Dodgers notes: Dustin May, Freddie Freeman, Miguel Vargas

Now just two days away from the Dodgers’ first spring training game of 2023, here are some news and notes regarding the team.

Dustin May talked with Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register about his uneven return last season from Tommy John surgery, which included an uncharacteristically-high 11-percent walk rate in six starts. May says he’s worked on correcting mechanical flaws which led to the wildness, telling Plunkett, “I wasn’t getting my body in the right positions and I was just flinging the ball instead of being able to throw it where I wanted to.”

Freddie Freeman sat down with Dylan Hernández at the Los Angeles Times, and among the nuggets from the ensuing article was Freeman mentoring Gavin Lux and Miguel Vargas. “I don’t think there’s a better human being than Freddie Freeman, and he’s obviously a great player,” Lux said. “So, when you mesh those two things up, when Freddie talks, you’re going to listen. Whatever he says, I’m probably going to end up doing it.”

Gavin Lux talked with Kirsten Watson at SportsNet LA about moving back to shortstop and his upcoming season:

Dodgers prospects were the talk of the latest Baseball America podcast, with Geoff Pontes and Kyle Glaser. The BA top-10 Dodgers list already came out in January, and the top-30 team list will be online Monday. Glaser on the podcast said though Miguel Vargas ended up ranked third among Dodgers prospects, behind Diego Cartaya and Bobby Miller, he’s closer to the top than you might think.

“There are people — veteran evaluators — within the Dodgers organization, who have a long track record of being right, who believe he’s their number one prospect,” Glaser said.

Julio Urías had special cleats made for the World Baseball Classic, pitching for Mexico.