Matt Beaty belongs here

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 24, 2019 ♦ 1 Comment

Every Dodger position rookie is making their mark this year and Matt Beaty is no exception. I haven’t looked at the statcast data, but it seems every time he makes contact it is hard contact. Matt was doing everything right, and yet because of the Rich Hill injury, he was sent down last Wednesday.  He didn’t take his flight to Oklahoma and it seemed awful convenient that Josh Sborz suffered an injury that would put him on the injured list so that Matt could rejoin the team in time for the series with the Rockies.

Good thing that the Dodgers never planned on sending Matt to Oklahoma because he was a big part of the Dodger walk-off sweep of the Rockies this past weekend. Matt had been making most of his starts at 1st base but with the Dodgers thinking long term they moved Matt to LF and gave Joc Pederson his first major league start at 1st base. Matt is not an outfielder and Joc is not a 1st baseman but if/when AJ Pollock comes back if Joc is going to play that means he may need to learn how to play 1st base because Cody and Alex are going to be in RF/CF every night for a while. Matt made his mark by hitting the walk-off home run and is now part of major league history by being part of the Dodger Rookie trio who hit back to back to back rookie walk-off home runs this weekend.

That might be the highlight of his career. Or it might just be the start of his career. Max Muncy and others have broken what we expect of AAAA level players. It is very possible that Matt Beaty has the hit tool to have an impactful major league career. I won’t pretend to know what is in store, but what he has done for the Dodgers in June has already had an impact on the team. His ability to play 1st, allowed Max Muncy to move to 2nd, and Max shocked me (maybe everyone) with how well he has handled second base. The Dodgers looked down the road and decided that Joc needed to play 1st base, which tells me all I need to know about who they expect to be on the roster when AJ Pollock comes off the injured list. Unless something happens at the traded deadline it won’t be Matt Beaty but if the Dodgers earn a ring, Matt Beaty will have earned the right to wear that ring.