Yasmani Grandal is reversing a trend that seemed to be developing at the end of last season for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager Dave Roberts said on Monday that Grandal will get most of the at-bats for the team at catcher in the upcoming season, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts on catcher: “Yasmani is going to get most of the at-bats.”
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) March 20, 2018
Grandal, 29, played in 129 games last season with 482 plate appearances. His OPS was .767, as he still had 27 doubles and 22 home runs, but he fell off late in the season. As Grandal struggled in September, Austin Barnes got a greater share of the action at catcher and became the primary catcher during the playoffs.
Barnes started off the postseason well against Arizona, but he found hits tougher to come by during the World Series. Now after Grandal has hit well in spring training while Barnes has struggled, it looks like Grandal has regained his spot as the team’s primary catcher.
