The Los Angeles Dodgers made a surprising roster decision regarding outfielder James Outman.
According to a post on X from Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Outman was informed he would be traveling with the team to Japan for the season-opening Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs.
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James Outman said he’s been told he’s going to be part of the Dodgers’ travel roster in Japan. His status for the active roster is still TBD.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 10, 2025
Ardaya added that Outman’s status regarding the active roster is still to be determined, but he’ll at the very least be a part of the 31-player roster heading to Japan.
Outman has been competing for a role on the big league roster this spring and the selection is shocking because of his disappointing spring. While manager Dave Roberts has been vocal about a proven track record over Cactus League stats, some are hard to ignore.
Though 11 games this spring, Outman has had 28 at-bats and stuck out 15 times. He has six hits with a double, two triples, and a home run.
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“Early on, he looked really comfortable with kind of a little revamped swing,” Roberts said about Outman this spring. “But right now, he’s swinging and missing a lot. I don’t know if he’s pressing. He just doesn’t look as comfortable.”
Outman’s big league career couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in July 2022. He homered in his first-career at-bat. He went on to go 6-for-13 over his next four games and won the starting center field job out of camp the following year.
The lefty finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting but nobody was prepared for the sophomore slump he had.
By mid-May, the Dodgers had to send him back to Triple-A and Outman was forced to cheer on Andy Pages as he passed him on the depth chart.
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How Outman spiraled so far off course is beyond manager Dave Roberts.
“I think that, like a lot of young players, when you start to scuffle, you just can’t stop that spiral,” Roberts said. “I think that there is a little feeling of the pressure of trying to perform bled into last year. And I just think that we couldn’t slow it down. I think that this year, he’s in a healthy competition. I think that’s good. I think he looks good physically, as always, and he made the swing change, so he’s holding his own right now.”
With an opportunity to earn his big league job, Outman needs to take advantage of any opportunities he will be given moving forward.
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AloJapan.com