, and stole 40 bases. 40! That’s a skill that the Dodgers could really use, and Avans is a great defender that can cover a lot of ground, so I think he is a real possibility. He will be an everyday MLB in center field for someone, we’ll just have to wait and see if it is with the Dodgers.

Those are the candidates that are the most likely “in-house” candidates in my opinion, but the Dodgers do have other guys that have the potential to be very good in the outfield at the MLB level, but that I just don’t see being in Center field. Guys like Ryan Noda, Andy Pages, Buddy Reed, and Ryan Ward are all very good, and Jeren Kendall is still around but is still trying to find his offensive game. 

The next group down the list would be the High A Great Lakes group like Jose Ramos and Ismael Alcantara, but I think those guys are a couple of years away and won’t play into the immediate decision as to what to do with Bellinger. 

Free Agents

Of the Free Agents that are listed specifically as Center Fielders, Kevin Kiermaier and Brandon Nimmo would be the biggest splashes. Kiermaier has a lifetime .228 average overall with an average of just .220 in the post-season, but, Brandon Nimmo of the Mets has a lifetime of .274 MLB average and an OPS of .800 for his career. He has also shown to be a good postseason performer as well hitting .333  with an OPS of .885 in his career during the playoffs. Of course, Aaron Judge is a Free Agent, but he is a corner outfielder, so if the Dodgers signed him, they still would need to figure out what the future of center field is. 

Final Thoughts