Dodgers notes: Chris Taylor’s swing, James Outman’s future, prospect rankings

Tuesday’s off day gives us double the Dodgers news and stories to catch up on this morning.

Chris Taylor’s swing has undergone various changes during his time with the Dodgers, and he spent the offseason working on streamlining things after his worst season as a regular. “Last season, I felt like I created some bad habits,” Taylor told Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. “So I’m kind of just trying to create a more efficient swing.”

James Outman overhauled his swing back in 2020, and made his major league debut with a four-game howitzer last year. This year, he’s competing for regular playing time in the Dodgers outfield, and Outman talked with Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic about trying to forget about his debut, and “just focusing on what’s in front of you rather than what’s out of your control or what’s already happened.”

Dave Roberts touted the many veterans in Dodgers camp, per Doug Padilla at the Orange County Register.

Outside of the top 30 prospects in the Dodgers system, Kyle Glaser at Baseball America identified 10 more minor leaguers in the system to watch. Included is left-hander Ben Harris, the eighth-round pick out of Georgia in 2021, who struck out a whopping 45 percent of batters faced between both Class-A levels last season. “Harris led the minors with 17.3 K/9 (min. 50 IP) but also battled poor control,” Glaser wrote. “Batters don’t pick up his rising, 91-96 mph fastball and his low-80s slider is a sufficient second pitch to work in relief if he can throw enough strikes.”

Jim Callis at MLB.com wrote about 10 “sleeper” prospects who could move up into the top 100 prospects in MLB this season. Among them is not-yet-18-year-old outfielder Josue De Paula and pitcher Nick Frasso.

I was a guest on the FnA podcast on AM 570 Wednesday, talking Dodgers with Kevin Figgers and Adam Auslund.