Doc on LA's slumping bats: 'It'll right itself'

Given that the regular season started in the middle of the summer, and teams had to go through two Spring Trainings, it was anyone’s guess how players would perform once the Opening Day bell rang.

With a little over a quarter of the truncated season complete, a trend has emerged that has touched many teams throughout baseball: offensive numbers are on the downswing.

More specifically, batting average on balls in play is down, around 20 points league-wide, compared to 2019. Yes, it’s a small sample size, considering most teams have played fewer than 20 games. But observers who track such data see this as a little odd -- why is the offensive dip happening to seemingly every team?

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose team entered play Tuesday with one of the better records in baseball but also with four members of its starting lineup hitting below .200, had a reasonable philosophy: starters not going as deep yet, and bullpens and rosters are bigger.

“There’s more guys in the ‘pen,” Roberts said. “Managers are matching up more, and there’s a lot of big power arms in ‘pens across the league. Managers have 10, 11 guys in the ‘pen these days. I think that’s probably a big part of it.”

With 28 players allowed on the roster, managers can utilize their pitchers similarly to how they do in September of seasons past, when rosters can expand to as many as 40. With the new three-batter minimum in place, it’s not possible to switch out pitchers every at-bat, but having more options still does give managers more flexibility.

Roberts also suspects hitters are just not in midseason form yet.

“I would assume, typically in a season, pitchers start a little ahead of hitters,” Roberts said. “And then they catch up. I think it’ll right itself a little bit here, in the next few weeks.”

May settling in
At full strength, the Dodgers have more starters than they need. For now, though, there’s room for everyone.

What does that mean for Dustin May? Currently, it affords him the luxury of being able to settle into a routine of pitching every fifth day. That kind of normalcy can be helpful to young player as he’s still acclimating himself to the big leagues.

May, who allowed two runs over six strong innings in a loss to the Padres on Monday, has pitched well enough during his three outings this season to merit continuing on in the rotation. But his short-term future is dependent somewhat on what happens when Alex Wood is ready to return following a stint on the injured list. Without those two, the rotation is still full of starters who have provided valuable innings this season. Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urías and Ross Stripling -- who can swing from the ‘pen to rotation -- form a strong foursome.

Roberts was asked about this following Monday’s defeat -- has May proven he should stay in the rotation?

“Dustin's done nothing but show his value to our ballclub,” Roberts answered. “He's still establishing himself as a big league pitcher and understanding how to navigate lineups, but obviously there's three starts and he's been very good for us. When that time comes, we'll continue to discuss it. But Dustin is certainly doing everything he can.”

Less (video) is more?
One major protocol teams have had to adjust to this year is the lack of access they have to video rooms to review at-bats or pitches thrown during games.

Citing health and safety issues, MLB included a mandate in its protocols that teams cannot gather in video rooms while games are taking place.

Dodgers utility man Chris Taylor said the process now “is a little different,” and reminiscent of how things work in Minor League Baseball, where the day-to-day process is a little simpler.

“It's been a few years, but we never had that available to us coming up in the Minor Leagues, and instead of going and looking at every at-bat you take, you just stay in the dugout and watch the game and trust what you feel,” Taylor said.

Maybe that’s better?

“I think it can be -- depends on how things are going for you at the time,” Taylor said, with a slight chuckle. “If you're grinding, there might be something you want to look at, but if things are going good and you're swinging it well, then it's kind of nice to not have to nitpick every little thing on video.”