Dodgers Call Up 3rd-Generation Catcher After Dalton Rushing Injury
With starting catcher Will Smith day-to-day and a recent injury to Dalton Rushing that has him on the 15-day IL, the Los Angeles Dodgers have called up third-generation catcher Chuckie Robinson to fill in depth at the Major League level.
Robinson, 30, has been DFA’d twice this season, once by the Los Angeles Angels and then with his current franchise the Dodgers. Robinson’s father and grandfather, both with the same name of Charles, had minor league careers, but never made it to the MLB. Robinson was drafted in the 21st round back in 2016 by the Houston Astros.
Since 2016, Robinson has played 685 minor league games, where he is a career .258 hitter and has 69 home runs. He has played in 51 MLB games in his career, 25 with Cincinnati in 2022 and 26 with the Chicago White Sox in 2024. He has two home runs, five RBI and 17 hits in 129 big league at-bats.
Robinson will likely remain with the Dodgers until Smith is a full go, and then will more than likely be the odd man out sent back down to AAA.
He is not in the starting lineup for today’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.
Chaos in Baltimore Saturday Night
The Dodgers were one out away from glory on Saturday night in Baltimore. Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered 8.2 innings of no-hit baseball while his offense had given him three runs of support. Yamamoto was down to his final batter, Jackson Holliday, when he delivered a 2-1 fastball on the inner part of the plate that the young phenom turned on and hit for a wall-scraping home run. It was a ball that definitely could have been robbed, but Dodgers right fielder Andy Pages didn’t make an attempt at it.
So surely the Dodgers still won the game, right?
Not so fast. Now, still with two outs, manager Dave Roberts ended Yamamoto’s night and turned to his trusty weapon Blake Treinen to end the game.
Treinen did not have his best stuff, to say the least. He allowed a double and then hit and walked the next two batters, loading the bases for the Orioles. Then, he walked his second batter in a row to make the game 3-2.
Roberts then had no option but to turn to the bullpen again, this time for Tanner Scott. Scott didn’t fare any better than his predecessor, allowing a two-run single that ended the game.
Yamamoto’s no-hit bid turned into a disastrous night for LA, who dropped their fifth game in a row.
Dodgers Battling to Hold Top Spot in NL West
With a record of 78-64, the Dodgers are now just one game ahead of the San Diego Padres for the top spot in the NL West. Neither team has started the month of September well, as the Dodgers are yet to win a game, while the Padres have lost four of five, including one to Colorado. Ironically, the Orioles swept the Padres to start the month and are now one game away from sweeping the Dodgers.
LA and San Diego have no more meetings with each other, though they will both be avidly keeping up with the standings in the final three weeks.
Braves claim $4M reliever off waivers from Dodgers — brother of Atlanta's most-hated rival
The Atlanta Braves are just trying to make it to the end of the regular season after the worst one they have had in several years. The Braves are expected to make numerous changes to the roster next season, and some moves are already underway with waiver additions. Additionally, manager Brian Snitker is expected to retire at the end of the season.
“Because of that consistent recent success, Snit would normally be afforded a ‘mulligan’ year—even though going from the second-best preseason World Series odds to possibly the third-best odds of winning the draft lottery is a pretty serious mulligan,” Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller wrote. “At 69, though, he's already the oldest manager in the National League by a several-year margin and was likely to retire at the end of this season, which is the last one in his current contract.”
The Braves are still adding to the team this season, focusing mostly on pitching, as Atlanta has struggled to keep players healthy. On Sunday, they claimed Alexis Diaz off waivers.
“The Braves have claimed Alexis Diaz off waivers from the Dodgers, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic. Atlanta has space available on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary to bring Diaz into the organization,” MLBtraderumors.com’s Nick Deeds wrote.
Diaz was just released by the defending World Series Champion Dodgers earlier in the week.
“The Dodgers announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Ben Rortvedt, a move that was previously reported. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Alex Freeland and designated right-hander Alexis Díaz for assignment,” MLBtraderumors.com’s Darragh McDonald wrote.
