Dodgers: Dave Roberts Points to Issues with Struggling Gavin Lux
So far in 2021, Gavin Lux szn hasn’t gone quite according to plan for the Dodgers. In the offseason, the team let veteran utility man Enrique Hernandez walk in free agency opening the door wide for Luxy. But to say it’s been a bit of a struggle so far might be an understatement.
The second baseball came out of the gate immediately on fire, collecting 5 hits in his first 13 at-bats. Since then, he’s collected 5 hits in 43 at-bats (.116) and has only 1 hit since returning from the injured list with a wrist issue.
Over the last two days, Dave Roberts mentioned the team is not "ending at-bats" leaving some potentially hittable pitches out there.
He mentioned today when discussing Gavin Lux's struggles, "when you get the ball in the zone, you gotta finish the at-bat." #Dodgers
— Clint Pasillas (@realFRG) May 1, 2021
Dave Roberts shared his thoughts on where Lux is at swing-wise and mentally at the plate.
Like a lot of our guys, he’s grinding. He’s just got to keep it simple. Try to take good at-bats. … When you get the ball in the strike zone and get a good pitch to hit, you gotta finish the at-bat. Since he came back from the IL, there are some pitches in the zone that he’s missed. So if he can get better at that, there’ll be some good things coming.
Doc has mentioned that last bit a little more with the team mired in this skid. They’re not finishing off at-bats. As in they’re leaving hittable pitches out there. Watching the team for a game or two of late will quickly tell you that too.
Related: Mookie Betts Trying to Dial in Swing Mechanics
Continuing on with Lux, earlier in the week, Roberts added more clarity talking about what he’s seeing with the infielder’s approach on pitches feeling that he’s been late on fastballs and too early on breaking balls.
That tells me you’re caught in the middle. I just want him to see the baseball, hit it hard through the middle of the field, and everything else will take care of itself.
Thankfully not everything is doom and gloom with Gavin. He’s been good-to-great on the other side of the ball, displaying solid defense at second base and even occasionally at shortstop. But this is a guy that was drafted for his bat to ball skills. This is the guy that destroyed Double-A and Triple-A pitching in 2019 and forced his way onto the big league roster with his play.
The talent is there, and the swing and approach was there all throughout spring training. It’s a new month for Gavin and the Dodgers.
NEXT: AJ Pollock Confident that LA Will Turn Things Around
Right now, the Dodgers suck. And Lux sux more than just about anyone, except Rios. But at least Rios hit last year. Lux has never done anything well in his entire time at the MLB level. He’s a minor league flash in the pan. All hype. No substance. How many years will it go on? Get McKinistry healthy and put him at 2b. Trade Lux for whatever you can get, which probably won’t be much.
And just how many ABs does Gavin Lux have in the majors so far? You make it sound like he has been around for years.
Missed out on Kolton Wong this off-season when he was non-tendered by the Cards. Gold Glove — impact player, good speed, good pop on bat. Or Kike’s steady play. Both making about 8 mil or less would have been well worth it if either one were in the line-up today. Lux is not even close to that talent.
Worst case scenario…flip Lux’s role with McKinstry. The team has pretty much avoided playing Zach a lot at 2b so as not to raise the question of who’s more qualified to start there. Lux plays a quality SS, so he stays on the team as a bench player if he can’t hit consistently. Of course he still has room to prove he can hit. He’s got a pretty good swing. Pitch recognition?
Interesting that Doc would speak up about “not finishing at-bats” when he has been such an advocate of quality AB’s… which kind of involves seeing alot of pitches. During this current slump I’ve seen a fair number of low out of the zone pitches swung at and stuff in the zone missed, fouled off or taken. Nothing seems weirder than JT taking first pitches and Seager swinging at virtually all of them. Also don’t like seeing Belli swinging from the heels at every pitch he offers at. He could very easily be a high average, high RBI guy in say the #3 spot he cut down on his swing.
Bottom line, hitting ain’t easy but 20/20 hindsight is!