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Dodgers notes: Freddie Freeman, Trayce Thompson, Julio Urías

Los Angeles Dodgers v Atlanta Braves Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

After the Dodgers took the opener in Atlanta in comeback fashion, here are some stories to begin your Tuesday.

Before this second return to Atlanta, Freddie Freeman talked to Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register about comparing last year and this year’s trips. “Unless you’ve gone through it and done it … you’ve got to let the person go through it,” Freeman said. “When I said, ‘I’m sorry it took me three months.’ Andrew (Friedman) was, ‘Three months? I didn’t think it would happen that fast.’”

Trayce Thompson’s lack of production this season, including his current 0-for-38 slump, and tenuous hold on a roster spot was covered by Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times, including this from manager Dave Roberts: “The way we put together this roster, there’s a certain niche that he’s got to fulfill. Right now, it just obviously hasn’t been working out.”

Four days after disinviting The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to their June 16 LGBTQ+ Pride Night, the Dodgers apologized and re-invited the group to be honored at the event. Cyd Zeigler at Outsports has more.

The first day Julio Urías is eligible to return from the injured list is June 3, the middle game of a three-game series against the Yankees at Dodger Stadium. The left-hander’s eligibility for that series could be informed by a bullpen session coming this season when the Dodgers are in St. Petersburg playing the Rays, per beat reporters on site in Atlanta.

Walker Buehler during his weekly appearance on the Just Baseball podcast talked about Gavin Stone and Bobby Miller starting the first two games in Atlanta.

  • On Miller: “I think maybe I was a little more polished, but I think he probably has a little bit more ability more than I had, and definitely has more of that traditional, workhorse starter frame.”
  • On Stone: “I’m so envious of him because he has a 70 changeup, maybe even more than that at times.”

Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs took stock of the depleted Dodgers rotation and last week’s hellish run. “Based on the cost-cutting roster decisions they made this past offseason, this is the year the Dodgers are going to see what they have in their homegrown talent and incoming reclamation projects” Jaffe wrote. “They just didn’t expect so much of it to be under the spotlight so soon.”

Monday’s prospect report from J.J. Cooper at Baseball America had praise for Kyle Hurt, who has a 1.17 ERA and 48-percent strikeout rate for Double-A Tulsa, but also noted the sublime Drillers pitching staff: “Tulsa’s ERA as a team is currently 2.82. The next best ERA in the Texas League this year is San Antonio at 4.29. The league average ERA is 4.86. What the Dodgers are doing in Tulsa is incredibly impressive.”