Okay I admit it, I am very biased towards Dodgers right-handed reliever Louis Coleman. In fact, he was one of the very first guys I spoke with in the Dodgers Camelback Ranch clubhouse when pitchers and catchers reported back on February 19 and I immediately liked the guy. He wasn’t pretentious, he wasn’t egotistical or overconfident, he was simply a guy who knew his place and knew exactly what he needed to do to win a job on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster.

“I honestly have no idea [what the Dodgers have planned for me], not really even talked about it,” Coleman said during that initial meeting. “Whatever. Whatever they need.”

The Dodgers had signed Coleman to a one-year – $750,000 major league contract one day earlier, knowing that if he did not make the Opening Day roster he would, in all likelihood, be gone. Because of his five years of MLB service time – all with the World Champion Kansas City Royals – he is out of options and the only way he could be reassigned to the Dodgers minor leagues would be with his consent which, in all probability, neither he nor his agent would agree to do.

Coleman tossed yet another scoreless inning on Thursday night allowing only a base hit in his one inning of work. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

When I spoke with Coleman again during the final days at Camelback Ranch, his attitude and demeanor hadn’t changed a bit. And even though the 29-year-old Greenwood, Mississippi native hadn’t allowed an earned run through his first nine spring training appearances at the time (and only two since), he humbly refused to acknowledge that he had accomplished what he had set out to do a month earlier.

“Definitely haven’t accomplished just because we still got a week, ten days, or however long left in spring and there are still jobs to be won,” Coleman said. “We still gotta keep working hard, continue to try and turn heads and hopefully earn a spot. Ultimately that’s the goal for everybody here – to keep working and keep doing what we’ve been doing from day one.

“Everyone’s had a pretty dang good camp so I know it’s going to be tough decisions,” Coleman added. “But it’s better to have tough decisions than the other way around.”

Through Thursday night’s Freeway Series opener at Dodger Stadium, Coleman has appeared in 11 games, pitched 11.0 innings, allowed only two earned runs on six hits while walking zero and striking out 12.

Maybe Louis Coleman doesn’t want to acknowledge it but I certainly will.

Mission accomplished.