Dodgers’ Centerfield Battle Heats Up Ahead of Tokyo Opener

The Dodgers might have somewhat of a super team.

Having said that, the centerfield position seems to be wide open at the moment.

The spring training period so far has been quite fascinating for the Boys in Blue. With a quick start to the season coming next month in Tokyo, manager Dave Roberts must suss through a number of options to best fill out what will be the deepest roster in baseball. While much of the roster is currently set, there are two positions up for debate at this point: centerfield and second base.

The Dodgers have a host of options at both spots. There is some uncertainty as to how they’ll exactly fill these roles moving forward. We have recently gotten a few clues that may reveal the team’s true intentions. Tommy Edman appears to be back at second base. He did win a gold glove with the Cardinals at that position. The Dodgers had him playing primarily at shortstop and centerfield during their World Series run last season. With Mookie Betts at shortstop, there was a question as to where Edman would be slotted this spring.

It is a bit of a curious choice considering the team signed Hyeseong Kim from Korea. Kim was projected to play second base having been one of the elite defenders in his native country over the last couple of seasons. The thought was that Edman would then play in centerfield, thus giving the Dodgers a speedy combination at both spots. That hasn’t exactly played out thus far in the spring.

Kim interestingly enough has seen time in centerfield. It appears as if he’s battling the likes of James Outman and Andy Pages for that final spot in the lineup. Of course, the Dodgers are famous for using a multitude of lineup combinations. You can expect some iteration of those three to play and it’s unlikely that you’ll see one of them being an everyday player. At the same time, putting Kim in centerfield is somewhat of a shock considering he had been an infielder for the vast amount of his professional career up to this point.

From a profile standpoint, it does make sense considering he’s likely the fastest player on the team — and his fielding ability is considered to be elite. Pages is not a natural centerfielder. He’d be better placed at one of the corner spots. At the same time, Pages has the best bat of the three and it isn’t that close at this point.

Outman is probably the best natural fielder and is a plus athlete in his own right. He struggled immensely last year at the plate and is hoping to reverse those fortunes this year. Kim is the big wildcard in this equation. One could see a scenario where he plays both in the infield and the outfield given the situation.

While these are minor problems in the grand scheme of things, it is pretty interesting to see the Dodgers toggle between multiple positions given their projection as one of the best teams arguably in the history of baseball. Most teams going into Spring Training would worry about not having two positions solidified. As for LA, stress doesn’t even seem to enter the equation given the roster depth and manner in which it operates.