During the first day of spring training, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told members of the media that they were going to take it easy with popular outfielder Andrew Toles. The reason, of course, is because the 5′-9″ / 192-pound outfielder who is built like a fire plug tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee while making a leaping catch off the bat of (then) Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen back on May 9, 2017; an injury that would require surgery to repair and an estimated 10 months to heal.

“I think that the medical staff wants to really take it a little bit slow and be methodical about it, which is smart,” Roberts said of Toles. “Obviously, for me, I want to get him out there once the games get started and see him and get him some at-bats, but he’s got some catching up to do as far as at-bats, so he might get a lot of at-bats on the other [minor league] side when they start going just so he can kind of catch up.

“But I’m excited to get him out there as soon as possible to get him acclimated again,” Roberts added. “I would say [he’s limited] a tick, but not far behind the rest of the group.”

To the surprise of everyone, the following Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was asked by those same reporters if they expect the former 2012 third-round draft pick (by the Tampa Bay Rats out of Chipola College in Marianna, Florida) to be ready by Opening Day on March 29.

“Yeah, we do,” Friedman answered, without hesitation.

Through the Dodgers first five spring training games, Toles had appeared in only three of them and had yet to collect his first hit of the spring. As you might expect, his actual playing time was predicated more on the fact that there were 14 guys in major league camp vying for three starting outfield jobs than by the Dodgers plans to “take a bit slow” with him.

…and then came game number six against the San Diego Padres at the Peoria Sports Complex on Wednesday afternoon.

With one out in the top of the first inning and with Dodgers shortstop Chris Taylor – one of the aforementioned 14 – on second base following a leadoff double, Toles absolutely crushed the first pitch he saw off of Padres right-hander Dinelson Lamet that landed halfway up the grass berm in right field for a two run home run to give Toles his first hit, RBIs, and run of the spring.

Toles saw a grand total of two pitches in his first two plate appearances on Wednesday afternoon. He hit both of them a very long way. (Video capture courtesy of MLB.TV)

In his second plate appearance of the day in the top half of the third inning, Toles again swung at the first pitch off of Padres right-hander Rowan Wick and launched another monster shot to right that was run down by Padres right fielder Hunter Renfroe that allowed Taylor, who had again doubled and took third on a Joc Pederson ground out to first base, to tag up and score on Toles’ sacrifice fly.

In his first two plate appearances, the 25-year-old Decatur, Georgia native had accounted for all three Dodgers runs.

After the game, which the Dodgers eventually lost by a score of 10-5, Toles was asked if he thought he would be ready by Opening Day.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be ready,” Toles said adamantly. “I don’t know if I’m going to make the team or anything like that. I’ve got to keep performing. We’ll see.”

Here again, with 14 guys competing for three starting outfield spots and perhaps two bench spots, it is still pretty much a crap shoot as to who makes the Dodgers Opening Day roster and who does not. That being said, if the extremely popular Toles continues to hit like he did on Wednesday afternoon for the remainder of spring training, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll roll a seven.

Stay tuned…