Does Dodger September history favor a Gavin Lux call-up?

Gavin Lux has over 225 plate appearances since June at Oklahoma City. He is hitting .390/.478/.723 with 18 doubles and 13 home runs.

Lux has done more than enough to merit a trip to Los Angeles in September but will it be as an active player, this current front office has not used their September roster expansion for those types of moves that often in the last five seasons.

Corey Seager is the most prominent player to make his debut in September and then play enough to merit inclusion on the postseason roster.

Only five of the 16 position players who made their major league debut as a Dodger from 2015 to the present, have done that in September. And just three Dodger pitchers have made their first appearance in September since 2015.

Here is a look at the Dodger position players who debuted from 2015 to the present.

And these are the Dodger pitchers that have made their debuts in the past five seasons.

That is eight players out of 33 rookie debuts in September and really just one who had a big impact.

Seager, Jose De Leon, Alex Verdugo and Walker Buehler are probably the four players who both got their September opportunity on both their prospect status and perhaps to see what they could add to a playoff team

Not only is today is the last day of 25-man active roster for all major league teams for the 2019 season, it will be the last time major league teams will only carry 25-man rosters for the majority of the season.

Starting in 2020, teams will carry 26 players. And when the calendar hits September 1st, teams will be allowed to have 28 players on their active roster.

The 2019 Dodgers have already said that they plan to activate three players from the 10-day injured list tomorrow.

The Dodgers have nine players on their 40-man roster that have been optioned to Oklahoma City. Seven of those players have already played on the 2019 team. Two players, pitcher Yadier Alvarez and Keibert Ruiz are both on their minor league’s teams injured list and are out for the season.

As for the other seven players, Austin Barnes will certainly be back in Los Angeles in September. Edwin Rios and Kyle Garlick have probably done enough to merit some bench depth time.

There are four pitchers that are currently optioned to Oklahoma City, I could see JT Chargois in the Dodger bullpen in September. Not sure about Dennis Santana, Josh Sborz or Jaime Schultz.

In the end, I doubt the Dodgers will use Max Muncy’s injury as a means to get Gavin Lux playing time, they certainly had an opportunity when both Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernández were out on the 10-day injured list and they decided to go another way.

But we will know for sure in a few days as Oklahoma City’s season ends on Monday so we’ll know if Dodger fans will see Lux in a Los Angeles Dodger uniform this season or in 2020.

Author’s note - this tweet came out after this article was posted

Kershaw looking to extend personal streak to a new career high

Clayton Kershaw is making his 24th start this season and if he completes six innings, he will have pitched at least six innings in all 24 starts. That will be a new personal high for Kershaw

He is currently tied with a streak in 2015 when he pitched 6+ innings from May 15th to September 19th.

Kershaw would also tie Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke for the major league lead as the only other pitchers with 24 starts of six or more innings pitched this season.

A look at Dodger bullpen usage in August

Since the July 31st trade deadline is now a month ago, let’s take a look at the Dodger bullpen usage in August.

Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May were primarily starters in August, May made the only relief appearance for the rookie due. It was in Atlanta where he gave up a grand slam homer in two innings pitched.

It should be noted that Kenley Jansen has made only one back-to-back appearance in the second half of this season. He has generally had at least two-days off between appearances if not more.

Will September see Kenta Maeda make his move to the bullpen? They will still have starter’s innings to cover. How will they use Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May?

Where will Ross Stripling and Julio Urías slot in will be another thing to watch for. As well as Rich Hill’s rehab in September.

How the Dodgers used their resources in August is likely not indicator for the postseason or even September. Hopefully, the Dodgers will use what they gleaned over the last five months of the season to put together their bullpen puzzle.

This article could not have been written without the research information and statistics provided by Baseball-Reference.com