August 29th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by 0799291000348 According to baseball experts, 22-year old Dodgers middle infielder Gavin Lux is a ‘can’t-miss’ major league prospect, with the talent to be a regular participant in MLB’s annual All-Star game. In fact, Baseball America named Lux their 2019 Minor League Player of the Year.
Reportedly, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has rebuffed other teams in their efforts to acquire the young, talented player, even refusing to include him in the trades for Manny Machado or Mookie Betts.
Lux had an ok (but not great) Major League debut in September 2019, slashing .240/.305/.400/.705. Nonetheless, most Dodgers fans penciled him in as the team’s regular second baseman for the 2020 season, comparing him to previous so-called ‘untouchable’ prospects like Julio Urias, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, and Walker Buehler.
His performance in the abbreviated 2020 Cactus League cooled some of that enthusiasm, as he was outplayed by prospects with much less robust resumes, such as Zach McKinstry, Zach Reks, Cristian Santana, and Edwin Rios. It didn’t help that Spring Training was abruptly halted on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When the team reassembled on July 3 to ready themselves for the MLB-MLB Players Association agreed-upon COVID-19-shortened 60-game regular season, Lux was not there. He was among the group of players who were late reporting for Summer Camp. Once he did arrive, there was not enough practice time to ready himself for the season, so he was left behind at the team’s University of Southern California alternate training site.
Five weeks later, on August 27, Lux made his 2020 debut in the second game of the team’s doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. In three at-bats, he struck out twice and hit a weak (67.6 mph) ground ball to short. Immediately after the game, Lux was optioned to the team’s travel taxi squad.
All-in-all, it was an inauspicious beginning to his Dodgers’ career, and his once ‘untouchable’ designation may now be in the rearview mirror, as the Dodgers consider options for improving their current roster before the August 31 trade deadline. Friedman may now be willing to listen to offers for his highly-regarded prospect.
Will Lux be wearing a different uniform come September 1? That depends on the return to the Dodgers, and a blockbuster trade is highly unlikely. But for the first time since he was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft, the team may no longer consider him ‘untouchable’.
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Gotta admit that I would be extremely disappointed if the Dodgers traded Lux. I have been following him closely since his days at Rancho Cucamonga.
Although he has been struggling offensively of late, Lux is, in my opinion, a far better defensive 2B than Chris Taylor of Kiké Hernandez, who are currently hitting .245 and .209 respectively.
It would take a lot to get Lux from Dodgers. By “a lot” I mean a pitcher like the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty, or a hitter like Nolan Arenado. I am not as big a fan of Lux defense as you are. I think Taylor and Hernandez are both better infielders. It would not surprise me to see Lux shift to LF if he remains with Dodgers.
Based on what I’ve seen, May should be the only one they shouldn’t look to move, given how iimportant it is to have high-end starters, his strong performance this season, young age (22), and the fact that several of their rotation guys are either getting older or questionable (Kershaw, Price, Urias).
I’m not totally sold on Lux. Hopefully I’m proven wrong, but I just have doubts he will reach the expectations set out for him. My gut feeling is that at best he’ll just be a solid everyday player, but not the big-time star fans and analysts think he will be.
I saw this with the lakers, where fans were hesitant to give up young players with potential for proven guys. I know they are different sports, but unless you really see something special and he’s proving it in flashes at the big league level, I wouldn’t take him off the table.
I don’t believe any player is truly “untouchable” — it solely depends on who is offered in return. May has a very bright future considering how little stress he puts on his arm, yet reaches 98 – 100 mph. Gonsolin is older (26) but I am blown away by his variety of pitches, fastball velocity, and command of the strike zone — he is the epitome of a pitcher attacking the strike zone. And, I think Josiah Gray will be a very good pitcher for Dodgers. I think the Dodgers are open to trading Urias.
A fair assessment and opinion.
Although the sample size if ridiculously small, (23 total MLB games), Lux has a .972 FPCT at 2B. Taylor’s FPCT at 2B over six MLB seasons is .959 and Kiké’s .979 over seven MLB seasons.
Pick your poison.
I would rather see Lux at second for the rest of the season and let him play in or out of a position with the Dodgers, we know Hernandez and Taylor are not everyday players,give Lux the playing time.
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The only place Lux is going is out to 2b at dodger stadium. He will be the starting second baseman April 2021.