Opening Day of the 2021 MLB regular season is less than two weeks away and the Dodgers are in the final stages of evaluating players competing for the final spots on their 26-man Opening Day active roster.

With a plethora of veteran pitchers and highly regarded pitching prospects in Spring Training, the team is faced with some difficult roster decisions. The old baseball axiom “you can never have too much pitching” is true from a team perspective but difficult to explain to a young, talented pitcher who is being optioned to the minors simply because there is no room on the big league roster. The team’s most difficult challenge for the pitching staff may be maintaining the confidence and morale of MLB-caliber pitchers who will start the season in Triple-A or Double-A.

There may be an under-the-radar pitching competition amongst left-handed relief pitchers Scott Alexander, Garrett Cleavinger (acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies), and NRIs James Pazos and Enny Romero. Alexander is the veteran who was signed by the team in the off-season to a guaranteed $1 million contract, but his roster position appears to be tenuous after allowing three earned runs and seven hits in only 4.2 IP. While Pazos and Romero have pitched much better than Alexander, the 26-year-old Cleavinger has been dominant in his 6 IP with a 1.50 ERA and striking out 11 hitters.

The competition for starting second baseman is all but decided. Twenty-three-year-old Gavin Lux has played exceptionally well in Spring Training, displaying the talent that made him Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year in 2019. With Gavin at second base, the Dodgers have the luxury of again using Chris Taylor in the super-utility role. Lux is poised to offset the offense lost when Joc Pederson left via free agency, signing with the Chicago Cubs.

The Dodgers will likely carry 13 pitchers and five bench players on their Opening Day roster. Reserve catcher Austin Barnes and Taylor are assured of roster positions, while corner infielder Edwin Rios and utility player Zach McKinstry are all but assured of making the roster. That leaves Matt Beaty, Sheldon Neuse, and DJ Peters competing with NRIs Matt Davidson and Elliot Soto for the final roster spot.

Considering that the Dodgers will be reluctant to use their only reserve catcher as a pinch hitter during games, the team likely prefers the last roster position go to another right-handed hitter. Unfortunately, the strikeout rates of Neuse (39.1%) and Peters (41.4%) will likely result in them being optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City for the start of the season. It appears that Davidson has a slight edge over Beaty for the final roster spot, with the team clearing a spot on the 40-man roster by putting a player – presumably right-hander Joe Kelly – on the 60-day IL to begin the season.

Next week, we will project the 26-man roster for Opening Day.

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